Christmas Lights
- Thread starter Junkman
- Start date
Chuckster in NJ
Well-known member
ROOKIE! ^ 
I always use a GFI
I always use a GFI
ROOKIE! ^
I always use a GFI
How's that any different then a loose plug?
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
You need to contact Griswold Electrical...
Or visit my laundry room!
Or visit my laundry room!
wssix99
Well-known member
There are work-arounds for everything...
micromind
Well-known member
All circuit breakers are 'trip free'. This means that it'll trip even if the handle is held in the ON position.
So what this mental midget did was make it far more difficult to reset if it ever does trip.
I remember back when I was a kid, my friends dad put up the outdoor lights backwards so the plug end was at the wrong end of the house.
he made a suicide cord to power the female end. at the time I thought it was so neat
he made a suicide cord to power the female end. at the time I thought it was so neat
Shiftless
Well-known member
What could possibly go wrong?
Seriously, if it was just a foot long at the end of a normal extension cord and way up high near the roof and he was the only one on ladders in charge of stringing lights and he destroyed the suicide cord right after he removed the lights after New Year‘s, I don’t think it would be too dangerous at all.
But that’s a lot of ... and...and…. And other perhaps unreasonable assumptions.
My local family run ACE hardware that has been a hardware store for 100 years, had a sign up for a while saying that they would not sell parts or help people assemble a cord with 2 male ends.
(Interesting sideline about that hardware store. They used to sell guns AND had a bar in the separate interior room that is now the manager’s office.)
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dave*99
Well-known member
Back feeding the string bypasses the fuses in the plug end. Just sayin'What could possibly go wrong?
Seriously, if it was just a foot long at the end of a normal extension cord and way up high near the roof and he was the only one on ladders in charge of stringing lights and he destroyed the suicide cord right after he removed the lights after New Year‘s, I don’t think it would be too dangerous at all.
But that’s a lot of ... and...and…. And other perhaps unreasonable assumptions.
My local family run ACE hardware that has been a hardware store for 100 years, had a sign up for a while saying that they would not sell parts or help people assemble a cord with 2 male ends.
(Interesting sideline about that hardware store. They used to sell guns AND had a bar in the separate interior room that is now the manager’s office.)
Shiftless
Well-known member
Good point
I didn’t consider that
micromind
Well-known member
I remember back when I was a kid, my friends dad put up the outdoor lights backwards so the plug end was at the wrong end of the house.
he made a suicide cord to power the female end. at the time I thought it was so neat
And back then, no GFIs..........
this was long before they had fuses .
Shiftless
Well-known member
Here is part of my modest Christmas time display. 450 LED lights wrapped around a 50+ year old Japanese black pine next to our front door.
On the same 15 amp circuit as our porch lights, entry hall lights and half the receptacles in the living room. The way they wired houses back in 1949 is not the same as today.
On the same 15 amp circuit as our porch lights, entry hall lights and half the receptacles in the living room. The way they wired houses back in 1949 is not the same as today.
kbuhagiar
Well-known member
How times have changed...
Our first house (purchased in 1983), which was 1330SF and built in 1949, had a 30-amp service panel (comprised of four 15-amp screw-in fuses) feeding knob-and-tube wiring. And a single bathroom. We actually lived with that electrical configuration for around ten years, without any problems, before we upgraded to a 125-amp service panel with upgraded wiring.
But we lived with the single bathroom up to the day we sold it in 2021!
Our first house (purchased in 1983), which was 1330SF and built in 1949, had a 30-amp service panel (comprised of four 15-amp screw-in fuses) feeding knob-and-tube wiring. And a single bathroom. We actually lived with that electrical configuration for around ten years, without any problems, before we upgraded to a 125-amp service panel with upgraded wiring.
But we lived with the single bathroom up to the day we sold it in 2021!
toolmiser
Well-known member
A worker in Menards told me that "suicide cords" were a big request every year. Funny thing is young "kid" helped me install the lights on a big tree outside of ours. Wasn't paying attention and guess what I needed to make when done?I remember back when I was a kid, my friends dad put up the outdoor lights backwards so the plug end was at the wrong end of the house.
he made a suicide cord to power the female end. at the time I thought it was so neat
I used to work for a hardware company and we had guys coming in every year asking if we had a pre-made cord with male plugs on each end. Our canned reply was always "A Suicide cord? No, we do not carry Suicide Cords." Which always led to a puzzled look on their face followed by asking what we meant.I remember back when I was a kid, my friends dad put up the outdoor lights backwards so the plug end was at the wrong end of the house.
he made a suicide cord to power the female end. at the time I thought it was so neat
dave*99
Well-known member
The damn lights are so unreliable I plug them in at the start and string along. If a set craps out during install I have a chance to swap it out.
One of the 2 pins on the base of the LEDs rusts and falls off. The salt air here is a corrosion contributor.
I need to be more committed to replacing them based on age.
One of the 2 pins on the base of the LEDs rusts and falls off. The salt air here is a corrosion contributor.
I need to be more committed to replacing them based on age.
That 14 gauge wire only good for 15 amps. You should have used 12 gauge wire.
esben57
Well-known member
I use wet string.
You need to contact Griswold Electrical...
Or visit my laundry room!
toolmiser
Well-known member
My Grandparents used a lot of c9's in the 60's with the screw in base. Big thing was for kids to steal the bulbs. They spread some pig manure on the bases and that pretty much put an end to that. This was Wisconsin so smell in the winter was minimalized until warm.
PhantomEB
Well-known member
We joined the Govee crowd this year. We did purple for Halloween shown here. In the spring I intend to move the lights way closer to the house inside of just inside the eaves. This will show a more defined pattern, not so muted.
have picked up 6 inflatables for the front lawn too, just not in the mood this year to put them out.
next year for sure with the 24+ candy canes.
couch67
Well-known member
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
It takes 4 strings of "icicle" lights to go across the front of my garage. I think I will just solder them together this year.
MAD
Well-known member
"Big electrical connector companies hate this one simple hack" Hey, at least it is correctly polarized and grounded!ROOKIE! ^
I always use a GFI
While working as a production manager for a theater company touring Russia in the early 1990s, the locals connected the boom box we were using for rehearsal sound in a similar manner using just aluminum conductor NM cable with no connectors.
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MAD
Well-known member
After all, those holes in the breaker are handle tie holes!