Budget Christmas lighting?

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mgbridges

118 posts

Master Geek

#243298 5-Dec-2018 08:48

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I can't figure out where else...

Where can I get some reasonably-priced outdoor LED lighting (preferably solar, as I haven't (yet) got outdoor power at the new house)? I meant to get some in from AliExpress but I've left it too late, so I need somewhere local. Nothing too dramatic - I'm not trying to go all Franklin Road here - just some icicles, maybe some coloured LEDs.

Do Jaycar do this sort of stuff, or should I just hit up Mitre10? Ideally I'm looking for something of reasonable quality so I can re-use it next year.

Cheers,

Martin

trig42

5809 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2139572 5-Dec-2018 08:54

Warehouse or Bunnings.

Warehouse has buy 1 get second half prince on Christmas lights.

Bunnings seems to have a decent range of Solar lights. Looking to get some myself.

frankv

5680 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#2139715 5-Dec-2018 11:37

Think twice about icicles... they get beaten around by the wind, tangling and breaking.

noroad

949 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2139720 5-Dec-2018 11:49

Solar are always anemic compared to powered. My advise, go to Mitre10 and get a single 100M powered string, this will give you good coverage and a coordinated looking display with minimal effort and cost. https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/southern-lights-led-string-lights-multicoloured/p/321455 Small strings are a lot harder to deal with. one or two long strings can be powered from one point and will all work together rather than look random.

mgbridges

118 posts

Master Geek

#2139722 5-Dec-2018 11:51

noroad:

Solar are always anemic compared to powered. My advise, go to Mitre10 and get a single 100M powered string, this will give you good coverage and a coordinated looking display with minimal effort and cost. https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/southern-lights-led-string-lights-multicoloured/p/321455 Small strings are a lot harder to deal with. one or two long strings can be powered from one point and will all work together rather than look random.

Once I've got some outdoor power that's what I'll do, but I'm fairly certain I won't have that in place before Christmas.

noroad

949 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2140295 6-Dec-2018 06:36

mgbridges:

Once I've got some outdoor power that's what I'll do, but I'm fairly certain I won't have that in place before Christmas.

With the 100M string you might be able to start it from the house?

frankv

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#2140298 6-Dec-2018 06:51

mgbridges:

Once I've got some outdoor power that's what I'll do, but I'm fairly certain I won't have that in place before Christmas.

You can buy waterproof boxes that hold a 4-socket multi-box, although they're expensive. I've also had good success putting multi-boxes inside 2.25L Coke bottles. Slit the bottle up the side to put the box inside, stand the bottle up so it doesn't fill with water.

Then you can just run an extension lead from inside your house.

noroad

949 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2140299 6-Dec-2018 07:01

You can buy waterproof boxes that hold a 4-socket multi-box, although they're expensive. I've also had good success putting multi-boxes inside 2.25L Coke bottles. Slit the bottle up the side to put the box inside, stand the bottle up so it doesn't fill with water.

Then you can just run an extension lead from inside your house.

You can also just extend the DC cable between the adapter (inside the house) and the string controller. This is very easy (two or three core normally) and works fine.

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mgbridges

118 posts

Master Geek

#2140313 6-Dec-2018 08:11

noroad:

You can buy waterproof boxes that hold a 4-socket multi-box, although they're expensive. I've also had good success putting multi-boxes inside 2.25L Coke bottles. Slit the bottle up the side to put the box inside, stand the bottle up so it doesn't fill with water.

Then you can just run an extension lead from inside your house.

You can also just extend the DC cable between the adapter (inside the house) and the string controller. This is very easy (two or three core normally) and works fine.

Thanks - I just need to find a window I can leave open (enough).

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#2140315 6-Dec-2018 08:16

The DC cables are normally much thinner than mains cables. So alot easier to feed through a window, and close the window on the cable.