How early is too early to put up your lights?

davidthelightguyWhyalla

davidthelightguyWhyalla

New elf
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
9
Location
Irvine Street, Port Noarlunga, South Australia
I know its only September 23rd today but I was hoping to start setting up my lights in October. I live on a property out of town so i dont really need to worry about weird looks from neighbours :p im just so excited to get my LOR Show up and running. So the big question is "How early is too early?" :)


Cheers,
Davidthelightguy
 
when the storms wont hit..
a couple of nice size hail stones an your lovely display will be smashed
or a big wind storm could carry it away if not tied down enough

that's why i leave the lights to the latest possible time..
 
I usually leave it till end of Oct/November to start but this year I have a LOT to put up and then test so Im starting as soon as I get a fine day and hubby is here to watch me on the roof :)

A lot leave theirs up 365 days a year tho :)
 
It's always a trade-off between getting the lights up with enough time for troubleshooting, getting weird looks and having them exposed to the weather for longer than you'd like.
 
After last years delay after delay after troubles after problems. I'm using October to install and November to troubleshoot.
 
Thanks for that everyone, I was wondering the same thing.
As this is my first year, I can see a lot of mucking around getting the mounting of all the displays I have made and making extension cords the right length etc, and I don't want to be rushed as I will be busy on a lot of weekends too.
I think I will start as soon as my elements are all finished and just do the back / discrete ones on the house first.
 
Davidthelightguy




I would put my lights up [/size]45[/size]DAYS[/size]22HOURS14MINUTES6SECONDS
 
I make my display items as modular as possible (wiring harnesses, connectors, etc) so that I can put the display up (and tear it down) fairly quickly. The time spent doing this up front is paid back many times over.
 
I'm pretty sure that the ONLY time that's too early to put lights up is before 2nd January. The tradeoff of course is always the wear and tear on the lights. Mechanical damage due to them being fixed to moving stuff and UV damage from the lovely Aussie Summer. Despite the lights and wires being UV rated there is UV rated and there's UV rated. Given the choice you should only setup the lights such that they are finally all up and fully tested within a day so of switch on. I personally start around the 1st weekend in November traditionally and start with the most UV stable and weather protected elements up to the last items being the tint tube based elements which break down in sunlight pretty quick.
 
I reckon my trouble would be if I put the lights up early and then they work, there is no way I would be able to stop myself from turning them on every night. But then again what's wrong with having lights from mid November.

Then again I'm not saying I will be that organised, just saying I would have to turn them on if I was.
 
Perhaps a State side opinion will have no weight. But I have a few lights that are pretty hard to spot unless you look for them that have been up since last year and in pex tubes for protection from the UV light. They have not yellowed or turned brittle.


I will put the rest of the house outline lights up here in a week or 2 and plan to light up the house outline and halloween 2-3 weeks before the end of October.


The show will go dark for about 3 weeks, day after Thanksgiving back up live until the 1st or 2nd of january. Then most comes down, but will do a little valentines stuff.
 
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