LED Christmas lights

[sathya44]

I use warm white LED lights. They're very similar to incandescent white lights. I use some of these outside and I put these on my Christmas tree inside. I use multicolored LED lights outside too!

[Elf_Erv]

i use led on the porch tree, for the house tree I'm still using the old fashioned type.

[Mistletoe]

I prefer the incandescent lights, though my neighbor uses the LED outside and after several years they're growing on me. They're colorful, but cooler toned. I'm glad that they're making progress making LEDs more warm, because I'd really like to use the C-7's again, with their true colors, but the incandescent ones get so hot!

[Bishop1954]

Outside I have been switching to LEDs as mine burn out. Inside, though it may cost more, I prefer traditional c7 or mini lights. To me they are more subtle... :snowman:

[Mistletoe]

Outside I have been switching to LEDs as mine burn out. Inside, though it may cost more, I prefer traditional c7 or mini lights. To me they are more subtle... :snowman:
Do you have incandescent c-7's on any of your trees?

[Bishop1954]

Oh yes. In fact I found a place that also has the old style twinkle lights available... :home:

[christmasdownunder]

I love Christmas lights!

[Mistletoe]

Oh yes. In fact I found a place that also has the old style twinkle lights available... :home:
I love the c-7 incandescent twinkle lights!

Aren't you nervous using the hot c-7's on your trees?

Back when I first took over putting the lights on, I was testing the strands and part of the lights were laying across the back of my father's chair and burned a hole in it, in that short a time. Even before that he never wanted the lights lit on the tree for very long. I just thought he was being anti-Christmas, but now I can see why.

[Bishop1954]

They can get hot, so I only use them on artificial tress and no more than four strands (100 lights). But really when they are that big, 100 is just fine. It does stay on less than the others and never overnight. :christmastree:

[Kage]

I only use warm lights. Christmas is all about warmth and coziness for me.

[Bishop1954]

I like the LED outside for their brightness (especially on those snowy nights), but prefer miniature inside for the softer glow... :home:

[sharonDavis]

I agree. Warm white looks nice and cozy.

[Bishop1954]

I do have to admit though, that I prefer the multi-colored bulbs over plain white... :xmaswink:

[Mistletoe]

I do have to admit though, that I prefer the multi-colored bulbs over plain white... :xmaswink:
As do I. It seems the LED C-9's I just bought have a very similar color to the incandescents, but I'm starting to worry that I'm not going to like how big they are. When I went to Home Depot to look at the LEDs, the C-9's looked only slightly bigger than the incandescent C-7's, so that's why I ordered C-9's online. But the company I bought them through has C-9's as large as the incandescent C-9's.

[Bishop1954]

C-7s are cool, but I like the miniature ones. Especially with the controls that make them wave or blink... :rudolph:

[Mistletoe]

C-7s are cool, but I like the miniature ones. Especially with the controls that make them wave or blink... :rudolph:
I did what Papa_Christmas said- I bought the empty outdoor light strings and boxes of LED c-9 replacement bulbs, plus a few twinkling LED bulbs that I could intersperse throughout them, which is supposed to prevent them from all blinking at the same time and they're supposed to blink slower, like the incandescents. Not sure if it will have the desired effect, but I'm itching to turn them on and see! Less than a week now! :christmastree:

[Bishop1954]

I still have C7 and C9 'twinkle' bulbs. I always liked the random flashing and use to lay on the floor when I was younger and watch the show on the ceiling... lol :presents2:

[Mistletoe]

I still have C7 and C9 'twinkle' bulbs. I always liked the random flashing and use to lay on the floor when I was younger and watch the show on the ceiling... lol :presents2:
Me too! So beautiful!

[Bishop1954]

Don't you just hate it, when you check out a string, they work just fine and then after you put it up... nothing? Oh well, it will not keep me down... :waving:

[Mistletoe]

Don't you just hate it, when you check out a string, they work just fine and then after you put it up... nothing? Oh well, it will not keep me down... :waving:
Ugh- I wish I didn't know that so well. Don't jinx me- mine worked a few weeks ago when I put them up, but we've had some windy days and that usually knocks some of them out. I will know how they fared tomorrow night!
I just put the candles on in the windows- ahhh...I missed this.

[Bishop1954]

Same here. Got the string changed yesterday. The Limo tours have begun, so I need to put the final touches on the outside and then I can finish up inside... :elf3:

[Mistletoe]

Welllll....I was in shock the first night I put the outside lights on. I am not a fan of blue LED light. One place I have them is on the large bush right outside the kitchen door, and normally I love to see the warm glow the lights throw off. These lights are so bright, it makes it look like it's daylight outside when the blinds on the door are cracked. The whole front of the house is bathed in blue light and the whole backyard into the woods. When I plugged them in in the house before putting them on, they looked like they would be good, but maybe because it was daylight I didn't notice. I took pictures of them, but they don't come out looking as bad in the pictures. I was going for a happy, cheerful look, but these colors don't say Christmas to me- they're more like party lights. Usually when I have the incandescent colored minis on the bushes they gave off a warm colorful glow and the candles in the windows are brighter than them. These LEDs make it so you don't even notice that there are candles in the windows. I was trying to push all the lights into the middle of the front bushes to try and dim the glare, which helped slightly. The bush by the kitchen is deciduous, so there's really nowhere to hide them (and I only got enough to cover half of it!). I've been trying to get used to them, or decide if I should return them, maybe for C-7s. But I noticed that some LED minis I saw around the neighborhood are really bright, so I'm thinking it won't really make that big of a difference to get a C-7.
And the blinking LED bulbs leave a lot to be desired. They blink well- slower like the incandescent, but they're the solid colors, not clear, so they don't show pretty patterns of the branches. It's kind of just a flat effect. And even if they were clear, that would just throw off even more blue light.
I happened to pass a house that had the incandescent C9s and it was such a big difference- compared to the blue tone mine has, theirs had an orangey? look- drastically warmer.
I also was at my sister's tonight and she had clear incandescent C9s on her tree. I was able to touch them- they were warm and not hot. I just tried touching the C7's in my candles and it's the same thing. Somewhere along the line they stopped being hot and I had no idea! I could swear it was not too long ago that I burned my fingers trying to unscrew a lit candle bulb.
So now I'm thinking maybe I'll keep the C9 wires and send back the LED bulbs and get incandescent bulbs. What do you think? I'm thinking I should be okay with them on the bushes just being warm...? I normally have the lights on dusk to dawn...

[Bishop1954]

Interesting. I use LEDs outside on a few small wreaths. Other than that, it is regular mini lights or C9... :home:

[Mistletoe]

While I was doing research all day on which incandescent bulbs to get, I was seeing that people were still complaining that they were hot. I feel like I'm missing something.
Bishop- are the C7 or C9s you currently use hot to the touch? Or just warm, where you can leave your fingers on them?

[Bishop1954]

The older C7 & C9 bulbs will get too hot to touch with your bare hands. Whether or not the newer ones get that way, I'm not sure as I have not had to replace mine yet... :snowman:

[prancer]

nice :elf1:

[Bishop1954]

I have C9's on the area above my garage and enough to lay on the side. The 6" of snow that fell could not keep them away. The heat melted the snow and the lights still shine through... :santa2:

[Mistletoe]

I just got my incandescent bulbs today and changed out the LEDs on one of the bushes. They look nice and warm, but so much darker! I think the LEDs I have fried my eyes. :santahat: The incandescent do get warm, but I don't think hot enough to cause damage- I can leave my fingers on them. I haven't blown a fuse yet, which is good. Tomorrow I will change out the other 2 and see what I think (and whether those will blow a fuse).

[Bishop1954]

No doubt that the LEDs are much brighter. Just a matter of preference I suppose... :elf3:

[Mistletoe]

Yes, it's a drastic difference in brightness. But now with the incandescents in, I WANT to look out at my lights- they give me pleasure, where I can stand looking at them for a little while and feel happy. I would glance out at the LED and be like, yep, there they are.

They didn't have the purple bulbs I wanted, so I had to get extra red and green to take the purple's place this year, so even though there are multiple colors, the overall effect is red. I think because the orange tends to look reddish, too. It's okay- I still prefer them!

[Bishop1954]

Sounds very nice. I had to do some serious searching on the "net" to find the right colored bulbs (and the twinkle C7's and C9's), but it was worth the time... :waving:

[darketernal]

Isn't practically everything led light nowadays? I got a christmas light from my grandma which is still non-led light.

[Mistletoe]

Isn't practically everything led light nowadays? I got a christmas light from my grandma which is still non-led light.
Yes, pretty much everything in the stores is LED. Thankfully they're still selling the incandescents online, but I really wanted to just pop over to the store to pick up what I needed.

What kind of a light did your grandma give you?

[Bishop1954]

Yeah, due to their being more economical, incandescents are in the minority. Which is why (like Mistletoe) I do a lot of online shopping for my lights. :santasmile: