Friday, November 25, 2005
T'is the season to hunt for broken lightbulbs
Twelve years ago the wife brought home her 1st box of christmas lights and asked me if I would hang them off the gutters on the roof. It seemed like a simple request which I complied with.
The next year there were 2 boxes and a santa and a reindeer pattern that needed to be cut our of plywood and painted.
This year there are over 40 boxes of lights, moving reindeer, blow up santas and the original plywood painted santa and reindeer. They take 2 days to put up and several nights to get right including hours spent trying to find the one blown light bulb that is stopping 20 other lights from working.
We are not the only ones of course. Several of my neighbours are into it as well. Despite the relative inascessibility of our street (well away from the main road) we get a steady stream of cars and visitors on foot. I can't imagine this happening in the colder climates but in Sydney its summer and a night wandering the suburbs looking at christmas lights can be a great way to keep the pounds off.
When you end up with this many christmas lights you need to be organised. Last year I threw out my original box of lights as the wiring finally gave out. Careful care for lights can mean they will last for years as long as you treat them right. I thought I would list out some hints on how to do the christmas light thing without going insane.
1. Have a high paying job. Doing the christmas light thing is not cheap. Lights cost between $10 and over $100 each. Typically you get way you pay for. Cheap ones typically do very little and dont last. More expensive lights are typically more interesting and if handled right last longer.
2. LED lights are low maintenance but once they fail you have to throw them out. It says on the box that you cant fix them and generally you can't. There is one exception. If you know exactly which LED has failed you can work around it by shorting it out.
3. If you have bulbs buy a bulb tester. While you can find a broken bulb without one ... they cost less than $2 and they save a heap of time.
4. If you are going to buy more than 2 of a single type of light then you are better off buying a 3rd for spare bulbs than buying spare bulbs in packets. Spare bulb packets give you 5-10 bulbs usually 1-2 of each colour. The price for these few spares is exhorbitant compared to the original cost of the sets so buying an extra set for spares almost always pays off.
5. When your lights finally die throw them out but remove the bulbs first. In lieu of 4 above scavenging the lights from sets you are throwing out can provide you with planty of spares. Of course not every set takes the same sort of bulbs so this is not perfect but these days I find I rarely need to buy a spare bulb.
6. Label everything. Once you start to accumulate sets of lights it is important you label the adaptors and the lights themselves otherwise you will start to mix them up. Mixing up adaptors with the wrong lights is a great way to ruin them. I label mine with masking tape and a marker.
7. Keep a spreadsheet of your lights including details such as:
- The label on each set
- The manufacturer - useful if you have to buy bulbs
- The Voltage and wattage of the replacement bulbs - also useful if you have to buy bulbs. Remember Wattage = Volts x Amps.
- Where you hung the lights
- Where you plugged them in
- Any extras you needed such as extension cords
8. Buy a fishing tackle box (or 4) to keep all those spare bulbs in. Remember to label the compartments with the Watts and Volts of the globes you put in them.
9. If you tend to put the lights up in the same palce each year then spending a little bit more time preparing mounts to hang the lights on can save a huge amount of time when you come to hang them next year. Most mounts are small enough that they dont look bad even if left in place for the whole year. My favourite mounts are cable clamps with the nail through them. I remove the nail and replace it with a screw which I then either screw into wood or into a plug I insert in the brick work. It then only takes seconds to hang the lights the following year on these existing mounts.
10. My final suggestion is to go out and buy a pack of 500 nylon wire ties. These little pieces of plastic are useful for tying up lights and keeping your cables tidy. I use several hundred each year. They are a lot easier than alternatives like string and looping lights around things
Now I have a month of testing for broken bulbs before I get to spend another whole day pulling them all down and packing them up in boxes for another year. It is a lot of work but my wife, kids and the steady stream of visitors really get a kick out of it and I guess I get a kick out of that.
The next year there were 2 boxes and a santa and a reindeer pattern that needed to be cut our of plywood and painted.
This year there are over 40 boxes of lights, moving reindeer, blow up santas and the original plywood painted santa and reindeer. They take 2 days to put up and several nights to get right including hours spent trying to find the one blown light bulb that is stopping 20 other lights from working.
We are not the only ones of course. Several of my neighbours are into it as well. Despite the relative inascessibility of our street (well away from the main road) we get a steady stream of cars and visitors on foot. I can't imagine this happening in the colder climates but in Sydney its summer and a night wandering the suburbs looking at christmas lights can be a great way to keep the pounds off.
When you end up with this many christmas lights you need to be organised. Last year I threw out my original box of lights as the wiring finally gave out. Careful care for lights can mean they will last for years as long as you treat them right. I thought I would list out some hints on how to do the christmas light thing without going insane.
1. Have a high paying job. Doing the christmas light thing is not cheap. Lights cost between $10 and over $100 each. Typically you get way you pay for. Cheap ones typically do very little and dont last. More expensive lights are typically more interesting and if handled right last longer.
2. LED lights are low maintenance but once they fail you have to throw them out. It says on the box that you cant fix them and generally you can't. There is one exception. If you know exactly which LED has failed you can work around it by shorting it out.
3. If you have bulbs buy a bulb tester. While you can find a broken bulb without one ... they cost less than $2 and they save a heap of time.
4. If you are going to buy more than 2 of a single type of light then you are better off buying a 3rd for spare bulbs than buying spare bulbs in packets. Spare bulb packets give you 5-10 bulbs usually 1-2 of each colour. The price for these few spares is exhorbitant compared to the original cost of the sets so buying an extra set for spares almost always pays off.
5. When your lights finally die throw them out but remove the bulbs first. In lieu of 4 above scavenging the lights from sets you are throwing out can provide you with planty of spares. Of course not every set takes the same sort of bulbs so this is not perfect but these days I find I rarely need to buy a spare bulb.
6. Label everything. Once you start to accumulate sets of lights it is important you label the adaptors and the lights themselves otherwise you will start to mix them up. Mixing up adaptors with the wrong lights is a great way to ruin them. I label mine with masking tape and a marker.
7. Keep a spreadsheet of your lights including details such as:
- The label on each set
- The manufacturer - useful if you have to buy bulbs
- The Voltage and wattage of the replacement bulbs - also useful if you have to buy bulbs. Remember Wattage = Volts x Amps.
- Where you hung the lights
- Where you plugged them in
- Any extras you needed such as extension cords
8. Buy a fishing tackle box (or 4) to keep all those spare bulbs in. Remember to label the compartments with the Watts and Volts of the globes you put in them.
9. If you tend to put the lights up in the same palce each year then spending a little bit more time preparing mounts to hang the lights on can save a huge amount of time when you come to hang them next year. Most mounts are small enough that they dont look bad even if left in place for the whole year. My favourite mounts are cable clamps with the nail through them. I remove the nail and replace it with a screw which I then either screw into wood or into a plug I insert in the brick work. It then only takes seconds to hang the lights the following year on these existing mounts.
10. My final suggestion is to go out and buy a pack of 500 nylon wire ties. These little pieces of plastic are useful for tying up lights and keeping your cables tidy. I use several hundred each year. They are a lot easier than alternatives like string and looping lights around things
Now I have a month of testing for broken bulbs before I get to spend another whole day pulling them all down and packing them up in boxes for another year. It is a lot of work but my wife, kids and the steady stream of visitors really get a kick out of it and I guess I get a kick out of that.
