twisting light strings together...

[51fordf2]

Hi all,

I will be having a lot of locations, where there will be 4 colors of strings, together, following pretty much the same exact path. I was just wondering, if anyone had joined 3 or 4 strings together, by twisting or wrapping them together? I think it would be easier to put up ONE string, than 4 strings. I use the "roll the string in a ball" to store them, so putting them together wouldn't be too awful hard, and once together it would be easy to store.

But, I would like other's comments/experiences/suggestions...

Thanks,

Roger

[oldcqr]

Notes About Light Bundles (http://www.landolights.com/main/content/view/80/39/#bundles)

I wrote it as part of a Megatree article but it applies to what you are doing, too. Basically, 1 zip tie at each end is more than enough.

After the season I store the bundles using the 'hand to elbow' method, and they do NOT tangle.

[51fordf2]

Mike - forgot about your site! I've been there before, and there's a LOT of great info! Didn't recall the lights, though. Thanks, seemed to me it would be easier, keeping them together, especially since a lot of mine will be 30 feet up, on a ladder, and I didn't want to attempt stringing 4 strings, if I could just do one.

Thanks.


Roger

[oldcqr]

Glad you enjoy it!

When possible, I try to keep strings separate -- only because I end up needing to replace one of them more often than not. But there are times when bundling makes sense. Sometimes it saves a ton of time, or shifts that time spent to earlier in the schedule when things are less busy.

I really only have 2 areas where bundles make sense. My megatree and the gutter line of the house.

The gutters use 5 separate channels (4 colors + icicle), but I don't pre-bundle. None of my sets are the same length, so what happens is I'll have 8 feet of clear lights left after running out of blue. It is easier just to clip them together with the gutter clips as I go.

The Megatree is the exception since those strings are not going to be end-to-ended. If I didn't bundle those, it would take me 2 full days to set up.

For everything else (like bushes, trees, etc), I just lay 1 color over the top of the other. While that may sound like a recipe for tangling, I never have problems. The secret is to ALWAYS put the lights down in the SAME ORDER, and to always go in one direction.

For any one area, I always string in the order of clear, green, red, blue. Don't laugh; The reason I picked that order is relative brightness. Clear lights are typically the brightest so I put them down first. If some of them get covered by the strings above, it's not as big a deal. Blues are typically dimmest (at least until the end of the season when they are faded out and just about clear :sad:). I also always go bottom to top, left to right.

The actual order doesn't matter as much as always doing it the same way. At the end of the season, I grab the end of a blue string - which should be easy to find since it will end up on top or on the right) and start wrapping. Then I go for the red,green, and finally clear.

[ErnieHorning]

Don’t forget the weather. While I wouldn’t mind climbing the ladder a hundred times or so when its 80˚F out, the temperature and wind in the northern part of the country can make it even less desirable to be outside. And don’t forget getting it all down in January it’s usually below zero.

I’m only using four colors and I wire tie these every couple of feet then I roll them into a ball. I have a hook on the top rung of the extension ladder that I place the ball on while I move the ladder to the next position. While I’m tall enough to place a string on the first story eve, the ladder gets a bit wobbly on the second story, so the less time I spend up there, the better.

Another time saving tip is to place a wire tie next to the plus that’s the same color as the lights. I hate finding that I swapped two colors after I’ve already put the ladder away.

[ppohlman]

Roger,

I used 4 strands everywhere on my display (R, G, B, W). I found that it was extremely easy to keep the lights together. I did NOT use zip ties or twist ties to connect them. To get started, I stretched out the four strands next to each other and then just started to put them in place. Once you grab them and start putting them in the trees and bushes, the lights help hold each of the strands together. Since I purchased most of my strands at the same store, they ended up being pretty close to the same length.

For keeping track of the colors, I cut off a small piece of colored electrical tape and put them on each of the wires near the male plug. That way I know for sure which color strand I’m plugging in. I also matched this with the extension cords on my SSRs. Red to Red, Green to Green, Blue to Blue, and White to White and I know that I got the correct color plugged into the correct extension cord. The Home Depot near my house sells a 5 pack of electrical tape, which included red, green, blue, white and yellow.

[djulien]

I was just wondering, if anyone had joined 3 or 4 strings together, by twisting or wrapping them together? I think it would be easier to put up ONE string, than 4 strings. I use the "roll the string in a ball" to store them, so putting them together wouldn't be too awful hard, and once together it would be easy to store.

But, I would like other's comments/experiences/suggestions...


There is a description of what I did for 4-color super-strings, and an idea for storage (among other things) available here: http://downloads.eShepherdsOfLight.com/Howidid-MidiTree.pdf. (See section 4 and the tail end of section 7).

don

[dadams14]

I got a deal on some icicle lights and I need straight lights.. Has anybody tried making icicle lights look like straight sets.?
I was thinking about twisting monofilament fishing line around them with a drill.
I have not tried it yet though
Thanks
Dennis

[ErnieHorning]

It sounds like it might be a lot of work for what you get and they’re still only three feet long, maybe less with the twisting.

You might try stretching the string out and then wrapping the fishing line around while still on the roll. Kind of like how you would wrap a bundle of wires with electrical tape.

[GS]

For most applications, as oldcqr wrote, one zip tie at each end is good. The strings will twist together as you make your light ball. For a mega tree or where the strings will dangle I prefer a zip tie every 3' or 4' to keep the strings together.
Good luck.
Glenn

[51fordf2]

Thanks all! I ended up using both techniques - I put a tie at the ends, and added one at the middle, just to keep them together, for around the edges of the house, etc. On the window frames, they are going to be semi-permanent on pvc frames, so I tied them every 2nd set of lights - tie, rd,blu,grn,ylw,rd,blu,grn,ylw, tie - and then zipped them to the frame. It works really well, although I'm not looking forward to having to replace an individual string. I figure by that time, hopefully I'll have the $$'s to go LED, and if not, I'll probably just add a string, outside of the bundle, zipped to the frame.

Thanks again, whatta place, eh??

R

[bmcgeeny]

I put 4 color strings together for the mega tree. Zip tie the upper end and use a little plastic plug in in a cordless drill, Spin slowly as that is a lot of lights flying. If one string is a little longer that the othersm they quickly even up.

Do the same with two wire strings that are not tight enough or when adding wire on the end to eliminate extension cords. Those I wrap pretty tight. The ones with 4 strings I only twist about 20 times for a 12' string.

As for the 100' Strings that go up in the trees, I stretch 4 differnt color strings tight with nylon rope as I go and zip tie every 1' or so. I had a string last year I had a hard time getting down. WOuld hav ripped apart without the rope. As it was, there were two broken wires.

In theroy if you were really good you could take these 100' rs and shoot them into the tree with a bow.

Not that brave yet.

[Really Big Christmas]

Roger,

I used 4 strands everywhere on my display (R, G, B, W). I found that it was extremely easy to keep the lights together. I did NOT use zip ties or twist ties to connect them. To get started, I stretched out the four strands next to each other and then just started to put them in place. Once you grab them and start putting them in the trees and bushes, the lights help hold each of the strands together. Since I purchased most of my strands at the same store, they ended up being pretty close to the same length.

For keeping track of the colors, I cut off a small piece of colored electrical tape and put them on each of the wires near the male plug. That way I know for sure which color strand I’m plugging in. I also matched this with the extension cords on my SSRs. Red to Red, Green to Green, Blue to Blue, and White to White and I know that I got the correct color plugged into the correct extension cord. The Home Depot near my house sells a 5 pack of electrical tape, which included red, green, blue, white and yellow.

very smart idea