Source for non-Chinese LED Christmas lights?

[norry]

The title kinda says it all. There must be Christmas light factories outside China (I saw some at Home Depot with a 'Made in Philippines' label) but I haven't seen any that are LED-based and not made in China.

If anyone's seen them, could you please let me know where?

 

[mrb]

i doubt it. LED christmas lights **** anyways. i get a headache from the flicker, the manufacture of them is much, much more damaging to the environment than incandescent mini lights, the energy savings is negligible when compared to incandescent mini lights, and the total cost of ownership is actually higher when comparing incandescent mini lights + energy use vs LED christmas lights + energy use. Plus they look too 'plastic' (for lack of a better term) and do not invoke the holiday nostalga incandescent lamps do.

 

[airwalk]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I totally agree mrb. However it is virtually impossible to find incandescent christmas lights up here in Canada anymore, very frustrating!

 

[mrb]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I totally agree mrb. However it is virtually impossible to find incandescent christmas lights up here in Canada anymore, very frustrating!

yeah. time to stockpile -few years from now wont be able to get them anymore.

 

[VHF]

the energy savings is negligible when compared to incandescent mini lights, and the total cost of ownership is actually higher

I like my LED Christmas lights. The local ACE Hardware had a pre-Christmas clearence sale (they had bought a truckload of the previous year's leftovers) so I bought a bunch of strings at $2 each. I realize the econcomics aren't quite as good if you are paying $7 or $8 a set for LED lights.

For my LED light sets, power consumption is 3.5W per string vs. 35W for a similar incandescent string. With 10 strings, that 35W TOTAL vs. 350W for incancescent. I don't like paying to heat up the outdoors, so I like the LEDs a lot better for outside lighting.

Operating them for 6 hours/day for 90 days at 10 cents /KWh costs me $1.89 vs. $18.90 for the season for equivilent incandescents. Not an instant payback, but over the life of the sets the economics should work out favorably towards LEDs.

Plus, with the lower power consumption, you aren't limited to 3 strings in series. The lower heat output should result in increased fire safety, as well.

Not a good solution for everbody, but I am happy with mine. It would be nice to find them from a US manufacturer.

 

[bimmer1980]

I highly doubt you will find a US manufacturer of the LED lights. Most any LEDs that is used for any thing (appliances, indicators, LED displays, etc) are manufactured in China or Japan.

 

[Ezzie]

... also to consider is the MTBF of the LED vs. Incandescent argument. The main reason I have switched to LED is the poor reliability of the cheap incandescent strings. I hate having to go up a ladder in -20C weather to fix the darn things when one of those stupid little bulbs goes south for the winter!!

 

[mrb]

... also to consider is the MTBF of the LED vs. Incandescent argument. The main reason I have switched to LED is the poor reliability of the cheap incandescent strings. I hate having to go up a ladder in -20C weather to fix the darn things when one of those stupid little bulbs goes south for the winter!!

time will show us that while the MTBF of the LEDs themselves are 50,000hr (or whatever) poor manufacturing quality and power surges will bring the life of a string down quite a bit. Same as CFLs, supposed to last 10,000hr or something, but in practice the electronics in them die long before that.

 

[benjamming]

Nope. I can't even find incandescent Christmas lights made in USA.

 

[Dan0myte]

Bah, nothing is made in the USA anymore. Even things that say "Made in the USA" should really just say "Assembled in the USA" using parts purchased from China. It's the new global economy.

 

[TONE]

Make your own.

Call a local sign shop.

Buy the wire, the LED's and a transformer. GO NUTZ!!!!

 

[Costner]

Just looked at my stash of LED lights I bought a couple of years ago on clearance from Menards (after Christmas when they were 75% off). They are Sunbeam brand and they say they are made under license in Canada - but the box is made in China. Go figure.

 

[SurgePGH]

Bah, nothing is made in the USA anymore. Even things that say "Made in the USA" should really just say "Assembled in the USA" using parts purchased from China. It's the new global economy.

Not trying to hijack the thread BUT I was on the Snap-On truck today here at the shop... Noticed all of the Blue-Point tools on the Snap-On truck were Made in China.... Thats enough to keep me away from Blue Point! If i'm spending my $$$ on tools they at least have to be made in the U.S.A.

Dave

 

[benjamming]

Make your own.

Call a local sign shop.

Buy the wire, the LED's and a transformer. GO NUTZ!!!!

Where to buy LEDs that are made in USA?

 

[Jononon]

Where to buy LEDs that are made in USA?

Never mind the LEDs, good luck finding affordable multi-strand wire that's made in any Western country. Or solder. Or heatshrink...

 

[mrb]

Never mind the LEDs, good luck finding affordable multi-strand wire that's made in any Western country. Or solder. Or heatshrink...

Actually, I am about to have extension cords with molded ends which are made in the USA! And at prices competetive with what you find at hardware stores and home centers. There are only two manufacturers left in this country who make extension cords. All the big brands, coleman, carol, prime (who was always chinese), etc are all made overseas.

3M heatshrink and some Kester Solder products appear to be made in USA.

Stranded wire (UL1007, UL1015 types) is almost all import now. There are some US manufacturers still, but its just too expensive...

 

[Jononon]

Actually, I am about to have extension cords with molded ends which are made in the USA! And at prices competetive with what you find at hardware stores and home centers.

Good work, I'm amazed that's still possible with truly 'Made in USA' components.

3M heatshrink and some Kester Solder products appear to be made in USA.

BBI is possibly overkill for this application ITCSN is imported.

I sit corrected on the solder, in Europe all Western made roll solder disappeared post RoHS (another EU triumph for local industry )

 

[mrb]

Good work, I'm amazed that's still possible with truly 'Made in USA' components.

i was too. the extension cord company makes the wire themselves, and makes the cords too right there in their factory. Pretty sad. used to be dozens of usa manufacturers of extension cords. Then Prime came in at much lower cost, pushed electricord and carol out of all the hardware stores, other manufacturers went overseas, and that was that.

 

[norry]

Never mind the LEDs, good luck finding affordable multi-strand wire that's made in any Western country. Or solder. Or heatshrink...

Even Asia would be alright with me, as long as it's not China. I'd rather support American industry, but if nobody here makes the lights, I'd content myself with not supporting China...

Costner, thanks for the heads-up on Menards and the Sunbeam product. I'll follow up on that.

 

[Kevin54]

i doubt it. LED christmas lights **** anyways. i get a headache from the flicker, the manufacture of them is much, much more damaging to the environment than incandescent mini lights, the energy savings is negligible when compared to incandescent mini lights, and the total cost of ownership is actually higher when comparing incandescent mini lights + energy use vs LED christmas lights + energy use. Plus they look too 'plastic' (for lack of a better term) and do not invoke the holiday nostalga incandescent lamps do.

This is from my power company that I received in e-mail the other day

If all decorative light strings sold in America this year were ENERGY STAR qualified, we would save over 2 billion kWh per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to nearly 300,000 cars! ENERGY STAR qualified decorative light strings - many which feature LED technology-consume 75% less energy than conventional incandescent light strands

So if you want to save look for Energy Star compliant.

As far as China....everyone might as well face the facts that it has and will be shoved down out throats so learn to like the taste of it. There out different American companies that have sold out to China for goods and the American companies all have different standards as to quality. Not all Chinese products have the same quality just as all American made products have (had) the same quality. So shop around for the better Chinese product. You're going to have to do it sooner or later anyhow.
And for the true diehards that say they will only buy American or use American products.........Who's typing those comments for you on their Chinese keyboard?
And as far as the LED Christmas lights........Even if they do save the energy, I can see paying 7 times the amount for a strand over the mini bulbs, and I really don't like the colors of the LED's. Too cold looking. The whites look like fluorescent white, and the blues hurt my eyes if that is understandable. The typical miniature lights have way warmer colors. On the other hand I can see the significant cost savings. One year my wife went overboard with outside decorating. Nothing gaudy, it was all tasteful with different colors of lights for different bushes, lights in all of the Maple trees, every Blue Spruce we had (12'+ tall). Our utility bill for the month told us that doing that was the last time. We had an estimated 40-50,000 lights and the bill for the month for electric was almost $500

 

[american lockpicker]

I highly doubt you will find a US manufacturer of the LED lights. Most any LEDs that is used for any thing (appliances, indicators, LED displays, etc) are manufactured in China or Japan.

CREE is USA made. The factoty is in N. Carolina I think.

 

[Jononon]

CREE is USA made. The factoty is in N. Carolina I think.

Read page 7 (pdf file) to be depressed.

 

[mrb]

@ kevin54

i was in a home center and they had this huge sign above their LED lights which showed the energy cost for X amount of blubs worth of christmas lights. LED was $3 something, and you would save $75 over using incandescent. The fine print was, they were comparing C9 lights. The energy cost with incandescent mini lights was $7 or something.

These things are another 'green' think being shoved down our throats, that isnt as green as they proclaim.

 

[Costner]

i was in a home center and they had this huge sign above their LED lights which showed the energy cost for X amount of blubs worth of christmas lights. LED was $3 something, and you would save $75 over using incandescent. The fine print was, they were comparing C9 lights. The energy cost with incandescent mini lights was $7 or something.

These things are another 'green' think being shoved down our throats, that isnt as green as they proclaim.

If the true comparison is $3 for LED and $7 for incadescent, don't you think a 60% decrease in cost is significant? I have no idea how many lights they were talking about, but let's say it was one 100 bulb string. If you house has a dozen of these strings on it, that would be a cost of $36 for LED or $84 for incandescent - and obviously the longer you run the lights the higher the savings. Added up year after year I would imagine this could be quite substantial.

I happened to look up the wattage required for a typical 100 light string and found it to be 9 watts for LEDs and 40 watts for incandescent, so actually the incandescents cost over four times as much to run. Thus, from a purely cost perspective, or from a "green" perspective - it seems clear LEDs are the real deal.

That being said - I don't think they look nearly as nice as incandescents, so my house is covered in C7 bulbs while most of the LEDs I bought are still sitting in the packages (I used some of the white ones last year but they look blue and I didn't care for the color or the flicker effect).

 

[WinFred]

good place to start...

MadeinUSAForever.com

 

[benjamming]

i was too. the extension cord company makes the wire themselves, and makes the cords too right there in their factory. Pretty sad. used to be dozens of usa manufacturers of extension cords. Then Prime came in at much lower cost, pushed electricord and carol out of all the hardware stores, other manufacturers went overseas, and that was that.

Who is this company? Yellow Jacket? General Mfg (Saf-T-Lite) in Indiana?

 

[benjamming]

Read page 7 (pdf file) to be depressed.

Yep, only part of CREE's bulbs are made in USA. More information can be found at candlepower forums.

 

[mrb]

Who is this company? Yellow Jacket? General Mfg (Saf-T-Lite) in Indiana?

neither of those. Yellow Jacket cords were made by woods which was acquired by coleman (CCI) who makes their cords overseas.

 

[benjamming]

As far as China....everyone might as well face the facts that it has and will be shoved down out throats so learn to like the taste of it. There out different American companies that have sold out to China for goods and the American companies all have different standards as to quality. Not all Chinese products have the same quality just as all American made products have (had) the same quality. So shop around for the better Chinese product. You're going to have to do it sooner or later anyhow.
And for the true diehards that say they will only buy American or use American products.........Who's typing those comments for you on their Chinese keyboard?

I don't have to like the taste of buying in China one bit.

I don't say that I'll only buy American or use American products. That is & has always been silly. I don't read many (if any?) people saying that. However, I try to maximize the # of my purchases that are made in USA.

BTW, my keyboard was made in Thailand & not China.

 

[Kevin54]

Okay.......did a search for Christmas light manufacturers. there are a few I found out that still states Made in USA. Not saying that they are 100% made with American components BUT.........

Nida Lighting
Designs and manufactures Christmas lights (clear mini lights, solid colored mini lights, themed mini lights, brown corded mini lights), bulbs and light strings, net lights, globe lights, curtain lights, teardrop lights, grapevine wreaths, traditional light displays, pole mounted light displays, pole and wall mounted wreaths, three dimensional light displays, landscape lights, and flag lights. USA.
http://nidagroup.com

Manneco, Inc.
Specializes in commercial Christmas and holiday decorations and light displays. Products include lighting displays for all seasons, decorative pole banners and hardware, US flags, state flags, band-It materials, commercial grade heavy duty light lines and mini light sets, replacement lamps, patriotic displays, complete animated light displays, building perimeter lighting, holiday & Christmas displays, drive thru park displays, pole decorations, building front decorations, giant Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands. USA.
http://www.manneco.com

Craps sake......this URL has 50 pages of lights made in China. One reason I imagine that there are so many manufacturers over there is because of the lead content in miniature lamps. http://www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-products/Christmas_Light.html

Here is another site that has USA Christmas lights http://www.construction-index.com/usa-christmas-lights-lighting.asp

 

[benjamming]

neither of those. Yellow Jacket cords were made by woods which was acquired by coleman (CCI) who makes their cords overseas.

Do you mind telling who it is then?

 

[mrb]

Do you mind telling who it is then?

i will soon, just want to get my distributorship finalized.

 

[benjamming]

Okay.......did a search for Christmas light manufacturers. there are a few I found out that still states Made in USA. Not saying that they are 100% made with American components BUT.........

Nida Lighting
Designs and manufactures Christmas lights (clear mini lights, solid colored mini lights, themed mini lights, brown corded mini lights), bulbs and light strings, net lights, globe lights, curtain lights, teardrop lights, grapevine wreaths, traditional light displays, pole mounted light displays, pole and wall mounted wreaths, three dimensional light displays, landscape lights, and flag lights. USA.
http://nidagroup.com

Manneco, Inc.
Specializes in commercial Christmas and holiday decorations and light displays. Products include lighting displays for all seasons, decorative pole banners and hardware, US flags, state flags, band-It materials, commercial grade heavy duty light lines and mini light sets, replacement lamps, patriotic displays, complete animated light displays, building perimeter lighting, holiday & Christmas displays, drive thru park displays, pole decorations, building front decorations, giant Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands. USA.
http://www.manneco.com

Craps sake......this URL has 50 pages of lights made in China. One reason I imagine that there are so many manufacturers over there is because of the lead content in miniature lamps. http://www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-products/Christmas_Light.html

Here is another site that has USA Christmas lights http://www.construction-index.com/usa-christmas-lights-lighting.asp

I emailed Nida & Manneco yesterday. They both replied saying that their lights are made in China. That contruction-index site has a couple promising leads though.

 

[Kevin54]

I emailed Nida & Manneco yesterday. They both replied saying that their lights are made in China. That contruction-index site has a couple promising leads though.

So they tack on the letters USA to mislead people. I guess rereading it though it just says USA instead of Made in the USA. Bastages probably get the USA flags made in China to.

 

[ironroad 9c1]

I don't have to like the taste of buying in China one bit.

I don't say that I'll only buy American or use American products. That is & has always been silly. I don't read many (if any?) people saying that. However, I try to maximize the # of my purchases that are made in USA.

BTW, my keyboard was made in Thailand & not China.

Amen brother, I've owned toyotas and a few VW golfs, and I am proud to say I woke up and sold em Now I try to and get as much U.S. stuff as I can. At a minimum its its not made here at least owned by a U.S. company that has to hire secretaries and American book keepers and such.

 

[Costner]

Amen brother, I've owned toyotas and a few VW golfs, and I am proud to say I woke up and sold em Now I try to and get as much U.S. stuff as I can. At a minimum its its not made here at least owned by a U.S. company that has to hire secretaries and American book keepers and such.

Yea....it is much better to buy a GM vehicle that is made in Canada while they require billions of our tax dollars to help them sell off brands to places like China rather than buying a Toyota built in Kentucky which hasn't required any US tax dollars to keep them afloat.

Not sure what type of logic that is...but if it helps you sleep better at night so be it.

The fact is, large auto companies are multi-national, so "buying American" doesn't really mean a thing when the company is led by a board of directors from across the globe and has manufacturing plants and suppliers from five different continents and 22 different countries. Add to that the fact that they are likely publicly traded companies and for all you know a majority share of an "import" brand might actually be owned by American citizens.

There are times it might make sense to buy products made in the USA, but unless you know the country of origin of every part that goes into a vehicle, I don't think it makes sense to promote a 'domestic' nameplate over what is perceived to be an 'import'.