Lights From Ebay Newbie

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zaclepp

New elf
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
2
Hey Everyone
I am new to the christmas light seen with only a medium standard display last year with LED lights i brought from ebay i had about 10000 lights last year. I am looking at doubling this and a little more along with inflatables and adding and making a few things this year and hopefully providing a walk through :) . My question is i want to use the same lights as last year as they were super bright and and came in good lengths (10m, 50m, 100m). The thing is i also want to try using LOR this year with a mate helping with the programming as he is very knowledgeable in the area of programming and computers ETC, I am new to this and i want to start the programming sooner rather than later but i have been studying the LOR website and forums here and been reading over them but just want to know what the best system would be to use with these lights and if these lights would be ok to use or not
Here is the link to the ebay site :) - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10m-40-50m-240-100m-480-led-christmas-party-web-fairy-string-lights-lighting-/150958657708?pt=AU_Party_Supplies&var=&hash=item2325d650ac
I am looking at using mostly 100m lengths and 50m Lengths
Any suggestions or help would be awesome as i still study all the information i can on controllers etc
 
Welcome to the ACL forum Zaclepp.
I would steer clear of the 240v lighting for any new purchases. These can be potential fire and shock hazards especially for your visitors if you are going to have a walkthrough area. Instead look for low voltage lighting (ie 24v DC).

First thing to do is to read FastEddy's 101 manual on Christmas Lighting: http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,1889.0.html It will give you the run down on most of the lighting options available.
 
Welcome to ACL.

I agree with burner here, stay away from any more 240v purchases as these have many potential hazards and issues and having a walk through display and these cheap 240v lights is definetly not a good combination. I would be surprised if these lights are actually legal and doubt that they have SAA standards approval to be sold in Australia (which i would consider important for 240v mains lights)
You will find that there is a wealth of info and help in the forum from many who have been doing this for a while and im sure if you give it a few weeks you will see why we avoid 240v and have more of a focus on RGB low voltage lighting.

So welcome to the madness and looks like you are already getting the early stages of CLAP (Christmas Lighting Addiction Problem) which most of us have here :D
 
Welcome to ACL!
I live in the USA and we use 110vac here. My first year I used the cheap china lights you are looking at, and with just a little rain, all of the wiring turned brown, and I started having connection problems with them. Even with 110v, I was concerned about people getting zapped with them. I have since trashed all of them and have converted to low voltage lighting (chalk up $500 as a learning experience). The prices have come way down on low voltage lighting and I feel much more confident that I have a safe display.
Have fun with the hobby and stop by the chat room and say hi.
John
 
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