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christmas tree lights
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020 12:15 amI'm taking the Christmas tree down. I might have kept it up longer, but for the lights having completely gone out. At the start of the season, half of the green and half of another color were already out. But some time after Christmas they all went out, and even after taking them off the tree and jiggling them all around, they still don't work. The controller may have broken. The fuses seem ok.
These lights were the mini-bulb incandescent kind, from K-Mart (I still have the box), called "Magic Lights", with 4 colors (red, yellow, green, blue) and 8 functions (combination, in waves, sequential, slo-glo, chasing / flash, slow fade, twinkle / flash, steady on).
I mostly used the "steady on" mode, but "slo-glo" was also nice. That would cycle through each color individually, slowly fading out one color while fading in another, staying on that color for a little while before fading out to the next.
I'd been wanting to replace the incandescent strand with LEDs anyway. So I bought a multicolor LED strand to replace them. The new strand's description listed the exact same 4 colors and 8 functions as the old one, so I was hopeful it would work the same way. But it doesn't. The new strand always has at least 2 colors on at the same time. Slo-glo simply switches between both sets of 2 colors. Also, the fading in and out is too fast, and the fade-in isn't done at the same time as the fade-out, so there is a moment where all the lights go dark. That is not nearly as smooth and relaxing as slo-glo on the old set was.
Based on videos I found online, it seems possible for LED strands to do slo-glo mode the same way as my old set. They can at least fade in and out in a slow and gradual fashion. But I didn't actually find any multi-color ones for sale along with a video demonstrating all their modes so that one could be certain how they worked.
So I've gone ahead and put the new strand on the tree. (When putting the tree away for storage, I fold the branches in against the trunk, and store it in a "Christmas tree bag" in the attic. I keep the lights on the tree so that setting it up again in December is easier.)
To put the lights on the tree, I first wove the light strand from the center of the tree up one branch on the left side of the branch towards the tip of the branch, and then back down the right side of the branch the same way. I did the whole first bottom level of branches like that. It was quite simple to do it that way; faster than my usual method. But then I determined it didn't look so good that way. Too much visible cord, too many straight lines of cord.
So I started over and did it my old way: wrapping the cord around the branch a few times from the center up towards the tip, and then weaving it back down the right side towards the trunk. It does look better that way. The cord isn't as noticeable as it doesn't have as many straight lines.
However, I ran out of lights before I ran out of tree branches. The top foot of the tree is relatively dark. Both the old and new strands had 300 lights each, but the old one was 112 feet long and the new one is only 105.
Another difference is that the old strand was really 2 strands, both attached to the same controller box. The new one is one long strand.
It occurs to me now that I could get 2 completely different strands in different colors, and put each strand on alternating branches. Then I could have either one, the other, or both sets on at once. I feel like having pink lights at the moment, and orange. But oh well. What is, is. The lights are on the tree now and I'm not taking them off again if I don't have to.
These lights were the mini-bulb incandescent kind, from K-Mart (I still have the box), called "Magic Lights", with 4 colors (red, yellow, green, blue) and 8 functions (combination, in waves, sequential, slo-glo, chasing / flash, slow fade, twinkle / flash, steady on).
I mostly used the "steady on" mode, but "slo-glo" was also nice. That would cycle through each color individually, slowly fading out one color while fading in another, staying on that color for a little while before fading out to the next.
I'd been wanting to replace the incandescent strand with LEDs anyway. So I bought a multicolor LED strand to replace them. The new strand's description listed the exact same 4 colors and 8 functions as the old one, so I was hopeful it would work the same way. But it doesn't. The new strand always has at least 2 colors on at the same time. Slo-glo simply switches between both sets of 2 colors. Also, the fading in and out is too fast, and the fade-in isn't done at the same time as the fade-out, so there is a moment where all the lights go dark. That is not nearly as smooth and relaxing as slo-glo on the old set was.
Based on videos I found online, it seems possible for LED strands to do slo-glo mode the same way as my old set. They can at least fade in and out in a slow and gradual fashion. But I didn't actually find any multi-color ones for sale along with a video demonstrating all their modes so that one could be certain how they worked.
So I've gone ahead and put the new strand on the tree. (When putting the tree away for storage, I fold the branches in against the trunk, and store it in a "Christmas tree bag" in the attic. I keep the lights on the tree so that setting it up again in December is easier.)
To put the lights on the tree, I first wove the light strand from the center of the tree up one branch on the left side of the branch towards the tip of the branch, and then back down the right side of the branch the same way. I did the whole first bottom level of branches like that. It was quite simple to do it that way; faster than my usual method. But then I determined it didn't look so good that way. Too much visible cord, too many straight lines of cord.
So I started over and did it my old way: wrapping the cord around the branch a few times from the center up towards the tip, and then weaving it back down the right side towards the trunk. It does look better that way. The cord isn't as noticeable as it doesn't have as many straight lines.
However, I ran out of lights before I ran out of tree branches. The top foot of the tree is relatively dark. Both the old and new strands had 300 lights each, but the old one was 112 feet long and the new one is only 105.
Another difference is that the old strand was really 2 strands, both attached to the same controller box. The new one is one long strand.
It occurs to me now that I could get 2 completely different strands in different colors, and put each strand on alternating branches. Then I could have either one, the other, or both sets on at once. I feel like having pink lights at the moment, and orange. But oh well. What is, is. The lights are on the tree now and I'm not taking them off again if I don't have to.