The notion of using indoor lights on an outdoor tree doesn't rank very high in the annals of common sense. You may wind up having a fire call (some FD's bill you for these things) or a tripped breaker, melted extension cords stuck to the stoop, etc. But, of course, if you relish the excitement of having the Red Cross people bringing coffee and things to the firemen as you stand around and chat with neighbors among the embers, go ahead. It will be a memorable holiday, and your insurance rates may only spike for a couple of years. Merry Christmas.
Using anything with an 'interior only' rating outside is flirting with disaster. Even if the tree is some distance from the house you don't know where the 'weak link' in the shorted out circuit might be. Even if the short is at the tree, the point that overheats and catches fire could be at a point near or even inside the house. If you're going to cut the tree down next summer, don't bother lighting it this holiday season. Or waste the $20 on a few strings of new lights to put on it.
All that said, are you sure the lights are 'interior only'? Unless they are really old, most lights I've seen in recent years are inside/outside.
Hi, It does. Outdoor ones need flexible wires in COLD weather. I live in cold region where temp. can dip down to -30, -40F. With wind chill it is even colder. Trying to hang a string of lightswith wires stiff like a chop stick? As of this year all my lights are LEDs. No more old glass filament bulbs. Outside deco. is all done a week ago. Wife is busy doing inside today. GTot aq foot of wet snow today. Had to clear drive way 3 times, LOL.
Can you even get christmas lights that are indoor only anymore? Look at the box, most will say for indoor or outdoor use only. Plug them into a GFCI protected circuit and you should be fine. If the lights are used, inspect them for abrasions, wires that have come out of sockets, broken or missing lamps, etc prior to use.
I have a few LED sets, some are better than others, but the tech is not quite 100% there yet. Most are too dim, most flicker, I added a full wave rectifier to one which greatly reduced the flicker. They're getting better every year, so maybe in a few more years they'll look better than the incandescent sort. What they need are multiple LED chips per lamp, wired antiphase to cancel the flicker.
All of the LED lights I have been able to find have some sort of design on the bulb and I like "plain" bulbs. Can't find any at WalMart or Target, any suggestions.
On Wed 10 Dec 2008 03:24:33a, Kurt Ullman told us...
Try a non big box type store, like an old-fashioned hardware store or a pool store that sells Christmas goods during the season. They tend to carry a larger variety and better quality product.
Some LED strings already contain full wave rectifiers. Also, I have some of those antiphase ones. Those have different colors. One of those has blue LEDs on one polarity and yellow LEDs on the other polarity.
As for colors, colored LED lights have more intense colors that are unlikely to fade.
I've found a lot of plain ones at Wal-Mart stores around here (it's now too late in the season for best selection). They had both multicolor and white, as well as icicle lights of both varieties. This seems to be the first year for white LED icicle lights.
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