Ordering from China

[Brett82]

Hi all. I completely missed te big discount sales at Big W this year and am pretty disappointed. I had big plans for 2017, but can't seem to find LED fairy lights here that are reasonably priced. I was considering ordering through Ray Wu, that I have seen mentioned a lot on here. At the moment I have a static display and as much as I would love to do a controlled one, I just don't have the time. So I'll be sticking with the old style for at least 2017. I was wondering if these type of sellers are appropriate for traditional displays. Can you get them with an Aussie plug that is safe? Or do they come as just a strand of lights with no power supply?
I've looked at some of the Christmas shops and there prices are sky high. Twice the price of Big W even before Big W was on sale. Is there any Aussie retailers that anyone could recommend?
I know it's not a Computer controlled light question, but any help.would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Brett

 

[David_AVD]

I would be wary of buying LED fairy lights (strings and nets) from Chinese eBay and AliExpress sellers. They are almost always mains voltage (240V) and are dodgy as hell.

There are only a couple of suppliers of low voltage strings and nets on eBay. Look for ones that say they come with a power adapter. It can be hard to tell and asking the seller will often result in incorrect answers. Buying from an Australian eBay seller can give you a better chance. Here's one (link) that seems to have some SAA approved ones.

I don't recall the names of the Chinese suppliers of low voltage strings. From memory there are minimum order quantities involved.

The other thing to keep in mind is that most LED strings these days are the 2-wire type (as apposed to the older 3-wire type). The 2-wire type can only be used on a special type of DC controller (example), not the common switched negative DC controllers.

 

[bjpc2716]

the dollar is stuff losing about 30 percentage

 

[scamper]

If you are looking at eventually doing a controlled xmas show, you would be wise to look hard at the choices you make now.
Like David said, firstly the 2 wire Big W type lights are harder to modify.
Secondly you can get some LED strips / strings that a lot of times you can get with enclosed power supplies and basic controllers that will do the same as any other and then just change the controller when you go full show.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC12V-5050-RGB-LED-Strip-60LED-m-5M-Lot-IP20-non-waterpfoof-RGB-Strip-5050-24key/32669609258.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.39.MAcX42&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10065_10068_10000009_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10060_10061_10062_10056_10055_10054_10059_9912_10099_10078_10079_427_426_10103_10073_10102_10096_10052_10050_10107_10051_10106-9912,searchweb201603_2,afswitch_2&btsid=d3c683dc-e0b8-4828-9f1f-5eb0f9fe24f0
The above is just an example of what I mean and I am sure you could get them much cheaper.

 

[Brett82]

Thanks guys. I guess I have a bit to think about. Looking forward to picking some brains at this year's Sydney mini.