Plain coloured LED Strings

Goldie said:
Just My 2 cents, I had to throw away over $1,000 net lights 2 years ago due to the wires rusting, as I spread them open from the previous year, all the wires broke, leaving them useless
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i think waterproofing the strings yourself is probably the only way to ensure they last a bit longer. as sources for cheaper lights are found there is going to be some drawbacks with them due to the price we are willing or want to pay - one of those drawbacks will be the IP rating and UV rating of the strings.

with Kaxled i could have paid more to get a higher water proof and UV rating with proper rubber coated cable etc. but at quite a large increase in price per string. i took the risk because all mine were going under my verandah out of the elements. but next year i'll be putting some in the garden so i'll definately be waterprooing those myself. and with more and more people going the RGB route, you'd definately want to add extra waterproofing as each pixel node is too pricey to only last one or two years.

there is another thread going about some relatively inexpensive waterproofing techniques (Selleys All Clear Brushable) so keep an eye on that for the results. i've yet to find any toluene for thinning out the 'All Clear' so that it has good penetration into the lights so i haven't actually tried it yet. phil was on the hunt for some too but i'm not sure how he has gone.
 
fj said:
that doesn't sound quite right does it? maybe the curtains have more wire in them. question Kaxled about the prices and why the big increase in per string cost and postage.
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Yeah, I questioned him - he said the price was from July last year, and the current price is the best available. He also tried to tell me that it was for a 200 set minimum, even though I knew that wasn't the case..

fj said:
also, try BigVics supplier for prices too and go from there.
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Yes, I'd contacted mySolarLED late last week, and hadn't heard back - until just this afternoon Kelly has returned to the office and got back to me. As it turns out, for the simple strings, they are much cheaper, but the curtains are more expensive, so I may have to reevaluate my plans a little. (not even sure if covering the front of my house with curtains as planned would look any good!!)

Kelly has also said that he doesn't have a minimum order quantity, which is always good to hear.

To try and keep comparisons simple for those checking this out, I'll just stick to a benchmark of single strings of 100 (24V DC, no controller, bare wire). The price comparisons are as follows, based on current prices:

MySolarLED -> Red/Yellow: $4.71 Green/White: $5.65 Blue: $5.46
KaxLED -> Red: $5.08 Green: $7.20 White: $7.50
 
kanebullen said:
MySolarLED -> Red/Yellow: $4.71 Green/White: $5.65 Blue: $5.46
KaxLED -> Red: $5.08 Green: $7.20 White: $7.50
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those MySolarLED prices are much better !!!

i actually got an email from Anthony today, he emails me every now and then just to check up on how the lights are performing and i am pretty sure just to remind me they are still around :D

i've asked him about large price increases but i haven't heard anything back yet. if i do get an answer, and i usually do from him, then i'll let you know.

i wonder if they would work on commission? that might explain the large price difference, one salesman greedier than the other?
 
fj said:
those MySolarLED prices are much better !!!
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Given I just like to just get in and get things done, I've already put in my order with Kelly at MySolarLED. 60 "units" comprising of 52 strings and 8 curtains. They've shutdown for 4 weeks or something for New Years, so they won't be starting the order until the end of Feb, but obviously I'm in no real hurry!

As mentioned, shipping ended up being quite a high proportion of the cost, and although hard to calculate accurately, the approx "landed" price of each colour was as follows. This doesn't 100% correspond to the cost of a 100 LED string, as I had curtains with up to 720 LEDs in them that may affect the "per LED" price a bit.
Red: US$8.62/100 Green: US$9.56/100 white: $9.72/100

Actually, I have a quick question for the experts out there - I went for 24V, but just realised that I've purchased 27V switched power supplies (on the recommendations on here that suggested it was the ideal voltage, especially for the big W strings).. Would you recommend I get Kelly to change my order over to 27V LED strings instead, or will 24V strings handle 27V okay? (the power supply can be reduced down to 25V anyway)

Cheers!

Kane
 
forgot to mention, after reading the thread http://forums.auschristmaslighting.com/index.php/topic,440.0.html, I thought about getting some waterproof connectors, as my plan is to have all power supplies in my garage, and run cabling out to each string, etc. (I have a pretty small front yard, so runs won't be too long)

I was going to simply purchase some 2 core waterproof connectors to hook up myself (costing around $60 landed from a vendor on aliexpress), but then figured that I may as well get them done when the LED strings are put together, so save me half the soldering.

All up, actually cost me less (approx $55 including the extra postage) to get Kelly at MySolarLED to supply 80 connector sets (male/female), including connecting 60 of these to my strings and sticking the opposite connectors
(and the 20 spares) into the box.. Bargain!

Now, if only shipping costs were less, I'd get all my cables done exactly to measure, with connectors at each end, all ready to go!
 
Any chance of a video or photos of these LED's lit at night? I'm looking to buy some and it would be great to see your lights in action
 
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