Not usually. Is this the type of lights with the psu effects box using leds, or the old screw in filament bulb sort? I've never had any problems coiling either, but on the other hand you do not want a tight bundle as if somebody trips over the wire you are likely to get the whole tree on your head! Also it goes without saying that cats can demolish trees and some animals like nothing else but to chew the cables. Brian
In most cases I've seen of problems with lights, its the power supply that has gone down. I'd keep that well away from anything flammable as some are truly cheap and cheerful, and also tend to radiate RF everywhere.
Brian
It's a string of LED lights operating at 24 volts designed for use outdoors, which is why the cord is so long. Given all the uncertainties here, I think it would be best to randomise the cable rather than coiling it up.
Thanks. I'll find a non-combustible surface. Probably taken from the world of cooking.
Some Christmas products, can be plugged serially (making a longer chain), but the box may have a warning about using too many of them in series like that.
Paul
Every cable carrying an electrical current will produce a magnetic field around it (it's one of the basics of our modern life) but that won't cause any heating effect per se.
I've seen flexible cables carrying 100A+ twitch if you suddenly apply (or remove) a big load. That's the cable's magnetic field interacting with the Earth's magnetic field.
Never leave an extension cable reel in its coiled up state and apply a significant load (more than a few 100 watts). I've seen one reduced to a tangled molten lump on a building site once. (It one of those 3kW room heaters connected)
A set of poxy old LED lights is unlikely to produce any detectable heat, but if it helps you sleep at night try it in a controlled situation and see what happens
I think you are over worrying!
If they are outdoor lights, then the flex is likely to be slightly heavier for reasons of physical robustness alone (even allowing for the usual Chinesium cost cutting).
Think about the total heating power available from the PSU, then think about the mass of material you have, its heat capacity, and its physical size. The few W of power available will dissipated in what is likely several meters of cable, will give you a fractional heating power per meter. Losses to the air, even if coiled, will be adequate to constrain the temperature rise.
There are none. What matters is that the current is just 0.25A
No need.
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