LED Christmas Lights

I've managed to track down at least one for certain (Forever Bright) and another that appears to be made up of LEDs (Sylvania Little Lites). If the Sylvania's are indeed LED, I might have to grab a set and check them out... as for the Forever Brights, they look nice, but since they're only three colors (red, green and yellow) I'll probably pass.

Are there any others I've missed?

Blue and white (real white, mind you) will also be available this year. Problem is, the distributor tells me that they won't be available in the same drug stores as last year. I'll post more when I learn more. In theory I have some blue and white Forever brights reserved for me somewhere in Texas.

Oh, and I forgot to specify that I was looking for strand lighting, not oddball specialty stuff, nor rope lights.

The Forever Brights are traditional strand lighting in configuration. They are made with little headstone-like LEDs that shine in a 180 degree arc. They flicker a bit when viewed in peripheral vision, but other than that, they're great. No transformer, outdoor rated. At at least last year they were pretty cheap to come by.

Foreverbrights brand: www.ledmuseum.org/xmas1.htm
Highlight brand: www.ledmuseum.org/xmas2.htm

These are the only two kinds of LED Christmas lights I've seen to date. After Halloween, I'll be cruising the stores (those few I can actually get to, forget about Kmart, target, costco, or wall-mart) for any new LED Christmas lights, and for Foreverbrights in blue & white.

Foreverbrights are outdoor rated by UL; Highlights aren't. But there's nothing wrong with Highlight for indoor use if you don't mind the wall wart. I've had a set hanging in the bedroom for a couple of years now, and they're still working fine.

The Sylvania's appear to be *FIVE* color (including purple and blue) so that would certainly be preferable.

Originally posted by Deth:
The Sylvania's appear to be *FIVE* color (including purple and blue) so that would certainly be preferable.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I wonder if those Sylvania "bulbs" are LEDs...

After Halloween, I'll be cruising the stores (those few I can actually get to, forget about Kmart, target, costco, or wall-mart) for any new LED Christmas lights, and for Foreverbrights in blue & white.

Me too. Although, I'm wondering whether anyone is doing LED Halloween lights. Might as well start looking now.

I dunno if the Sylvania's are LED or simply very small bulbs. They're advertised as being 3mm for what it's worth.

I am looking for Icicle style LED light. Anyone seen any?

Yeah, what Budd sez! I've been looking for a good icicle set for years now... and not those damn multi-strand varieties. I thought I found one last year... it's a standard strand with an icicle shaped covering over each light. Unfortunately the lights are not bright enough to truly light up the casing, so they appear to be a strand of whites and nothing more

Check this site out... left hand center

Really funny is the first link is to the Led Museum

I've sent off an e-mail to Christmas Depot staff to see if they know whether or not the Sylvania Little Lites are LED.

I doubt very much that these are LEDs. The bulbs are only rated to last 5000 hours. LED's from the ForeverBright light sets are expected to last over 200,000 hours (20 years) before needing replacement. Plus only 3 sets of the Little Lites can be combined together, while the ForeverBrights can safely connect over 20 sets to each other.

What a bizarre quest this has become... granted I'm a Christmas fanatic (in the secular sense, mind you), but I've become a light nut in the past few years. And now thanks to this esteemed forum, an LED maniac as well

Anyway, here is the response I got back from Christmas Depot.

Season's Greetings!

The lights are not LED, they are a new type of light called micro-mini. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. Thank you and have a great day!

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I sure hope that ForeverBright sells either a decent combo (at least four colors) or separate blue/white and the red/green/yellow, so I can roll my own, so to speak.

Last Xmas ACE hardwhere had the Foreverbrights on a 50% off sale for $9.99. Ouch. I didnt think they were that bright so I dint buy any.

I also have a LEMAX micro minature 20 LED Xmas set that runs on 2AA batts or a 3v DC supply which I neglected to buy. I havent found anything small enough to put these on.
--Ðøug

Last year, I found them on sale at a Right Aid drugstore for $5.49. I probably bought about 1/5th of the store's entire stock for the season.

Originally posted by Deth:
What a bizarre quest this has become... granted I'm a Christmas fanatic (in the secular sense, mind you), but I've become a light nut in the past few years. And now thanks to this esteemed forum, an LED maniac as well

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I have LED Christmas lights strung up year-round. Five or six packs of them are haphazardly strung up near the ceiling above my laboratory, a couple more running to & around the front door, a big string all along the edge of the bedroom ceiling, and more in a window. But come the day after Thanksgiving, that's when I break out the heavy artillery. This year I should be hanging 5,000 to 6,000 lights, and remember, this is a 300-400 sq. foot apartment without a patio or other outside access - and no way to nail or tack any light sets outside the windows either. So all of these will be indoors. Think of it as an inside-out version of the house on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Sweet jeebus, Craig... that sounds even more blinding than your run of the mill LED experimentation