Christmas Lights - LED vs Incandescent

[Scarpozzi]

Basically, it depends.

I've taken the last couple years off, but I typically have 30,000 lights on our house every Christmas synchronized to music. For my situation, LEDs have a lot of issues. A lot of Christmas lights enthusists use LEDs because they have much richer colors that don't fade and they can put 4 to 10 time the amount of lights on a circuit. However, they buy professional grade LED strings that have real rectifiers in them (strings you buy at the store almost never have them) and without a rectifier the lights have a really annoying 60 Hz flicker and aren't nearly as bright.

Most LED strings you buy at the store are garbage. LEDs don't burn out, they rust out on these strings. A properly driven LED will last 10k hours but of course they probably aren't probably driven either. You actually want to avoid strings of replaceable LEDs because if the bulb is not sealed, it will eventually rust. The desire for replaceable LEDs causes more issues than if they were sealed. You also have to take account the wear on the wire. Often times the wire itself comes loose in the socket and no longer makes contact with the bulb.

If you want solid colors, then LEDs are amazing. They don't fade and are only emitting color in that color spectrum. However, white or "clear" LEDs are a completely different issue. White LEDs are basically blue light with a pinch of yellow mixed in. As a result, the default white LED is actually quite blue. Warm or soft white LEDs are better as they try to mix in more yellow, but it's really hard to match the warmth of clear incandescent light. Another caveat, I'd avoid multi color LED strands because they mostly turn into just blue light. The blue LEDs usually end up being brighter and outshining the other colors, especially red.

You probably will never make up the cost of LEDs unless you live in an area with expensive power or leave them on all night. Incandescent strings are about $3-5 for 100 bulbs and LED strings are somewhere around $10 for 50 bulbs. I typically would get about three years per incandescent string, and much longer if I bothered to trouble shoot strings with this ( http://lightkeeperpro.com/ ).

In my experience, the light strands have gotten cheaper and cheaper. Basically, the quality of plastics used to make the strands are lower and UV rays break them down much quicker. I hadn't thought of rust being a problem because copper and aluminum are typically rust resistant and I'd expect them to be better sealed....but I don't doubt that if they're in a wet environment and aren't made with the right materials, they're probably designed to fail.

 

[LegendKiller]

Basically, it depends.

I've taken the last couple years off, but I typically have 30,000 lights on our house every Christmas synchronized to music. For my situation, LEDs have a lot of issues. A lot of Christmas lights enthusists use LEDs because they have much richer colors that don't fade and they can put 4 to 10 time the amount of lights on a circuit. However, they buy professional grade LED strings that have real rectifiers in them (strings you buy at the store almost never have them) and without a rectifier the lights have a really annoying 60 Hz flicker and aren't nearly as bright.

Most LED strings you buy at the store are garbage. LEDs don't burn out, they rust out on these strings. A properly driven LED will last 10k hours but of course they probably aren't probably driven either. You actually want to avoid strings of replaceable LEDs because if the bulb is not sealed, it will eventually rust. The desire for replaceable LEDs causes more issues than if they were sealed. You also have to take account the wear on the wire. Often times the wire itself comes loose in the socket and no longer makes contact with the bulb.

If you want solid colors, then LEDs are amazing. They don't fade and are only emitting color in that color spectrum. However, white or "clear" LEDs are a completely different issue. White LEDs are basically blue light with a pinch of yellow mixed in. As a result, the default white LED is actually quite blue. Warm or soft white LEDs are better as they try to mix in more yellow, but it's really hard to match the warmth of clear incandescent light. Another caveat, I'd avoid multi color LED strands because they mostly turn into just blue light. The blue LEDs usually end up being brighter and outshining the other colors, especially red.

You probably will never make up the cost of LEDs unless you live in an area with expensive power or leave them on all night. Incandescent strings are about $3-5 for 100 bulbs and LED strings are somewhere around $10 for 50 bulbs. I typically would get about three years per incandescent string, and much longer if I bothered to trouble shoot strings with this ( http://lightkeeperpro.com/ ).

Where do you get your lights? Costco has GE 100 light icicle lights for $15.49 right now, I see they have some bad reviews on amazon but considering Costco's warranty I'd be willing to try them unless I can find better lights for less somewhere else.

 

[Linflas]

Old school C7 incandescents for me.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Haven't seen an LED set yet that beats out the nostalgasm of the Incadescents. Personally, I find they're worth the trouble. After all, I only gotta deal with them once a year.

 

[NoTine42]

Old school C7 incandescents for me.

I run 150' of C7's on each side of my drive way, but that pretty much maxes out 2 outdoor circuits (with icecicles on the house)... Plus my C7's can only airy chain 3 strands.

If I could afford decent LED's I could actually run my entire driveway (1500') on one circuit, all daisy-chained together.

 

[blankslate]

LED's cost more upfront but in the long run you should save. for Christmas lights though which only are used a few days every year the math might not be as clear cut.

 

[rockyct]

WoW! Color me impressed!

There's no way I would have the energy to put those up and take them down.

I've got it organized pretty well and everything is planned out ahead of time. It takes about a week to set up and a week to tear down and sort. The real time was from creating the light sequences. You could download other people's sequences they uploaded or even buy them, but they were usually too "blinky" for me. I used more color fades than most people so it's a different type of show. I used timings from some sequences I found, but most of the sequences I made completely. It would take 15 hours just to sequence one song.

In my experience, the light strands have gotten cheaper and cheaper. Basically, the quality of plastics used to make the strands are lower and UV rays break them down much quicker. I hadn't thought of rust being a problem because copper and aluminum are typically rust resistant and I'd expect them to be better sealed....but I don't doubt that if they're in a wet environment and aren't made with the right materials, they're probably designed to fail.

Rust is only an issue with LED strands because they use normal LEDs with pins that rust and put them in the same bulb holder as a incandescent bulb where it bends the pins around the edge of the holder to make contact with the wires. The bottoms of the bulb socket are usually exposed where the wire comes in so water gets in pretty easily. I live in San Diego so December is fairly dry and we don't get a ton of rain. I had a few LED strings (with replaceable bulbs) I was trying out rust in the second season. Strings definitely wear out quicker putting them up and taking them down every year but the Light Keeper makes it pretty easy to find which wire is loose and which burned out bulb has a defective shunt on incandescent strings.

Where do you get your lights? Costco has GE 100 light icicle lights for $15.49 right now, I see they have some bad reviews on amazon but considering Costco's warranty I'd be willing to try them unless I can find better lights for less somewhere else.

Yeah, GE LED lights are pretty much trash but honestly I haven't bought any LED strings in a few years so maybe they are better. I do look at the bulb construction every year on the displays, and it always looks to be identical as before. Your best bet is to try to find a sealed LED string. Years ago, Costco did have 100 count warm white sealed LED strings for about $15. I bought about 10 boxes and while there are some slight color variances between the strands, none of them have failed. I wish I had bought more now considering the price has not got down at all for LEDs and how rare it is to find sealed LEDs in stores.

Most of my incandescent strings came from Target and Lowes. I prefer the lower wattage Target strands and for a while they had solid color 100 bulb strands for about $2.50. One year after Christmas I cleaned up and got a couple hundred boxes for $1 each there. The blue strings I have to toss after the second year due to fading, but the red and green get another couple years before they fade too much. The clear strings almost last forever with the Light Keeper.

Most Christmas lights enthusiasts used to get their lights in the after Christmas sales but that's much less the case now. Those who use LED strings usually buy them sometime around February from Christmas light suppliers who only stock high quality LED strings with full wave rectifiers. They get pretty good discounts by buying then (although they don't actually get the lights until late spring/summer) but will still spend a couple thousand. The lights they use look amazing though.

 

[ThinClient]

Wow, I never realized there was so much to learn about christmas lights.

 

[dabuddha]

Haven't seen an LED set yet that beats out the nostalgasm of the Incadescents. Personally, I find they're worth the trouble. After all, I only gotta deal with them once a year.

This pretty much. I like the look of old incandescent. Makes me feel all warm and christmasy inside.

 

[Anubis]

Old school C7 incandescents for me.

THIS THIS THIS

they look SOO much better when it snows and they melt little pockets around them

 

[Ryland]

I use the older incandescent lights and stocked up on them a few years back at a walmart after-xmas sale.

 

[sdifox]

Don't get the cheap LEDs, they flicker which gives me a headache.

people pay extra for the shimmering light

 

[sdifox]

LED's cost more upfront but in the long run you should save. for Christmas lights though which only are used a few days every year the math might not be as clear cut.

Unless the control unit/power module die on you first. Then the whole string is dead.

 

[mmntech]

The LED lights are quite dull looking and flicker. Though they use less power and they're a lot more durable. I think they're fine for indoor use since they don't get hot. Just wish you could buy them as a DC string because like everyone says, the rectifiers they use are garbage.

We have them outdoors as well. They don't look as good in the old days, though they stand up better to being bashed around.

 

[JTsyo]

I've switched over to LEDs that my wife picked up at CVS after Christmas. Works well enough for the 7 shrubs that I place them on.

 

[Rubycon]

LEDs make displays like this possible!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ACkmg3Y64_s?rel=0

 

[JulesMaximus]

I prefer holiday lights myself.

Let the war on Christmas wage!!!

 

[rockyct]

The LED lights are quite dull looking and flicker. Though they use less power and they're a lot more durable. I think they're fine for indoor use since they don't get hot. Just wish you could buy them as a DC string because like everyone says, the rectifiers they use are garbage.

We have them outdoors as well. They don't look as good in the old days, though they stand up better to being bashed around.

From what I've seen, you're lucky to get any rectifier at all in store bought strings, unless you're talking about the diodes themselves. Typically, the string is wired so that half the diodes light up on the positive and the other half lights up on the negative.

These sites sell LED strings with full wave rectifiers. It's not true DC of course since they don't use smoothing caps, but those may actually cause issues if the strings were used in light shows. You basically end up with twice the light output (with twice the power usage as well):
http://www.creativedisplays.com/products/37
http://www.holiday-light-express.com/M6_mini_LED_Christmas_Lights.php
These are two of the main vendors for Christmas light enthusiasts. In case people have more questions, the main forum they use is at www.planetchristmas.com