Are you thinking of the ones that are white, rather than the yellow of incansescents?
For normal single colors (like red, green, and blue), LEDs have better color. It's more intense and doesn't fade (since the light IS that color, rather than depending on a coating).
BTW, we need more colored lights out, instead of just those boring "white" ones.
On 12/11/2010 8:12 AM Brooklyn1 spake thus:
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, you are a *racist asshole*.
Fuck off.
Dont know if its the same problem you had but two years ago I put out some "white" LED lights and they were dull dim yellow in reality. I discovered this is because they only run on one half of each AC cycle so they are ON only 50% 0f the time. I corrected this problem using a bridge rectifer mounted in a quad outlet box. The only problem with this scheme is that the lights are polarity sensitive and wont come on at all if plugged in the wrong way(rotate light string plug 180 degrees). Otherwise the lights are much more brighter and vivid.
Jimmie
They didn't cut back on regular lights because of anything the government did. They sold some and people bought them out, so they made a lot more. It's the market system which I thought you conservatives liked.
OP If you want real lights, I'd look on the web, Google Web or Google Shopping. Yahoo Shopping, Ebay, and Amazon.
Although often ebay or Amazon items show up in Google web, I think not all the time and you have to look on them directly.
I've done this also, but you must remember that you are doubling the wattage dissipated by the LEDs and the series resistors, which are usually hidden in the sockets. This caould cause a heat related failure and possibly fire. My guess is that if anything were a problem, it would be the resistors. That said, mine have been working with a full wave rectifier, brightly I might say, for about
4 years. I used 4 individual diodes installed right in the string just after the plug and covered them with heat shrink. Another advantage, if you turn your head quickly while looking at the lights, they aren't as blinky as when running only on half wave.
I started to wire them like you did but thought it may be a little impractical for 20+ strings of lights. The LED lights are a little more pricey up front but I think they are going to be a lot less expensive over the long haul than incandescent lamps and Im not even considering power savings. After Xmass they are sell them at give away prices just like they did the incandescent ones so I will probably stock up.
Very true, if you have lots of light strings. I've only got 2 sets of LED Christmas lights and one I'm not even using since we moved into a new house. I also have 2 strings of "Halloween" LED lights, orange, which I used in both houses without the diodes. But, the blinkin' still drives me nuts.
probably made in china.
I'll second that....
Perhaps add a little capacitance to get closer to DC, but then you would have a good bit more power also and might want to add some series resistance. Since they draw so little current, you wouldn't need a large cap. It can be calculated... if you want.
Interesting idea, the full wave, but the brightness of the minis is OK with me, for my usage.
Jeff
I was just in Target. And before I even got to the LEDs the first string I saw were C9 red incandescents.
Jeff
Lowes, today, had a bunch of them. They had more incandescent types than LED.
On Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:16:49 -0500, Jeff Thies wrote:
The incondecent holiday lights are not big sellers for residential use anymore so many retail stores no longer carry them (some carry the minis - Sears). Incondescents also require more than double the warehousing space, there is lots of bulb breakage, and there are many returns, but they are still readily available on line... there are quite a few web sites, here's one:
Target was offering either kind. I like the LEDs, they don't seem as bright but they appear to be better made.
They (mini incandescents) are available everywhere here, usually in more varieties than LEDs. I don't like LEDs, much. The flicker is annoying (the PF has to be horrid) and the "white" ones are really ugly.
I toss the strings every few years but I have enough to last a long time. I buy them after Christmas for about $1 per string. I have 20 strings, or so, that I haven't opened yet.
Of course you ignore the cost of the LED strings.
Nonsense. You're making excuses to justify your expense.
You *really* are forgetting the cost of the lights.
Solar LEDs?
Choice is a good thing.
More nonsense.
You aren't looking very hard. There are plenty of the "old fashion" lights out there. Wally World has most display space for conventional light sets than the LED sets.
I agree they lack the brightness of the incadencent although I have some white led strings which come quite close. (The most "normal" looking ones have bulbs that look like the mini incadescent strings. The LED is a "hot spot" that looks a lot like the filament of an old style bulb. The more diffusion around the LED the less "conventional" it looks.)
But, hey, just use twice as many strings. In the medium run you save two ways: 1) you still save a LOT of power; and 2) the individual bulbs almost NEVER burn out. To me, the long life is the "tipping point."
One thing I don't like about the LEDs is that they are only "on" for about
30% of the power cycle.Basically, they "flash" 60 times each second.
That's way too fast you notice unless your eyes are "scanning" the lights. Then it's quite easy to see that would be a "light streak" with the old style lamps become a light of "light dots."
The mini incandescents are particularly inefficient. About 40W or so/
100 string.Run that for a few weeks most all the time and you've easily got $2/string. The incandescents were always a pain to keep them all going and usually easier to throw away. IMHO, the advantage in cost and time is LEDs.
Now, I don't like the larger c9 or so LED lamps as it is just one little light in a shell (what I've seen). The hot lamps are some power gluttons though and storage was always more hassle. Mine rarely get used as a result.
The minis (hot lamps) are pretty harmless, the larger sizes require caution. The cause of many many a house fire at one time.
I'm not sad to see the mini incs fading away. The others I'm more sentimental over. Efficiency isn't everything. XMAS is all about throwing money away, after all. Up to a limit.
Jeff
For some reason I find comforting that despite your admitted ignorance on the subject, you are still more than willing to chime in. Probably the consistency of it all.
The subject was LED Christmas lights, and I do know something because I have some. I also have the old style, so I can compare them.
I also know quite a bit about how Bush and his corporate friends caused one of the largest economic meltdowns in US history. I know how he lied to get us into a war with Iraq that was in the interests of hid corporate friends, but not the American people. So, I can pretty well guess that any actions towards Nigeria were to reward his corporate friends as well. Is that enough for Kurt to read or do we need more?
I do actually know one thing about the Bush Presidency and Nigeria. His VP just got indicted for bribary to get contracts for his corporate friends. See a pattern here?
More like 25W.
What exactly does "a few weeks most of the time" mean? 25W, five hours a day for a month costs about thirty-five cents.
I bought about $150 wroth of those two years ago. *UGLY*. I threw them away when I took them off the house, and bought thirty, or so, sets of incandescent lights for 1/5 what I paid for the LED strings.
Ya gotta talk apples to apples.
Except they're not fading away at all. Economics isn't with LEDs, at least not yet.
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