# LED Ropelight



## Chris M. (Dec 2, 2004)

To save from hi-jacking Darell`s topic about the LED christmas tree any more, I`ll start another one.

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Ropelight has become so very popular in recent years for holiday decorating, whether in straight lengths for edging rooflines, windows, etc, or pre-fitted to frames in various seasonal figures. However it has some serious problems, not least the fact that the miniature bulbs are sealed in to the translucent plastic rope and cannot be replaced. No matter what the packaging might try to tell you, sooner or later those bulbs *will* need to be replaced, and since you cannot do that easilly if at all, instead a whole chunk of rope will need to be cut out and replaced. Given the effort to replace the tube on a silhouette frame, it`s usually easier just to buy a new one. Other minusses are the hideously large amount of power most of the stuff takes, the vast heat given off when used indoors and the fact that whether it`s coloured bulbs in a clear tube or clear bulbs in a coloured tube, it always fades eventually and looks washed-out.

For the longest time I had wondered just why it couldn`t be made with LEDs, especially since the introduction of ForeverBright and the like. They would be perfect - very low power, cool running, long lasting, bright vibrant fadeless colours. This Festive Season got me thinking again so I hit Google and went looking. And hit the jackpot! No idea when it was first introduced, but it can`t have been all that long ago, now "neon" ropelight is avaliable with LEDs, just like regular miniature lights and even C7s are. Looking at various vendors, there are a multitude of different types. From simple round single-channel stuff in a selection of colours for seasonal silhouettes, to flat multicolour multichannel stuff for dynamic colour-changing architectural effects.

I ordered some "domesticated" stuff (pre-packaged) from http://festive-lights.com to see what it was like, and hopefully include in my lights display too. One 8-meter length of white and two blue "Spiral Trees", cos I like spiral trees /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif It arrived today and here are some preliminary photos and impressions.

The rope is about 1/2 inch diameter, clear and uses small milky diffused 3mm LEDs that are wired in two circuits (every other LED alternating). Controlled by a pushbutton multi effect controller, and thank goodness these are slowly being updated with one or two better patterns and *memory* so they stay where you set`em from one day to the next. Though the LEDs are diffused, they are still quite directional, and since they lay lengthwise along the tube, they appear brighter on one side of the coil than the other:







Laid along in a line, the effect is less pronounced and just as good as the regular filament-bulb type. A close-up of the LEDs:






And as with all good series-wired mains-powered LED lights, there`s resistors in there to keep the current down. It gets a little warm after a while but not excessive and nowhere *near* as hot as the ordinary bulb-based stuff does. Plug in an unwrapped spool of that and it will melt in minutes with a horrible stink /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif ...






Colour is on the purple side but that`s good, it`s a cold icy white that stands out a mile. Clear filament-bulb rope isn`t really white either, it`s usually a horrid orangey yellowy colour.

You`ll have to wait until next week to see the Spiral Trees as they are outside already and the lights don`t go on till Monday. When first unpacked they were in a dreadful mess, lopsided and uneven. A half hour spent fiddling with the guy-wires adjusting the spacing from one coil to the next and they look good now. The blue LEDs are a nice deep intense colour, same milky-diffused 3mm as the whites and in clear tube too.

The only downside to this LED rope light is the cost. 8 meters of white was £60 (~US$115!), as were the Trees. On the plus side, the power consumption is minimal, the colours are great and won`t fade, the LEDs should last ages and if they blow over in the winter storms (or I trip on a power cord), nothing`s going to break and leave a dark section.

In the UK: http://festive-lights.com have a small selection of 240 volt powered type. In the US, most sites I found sold it by the drum for many many $$$ but this place has it in shorter lengths, in a choice of colours and voltages. Note that I do not know if it is the same or similar to mine. 

If you like ropelight but hate all the negatives it has, I`d wholeheartedly recommend the LED variety.


Wasn`t sure where to put this. It isn`t really a review, it isn`t a LED flashlight, guess here is as good a place as any since it`s more of a general lighting product. After all, you can use it all year round for a bit of architectural mood lighting....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


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## Lynx_Arc (Dec 2, 2004)

One thing nice thing is unless it is stolen it will pay for itself in electricity and replacement costs over the next decade. You can run it 24/7 without worrying about having a second mortgage to pay the increased bills.


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## mdrejhon (Dec 3, 2004)

One of the things that I've thought of is finding a source of 3/4" or 1" clear plexiglas tube, and stuffing the newer bright blue ForeverBright Xmas lights inside them -- creating a more inexpensive, albiet rigid, rope lighting. The tube would force the 1" bulbs to be spaced only 2" apart or thereabouts, lengthwise, so that a 50-bulb ForeverBright would yield a 12-foot-long rigid rope light. Much more closely-spaced bulbs than stringing the Xmas lights by itself, allowing continuous light for accent lighting.

Red, Green, Blue could be stuffed in separate tubes and attached to dimmers, and you'd have tunable full-color accent lighting available for a 12 foot stretch, for under $25 each per color including the cost of the plexiglas tube (if one of the correct diameter could be sourced)

It wouldn't be appropriate for all purposes, but this probably would be the most inexpensive way to get LED accent lighting!


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## EricB (Dec 3, 2004)

It's actually not as new as you may think. A lower Manhattan (Chinatown) hardware store has had a white LED ropelight on display (and usually on) for two years now. The price was forbidding, though. That was the problem with LED ropelights. LEDtroncs has had them for a while too. (http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/rpld01/default.asp). The prices seem to be getting much better now.


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## Ken_McE (Dec 4, 2004)

*DIY Ropelight Tube*

If you want to make your own ropelight you can buy flexable clear plastic tubing at hardware stores. It is not ornamental, it is perfectly functional tubing. I think they use it for milking cows and stuff. The idea is that you will KNOW if you have the equipment properly washed out after you clean it.


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## Darell (Dec 6, 2004)

*Re: DIY Ropelight Tube*

One of my favorite activities this time of year is watching what Chris M. does. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## James S (Dec 6, 2004)

*Re: DIY Ropelight Tube*

as you leave these outside for a while, the other thing I'll be interested to know is if the plastic yellows in the sunlight. I've had some of the regular ones yellow to a really nasty yellow-brown color in not very much time at all. I don't know if it's from the UV, or more likely the heat of the little bulbs in there.

When you say the bulb versions aren't very bright and use a lot of power, I think thats an understatement /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif they are completely useless for lighting. even an under shelf light or something like that. I've got 100 watts worth of them arranged in several rows over my kitchen cabinets for up-lighting. When the overhead lights are on you can't hardly tell that they are even on. I use them only as a night light. Since they are 100 watts that becomes a night light, I don't turn them on very often, the computer turns them on for a short time only when the security system sees that someone is in the kitchen after we've gone to bed. So wandering around for a snack in the middle of the night I don't trip over whatever my daughter has left in the middle of the floor /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

i've got 80 watts worth of them on top of the armoire in our bedroom. My wife can turn them on from the remote on her bedside table when she needs a little light to feed the baby in the middle of the night. 80 watts, and used as an uplight they don't wake the baby!

They had a whole pallet of these at SAMM's a few years ago, and I wanted to experiment with them, but they were $20 for the 80 watt length. But every few months the price would drop a few dollars and the pallet would shrink until they were $4.99 and I picked up a few /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I imagine that the LED ones could be considerably brighter and use much less power. I can't wait to play with those!


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## Chris M. (Dec 6, 2004)

*Re: DIY Ropelight Tube*

D - see my "Holiday Lighting enthusiasts" topic in the Café. 12000+ lights now on! More photos to come on the Displays site in the forthcoming days/weeks too. I`m waiting to see if it`ll snow at all this season before taking most of the pictures though. Probably won`t but you never know...

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We don`t get much in the way of sun here in South Wales in the winter time either /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif , but I`ll keep an eye on them of course for any sign of degradation. Might put the straight length of white out back in the summer for some architectural accenting round the patio, or just spiral it round the Euculyptus tree at the top of the garden. It looks decent enough but of course you just never know with plastics. It`s usually the heat from the little mini-bulbs that darkens/discolours ropelight, which of course is not an issue with LEDs. Near-UV wavelengths from the blues on the other hand....


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/santa.gif


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