240v Rope decorations with controllers and their use with LOR

[coopz05]

Hey guys,


So a few people at the mini this year told me, when I asked about rope light decorations I have, that I should get an electrician to remove the controller box on the lights for use with LOR.


I have tested a few of my rope dec's that don't have controllers (straight power lead to lights), nd much to my surprise, they not only worked, but were dimmable and twinkle-able as well.


These lights are like the small stars/merry xmas/small tree shapes from big w. Oh, and a couple of reindeer.


My question is, for all the ones that I have with controllers, do I 100% have to remove the controllers?


Someone at the mini mentioned it starting a fire somehow. Is that true?


You see, some of my controller have memory of last setting, so I was thinking, if I set it to "always on" then wouldnt that do the same thing?


It just seems very costly to get an electrician to do it, if some will work without that modification.


Matt mentioned that, with moving motif's, some people get the electrician to run two power leads. One for the movement which is always on, and another for the rope light. I love that idea.

 

[coopz05]

Secondly, can someone please explain in lamens terms what rope light is dimmable, and which isn't.


Is it as simple as: Incan is dimmable, LED is not?


How can I tell incan or LED by looking with the naked eye?

 

[Steve22537]

That's about it,
Icans have a wire filament between the leads and are made of glass
LED's can be dimmed as well but in a different method

 

[Superman]

I have used my-t-brite 240v rope light for the past 3 years. it is LED and can be dimmed. I will be re-tiring these ropes this year as they have had there day.
One thing I find find with rope light is you need to make sure it is sealed as when water gets in it will rust the whole thing out.

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

I have tested a few of my rope dec's that don't have controllers (straight power lead to lights), nd much to my surprise, they not only worked, but were dimmable and twinkle-able as well.

These lights are like the small stars/merry xmas/small tree shapes from big w. Oh, and a couple of reindeer.

Yes incandescent without multifunction ropes will dim just fine...

My question is, for all the ones that I have with controllers, do I 100% have to remove the controllers?

You see, some of my controller have memory of last setting, so I was thinking, if I set it to "always on" then wouldnt that do the same thing?

You can try - but I've had them not remember the setting at all when flashed on and off all the time.

Matt mentioned that, with moving motif's, some people get the electrician to run two power leads. One for the movement which is always on, and another for the rope light. I love that idea.

You definitely can do this - That's how my two tiered red/green star is wired on top of the mega tree. BUT! You cannot do this if any section shares a common wire with another section - any sensible electrician will refuse. Why? If you power the item from one plug, you're going to have live 240v coming out of one of the prongs on the other lead - if you touch that, bad things will happen. Do not do this!

Secondly, can someone please explain in lamens terms what rope light is dimmable, and which isn't.

Is it as simple as: Incan is dimmable, LED is not? How can I tell incan or LED by looking with the naked eye?

Plug it in, turn it on. Does it get warm around the light source after a few minutes? Incandescent will get warm.

Some LED ropelight can be dimmed - The white/blue snowflakes on the side of the 'Magic Cave' feature in my display are 240v LED and are dimmed. Just make sure it isn't a ELV item e.g. 24v with a built in 240v to ELV adapter somewhere.