Light Poles

[jem5136]

I am planning on using 3 light poles this year for Halloween and Christmas. I am thinking having them 10' tall wrapped with 800-1600 lights per pole. My question is, how big of PVC should I buy? I have seen other displays that use 4' PVC, but I'm not sure what size I need and what I need to keep them secure in the ground.

Where I live it gets windy, extremely windy, so if there is someone who has done light poles before that should share how they built them and how they keep them standing during the season, I would appreciate it a bunch.

Thanks,
Jesse

[DaveJZ]

I built one pole out of an 8ft 2x2. This is more the sturdy enough to keep them upright. Plus I bought the cheap ones that were about $1. I plan on driving a piece of conduit in the ground and wiring them to it to keep them from blowing over.

[griffixdc]

if you want to go a pvc route the 4 inch is plenty rigid enough although expensive and quite large....if you want to use a cheaper pipe use 1.5 inch pvs and put a sleeve inside of it (rigid conduit, emt, rebar, closet dowel, another piece of pvc) This will all add strength to it if your finish inner sleeve is 1/2 inside diameter you can use rebar to stake in the ground and it holds tight and perfect.

[jrock64]

My poles are just 8 channels 100 minis each.
3/4 gray electrical conduit.
1/2in emt is slipped inside to add rigidity.

The posts are 2.5ft of 1/2in rebar welded to 2.5ft of 5/8in rebar.

The 5/8in provides enough surface area, so it does not loosen or bend in the ground.
I use a 1/4 rod to link the tops of four poles so they cannot sway individually.

These are on their fourth year and have endured 40+ mph winds.

Joel

[griffixdc]

My poles are just 8 channels 100 minis each.
3/4 gray electrical conduit.
1/2in emt is slipped inside to add rigidity.

The posts are 2.5ft of 1/2in rebar welded to 2.5ft of 5/8in rebar.
The 5/8in provides enough surface area, so it does not loosen or bend in the ground.
I use a 1/4 rod to link the tops of four poles so they cannot sway individually.

These are on their fourth year and have endured 40+ mph winds.

Joel

i like your rebar idea and the 1/4 rod idea if i build something like that i will surely use that technique

[wonko]

I used 3/4" emt, and used the sleeve method. I made my sleeves out of 1" schedule 40 pvc. Since using the sleeves for my arches, I fell in love and have been trying to use it anywhere I wrap lights. I'm trying to get a sort of "modular" display thing going on, where I can swap out colors on my arches and poles every few days to give it a different look.

Brian

[griffixdc]

I used 3/4" emt, and used the sleeve method. I made my sleeves out of 1" schedule 40 pvc. Since using the sleeves for my arches, I fell in love and have been trying to use it anywhere I wrap lights. I'm trying to get a sort of "modular" display thing going on, where I can swap out colors on my arches and poles every few days to give it a different look.

Brian

make a Pole condom...or wrap it in some kinda heat resistive cellophane...i have seen some arches that have a tube sleeve around them that allow light to go through butt diffuses the light to make a more smooth light movement

[Wayne J]

My poles are just 8 channels 100 minis each.
3/4 gray electrical conduit.
1/2in emt is slipped inside to add rigidity.

The posts are 2.5ft of 1/2in rebar welded to 2.5ft of 5/8in rebar.

The 5/8in provides enough surface area, so it does not loosen or bend in the ground.
I use a 1/4 rod to link the tops of four poles so they cannot sway individually.

These are on their fourth year and have endured 40+ mph winds.

Joel

I used 3/4" emt, and used the sleeve method. I made my sleeves out of 1" schedule 40 pvc. Since using the sleeves for my arches, I fell in love and have been trying to use it anywhere I wrap lights. I'm trying to get a sort of "modular" display thing going on, where I can swap out colors on my arches and poles every few days to give it a different look.

Brian

What is the length of the pole?

[jrock64]

Standard length for conduit is 10ft.
If you were using the sleeve method, they could be any length.

Joel

[LightUpMA]

My poles are just 8 channels 100 minis each.
3/4 gray electrical conduit.
1/2in emt is slipped inside to add rigidity.

The posts are 2.5ft of 1/2in rebar welded to 2.5ft of 5/8in rebar.

The 5/8in provides enough surface area, so it does not loosen or bend in the ground.
I use a 1/4 rod to link the tops of four poles so they cannot sway individually.

Joel

Joel,

Do you have any pics?? I'd love to see.

-Wayne