Christmas Lights

[liberatordeluxe]

Do you think plain multi coloured lights look as festive without their shades? The majority of lights don't come with shades anyway. I know some call shaded lights retro but I've always like traditional classic lights that never go out of fashion. Just wondered what most people thought whether shades were necessary.

 

[vintagekitchen]

hmm..

If by shades you mean the plastic covers which make them look like the old c6 size bulbs, or the decorative plastic covers shaped like flowers or starbursts, I love them. It seemed like nearly everyone had them when I was a kid, then they were gone.

I havent seen any new ones in ages, (except those hideous LED lights with off colors and dim lights) but I have a ton of the plastic covers and can usually find new lights that the old covers will fit. I even found a multi-function (blinking, twinkling, chasing, etc) set of lights that the covers fit.

I will admit that they are brighter without the covers though. Just depends on the tree, size and fullness, and your decorating style I suppose.

 

[artcurus]

the reason that the plastic shades went out of style per say, is that they were considered a fire hazard. I've had 35 double flasher sets do a complete meltdown (while usually on the the tree >>facepalm>> ) but anyway. This was the reason for the "snap on" plastic reflectors from the mid 80s.

Personally I prefer with reflectors but it depends on the theme of the tree.

Pardon my French, but WTF is the fascination with LED Christmas lights? The more these abominations show up, it takes all I have not to go into a screaming rage. Well, not maybe to that level, but man.

We really are being duped to accept lower quality.

 

[firedome]

agree, much dislike for the LEDs...

but no problemo, have a lifetime supply of vintage GE C-7 bulbs, thanks to 58Limited!

 

[artcurus]

firedome,

Three colors I'm having a hard time finding, canary yellow, (usually used in Noma sets) white, and lord-help-us-here-it-comes-with-no..you get the picture, pink. Pink especially.

Can you help?

 

[vintagekitchen]

pink bulbs

25 bulbs for 4.95 plus shipping if I understood correctly

http://www.noveltylights.com/Pink-Ceramic-C7-5-Watt-Replacement-Bulbs.html

 

[vintagekitchen]

yellow bulbs

Same price as the pink..

http://www.noveltylights.com/Yellow-Ceramic-C7-5-Watt-Replacement-Bulbs.html

 

[artcurus]

Hey VK,

The yellow ones are very close but no cigar. I used those (along with the rest of the colors) when I relamped a bunch of C7 from the late 80's-early 90's.

However, these are the pink that I'm talking about, and this is at low or below average. This auction will probably run up around $80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-Vintage-...644?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58b92057d4

 

[vintagekitchen]

aaahhh..

I see. I thought thw yellow ones looked a bit different than the ones I remembered from when I was a kid, honestly didn't have a clue about the pink ones, lol.

The ones you linked to are a much prettier pink. The ones I found looked like they were stolen from barbie, lol.

 

[waterwitch]

Twinkle

I agree, I loath led light outfits. Whenever I find early light sets at the thrift stores, I snap them up quick. I especially adore the colored "transparent" TWINKLING lights. I love how they twinkle randomly.

 

[artcurus]

Hey Vk,

Yup, the 1950's pink bulbs have a very soft, pastel pink glow that's actually kinda soothing.

 

[twintubdexter]

Speaking as an outcast...

I really like some of the new LED lights, but then I hate stainless steel appliances and wouldn't take an old Foodarama if it was still in the box. Just call me an oddball, I've been called much worse.

 

I do appreciate vintage light sets. Somehere I have 4 sets of lights where the glass bulbs themselves are things like birds and Chinese lanterns. Once one burns out it's toast. I'll take a photo if I come across them.

 

[tolivac]

I'll stick up for LED lights,too.Just bought a few strings of them from Lowes and like the changing colors.And the LEDS put out the ACTUAL colors-not filtered as on incandescent sets.I think LED Christmas lights are getting better-I have some early Philips sets and agree-those are pretty bad.What I don't like about them is their flicker.Incandscent,flourescent and even HID bulbs have enough persistence so they don't appear to flicker.LED bulbs don't have the persistence-so the flicker is very apparent.It gets down to the LED drver circuit.Has to have enough capacitance in the supply to provide smooth DC power to the LEDS.

 

[artcurus]

@tolivac,

you just stated everything that's wrong with LED. While the colors are bright they are still too dim. The blues actually cause me physical pain from eyestrain. There are no capacitors in these, it's either full wave or half wave DC rectification depending on the brand. Half wave DC produces flicker.

My neighbor put up cool white icicle type LED lights, and I swear to God it looks something out of a Stephen King novel. Both neighbors actually have crosses in their yard, with LED lights, these are large crosses, one is probably close to 5 feet tall the lights are so small, they are almost invisible. There is no detail or definition between the lights.

They also have some LED C7 version lights, they are at least 75% dimmer than normal C7. Again, it's about being duped to accept lower quality.

 

[twintubdexter]

Here in Palm Springs wrapping palm trees with lights, Christmas and all year long, is a big thing. The LED lights look much brighter...white lights seem to have a sparkle and colored lights have a jewel-like quality. When you're talking about hundreds and in some cases thousands of lights the energy savings are dramatic.

 

The Christmas tree at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is now all LED and from my yard it looks much brighter than before.

 

[tolivac]

I don't like the "cool White" LEDS in Christmas lights,LED parking-street lights or general lighting light bulbs.The Warm White LEDS are better-and full wave bridge rectifiers with capacitors in the LED drivers.Then no flicker.The light set I have from Lowes-beleive the name is "Holiday Bright"must have bridge rectifiers and capacitors in it-as well as the lights run on a high frequency.The string has a remote control unit-you can turn it on-off or select what mode you want the lights to do.I have been happy with this.Don't have any older lights.I use the fading color" mode on this light set-fades from red,green,yellow,pink,purple and so on.
Kinda like the tree shown in the Twintubdexter picture.Looks like some of the trees around here I see in peoples windows.The decorations I really don't like are those stupid looking inflatable things.Give me the plywood or masonite cutouts anyday.

 

[glenfieldmathk1]

Plain White lights are fine for me. We'll decorate our outdoor tree with them next week.
In the meantime - yesterday I put up a row of multi coloured LED's along the guttering, a row of Blue & white snowdrop LED's below, and then a slow glow (old not LED) row of lanterns around the door / garage.

I'll send a video if you ant to see (when the tree's up).
Our whole cul-de-sac gets lit up with Christmas lights!!! We previously won awards for the most lights in one street - a few have moved on since then though, so now there's less lights - but still everyone gets involved with lights on every house! (Its like the American Films - one house lights up, all houses get lights up!) We were first this year. Next weekend though - definitely all houses!

Back to Thread, yes LED's are fine, but as are the colour type you mention, or simply plain white. Our lanterns are basically 2 lights in one - if you take the lantern of the bulb, you've simply got white glow lights.

 

[twintubdexter]

I guess when you get right down to it Christmas lights, incandescent, LED and the rest, are all good. I always remember this scene from 1951's "The Lemon Drop Kid" where Marilyn Maxwell and Bob Hope introduce the song "Silver Bells." Notice the full-size incandescent light bulbs. 

 

This clip is on You Tube and is guaranteed to ignite your Christmas Spirit...sorry I don't know how to post it

 

[firedome]

Artcurus....

'Ive also noticed that the C-7s in pink and yellow seem to bring nutty prices, and while I like them, can't bring myself to pay what they typically go for, so have stuck to mundane colors like red, blue, green, orange, and white in vintage bulbs. May try to pick up one 5 pack just for some variety, but there won't be a lot of them on our tree!

Like the big honking vintage (C-9?) bulbs on the outdoor bushes as well, we even have a few of those old yellow ones that I remember were ubiquitous when I was a kid in the '50s that have the 3-D rippled glass effect that presumably was intended to simulate a candle-flame.

 

[artcurus]

@ firedome,

I know. I've "bit the bullet" per say, and built up a moderate supply of the pink bulbs. What was worse was the 15 that I picked up that the color was completely off, almost a dark red when lit, and two of those packets were Noma.

This year, we did not do the 50's tree, but some of the outdoor lights are still burning the pink bulbs (orginal 50's red/green strands) that are lining the windows, porch and eaves. Along with the lights lining the fireplace mantle.

I've had to buy alot of the red/green strands for other projects (Halloween, etc) because the spacing of the lights (18 inches) is awesome, and gives me more freedom. The orginal bulbs on these usually get thrown into a box.

 

[artcurus]

keep forgetting it wont let me edit, but I'm not a real big fan of the big bulbs. Mostly because they constantly blow fuses (modern sets) it's difficult to get the load right. They do look good though, and in fact, I have some 1950's red and green yard stakes shaped like candy canes lining a small part of the sidewalk. They are made by Royalite and I really like them. Believe it or not, they are also burning pink bulbs.

 

[firedome]

Our C-9 outdoor lights...

are all "vintage" strings bought by us in the early 70s, still working and looking fine, with many still using original bulbs! I just love their natural color saturation and intensity of illumination!

 

[danemodsandy]

LED Fan Here:

My lights are LED, the C-6 size in multicolor. They remind me a great deal of the old C-6 incandescents that were the standard when I was a wee one. I have not experienced any flicker, and brightness is just where I want it to be - the tree is a softly glowing presence instead of a harsh bright one.

The one thing I'm not crazy about is the faceting of the LED covers, which makes each light sparkle just a bit more. I would prefer a plain "bulb" surface like lights of old, but these are what they are.

What I really like about them is that they run 100% cool, with no worries about heat buildup that could damage the tree or start a fire.

Again, the retro C-6 look makes these a good choice for me. I never did like the larger C-7s when those came in in the early '60s. I did like the mini-lights that came in in the '70s, but those lost their appeal after a few years. I especially tired of the twinkling ones, for some reason.

 

[ovrphil]

I have a set of X10 devices to control light output to dimmable lamps. I have used this with my IBM Director remote control for years, adjusting the light output to a more comfortable lumen level. Whatever one likes in intensity is easily achieved. But, I haven't tried it on LED lights yet - don't see why it wouldn't work.

Anyone: have you or do you use dimming on the LED lights(current versions)? It reduces cost,but I'm after the mood …just prefer a slightly toned-down brilliance. I'd like to know if anyone uses other dimmer controls for their Christmas lights, as well. I just use the IBM Director and manually program each module. It's PC based, with a graphic interface, so I can set levels, but since moving to an iMac, controls are manual only from the remote.

Thanks for any comments.

 

[artcurus]

@ovrphil,

To be blunt, dimming LED's doesn't a damn thing about saving money or reducing *overall* load, the power supply on LED is solid state and constant. Actually it's incandescents than can benefit from dimming.

I have used dimmers on my 1950's incandescent xmas bulbs to preserve bulb life, and those 35 double flasher sets to help prevent meltdowns.

LED replacements for 40w, 60w, et al, are advertised as dimmable, but I can't confirm it one way or the other whether it actually works.

I'm probably one of the few here that actually knows what an X10 system is, many houses in the 60's and 70's were built with this system. I know that homeowners were raising hell because CFLs hated these systems and with the phaseout of incandescent bulbs, the situation was made worse. The only solution was to rewire the entire house.

 

[polkanut]

<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">There's something to be said for buying and hoarding old strings of C-7's from estate sales.  When we came home last night from our polka club's annual holiday dance I noticed that 1 blue C-7 GE® Mazda bulb in the star I have hanging in between the front door & storm door was out, and 1 red C-7 GE® Mazda bulb was out in one of the single bulb candoliers I have in the front windows.  Both were replaced immediately with replacement vintage GE®'s.</span>

 

[polkanut]

To possibly eliminate bulb failure this year I invested in a lamp dimmer which will be used to decrease the amount of current to the vintage GE® C-7 Mazda™ lamps in use.  I'm hoping for no burnt out bulbs this year.  Fingers crossed.

 

[norgeway]

We dim

All our old lights, Except the Sylvania flourescents.

 

[cuffs054]

What ever happened to those little discs that you put in the socket that made the bulbs "last forever"?

 

[tolivac]

And thought of this-those older lights were made in the days when we only had 110-115V instead of 120 that we have today.