Incandescents
Incandescent lights
-
How do they make Christmas lights?
So, how does the factory make a string of Christmas Lights? It really helps to have a specialized machine and a lot of automation. This YouTube video is a bit dated and mixes incandescent with LED lights but it does a good job of showing how automation works. It also shows the difference between lights wired in series and parallel. You’ll better understand the phrase “when one goes out they all go out.” Standby while we load this from YouTube…
Read More » -
PlanetChristmas video from 2002
Back in the good-old-days the PlanetChristmas display at the Smith household was quite popular. The local Fox 17 news outlet from Nashville, Tennessee came out to film the display. That night they featured it on the local show… and it was obvious the news anchors had never previewed the video. Quite entertaining. The video is a bit blurry (keep in mind this was 2002 and before modern high definition TV). Some quick facts: 134,000 lights in the display 548 electrical circuits 7.8 miles of wire 212 minitrees
Read More » -
Put a mega-tree on the roof
It all started a couple of years ago when we needed to find a suitable house to help care for an aging relative. All my previous hard work building and sequencing a customized display for our old house was going down the drain. The old house had tons of shrubs and provided a natural setting for lots of lights. Not so with the new house. Not a single shrub anywhere. My creativity languished for 2011 and all I did was put a 16’ inflatable Santa on the carport roof. It was a good location where the south end of our…
Read More » -
Waterproofing those connectors
Water, water, everywhere, but I can’t seem to keep it outta here! Here, being my light show, the water loves the electrical connections like I love Christmas displays, the difference being I like them turned on and bright and the water likes them shorted out and dark! How to stop the evil water infiltration? Giant sponges? No, too hard to wring out each day. Umbrellas? Nope, blocks the lights. Hmmmmmmm, who will stop the rain, do’h, that’s a line from a song! OK, so here are the standard ways to protect the lights: electrical tape and duct tape. They work,…
Read More » -
Christmas car
Tim Smith takes lighting his car to an entire new level. We asked him why? “This is the 9th year I did it. Basically, it just makes everyone happier. When I take it downtown or in neighborhoods, you can see the atmosphere of the place just get lifted and I figure with the chaos that’s going on all over the place, if I can make someone forget about it for a few seconds and have them step out of reality and just smile then it is worth the time and effort put in. That is what makes it addicting. That’s…
Read More » -
The Christmas Ranch
I picked up the phone and it was Dr. Mike Fuchs, the owner of The Christmas Ranch northeast of Cincinnati. I had heard about this place for years and all I could imagine was Santa riding a horse or cooking a giant steak over the campfire, which seemed a bit odd to this Christmas lover. Mike is such a delight to talk with, has a deep passion for Christmas and a real desire to help others. He loves outdoor Christmas decorations and leaves his display up yea r-round. The more we talked the more I knew he was a PlanetChristmas…
Read More » -
LEDs vs, incandescents
This was supposed to be easy. Determine once and for all if it’s time for all of us to switch to LED (Light Emitting Diode) Christmas lights. Almost everyone has an opinion and are more than willing to share unless it’s going to be mentioned in a magazine article, then they clam up tight. Most are quite comfortable with the tried-and-true incandescent lights and have heard enough war stories about LEDs to not make the jump. Enough! My job is to get to the bottom of the LED versus Incandescent Christmas light story and tell you what to do. Ready?…
Read More » -
Wireframe tips and tricks
It seems that these days everyone is going to the LED lights. They use so much less electricity and seem to last longer than the old-fashioned incandescent mini-lights. Unfortunately, for long time decorators changing can be costly. In many cases, there’s nothing wrong with incandescent decorations if you give them gentle, loving care. You can expect many more years of life. There are some tricks of the trade for quickly refurbishing those old wire frames that are lit in incandescent lights. The obvious fist thing to do is replace the bulbs on the wire frame. This can be fairly easily…
Read More »