We love Christmas lights. Even if you don’t have us install the lights for you, we are happy to answer any question for all the do-it-yourselfers out there. Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind when installing your own lights.  

 
 

Safety

Christmas is not so cool when you obligate your family to visit you in the hospital.  Keep these items in mind:

  • Use a good ladder free of defect. When you set up your ladder make sure it has a good footing. Use a ladder buddy ( A u-shaped bracket attached to the end of the ladder to stabilize the ladder against the house) or have someone else hold the base of the ladder to ensure stability and safety.

  • Don’t install lights on trees near or adjacent power lines.

  • Don’t stand on a roof greater than a 20 degree pitch without a safety harness and an experienced helper holding the anchored rope on the other side of the house. Check out this link for more information about using a safety harness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNsGtwC82XI

Installing the Lights

  • Always use water resistant lights, look for a tag that indicates its been certified by UL. This ensures the lights have been tested for outdoor use.

  • Use clips which are plastic, they wont conduct electricity and are less likely to cause damage to your home. Using staples and other metal fasteners can damage the wire, your house, and cause nightmare issues with stray electrical current.

  • Get creative when installing mini-lights.

    • It makes for a gorgeous presentation to tightly wrap individual branches. If you wrap individual branches of a tree, it makes the entire tree stand out.

    • If you have a few larger trees in your front yard, try wrapping the trunks 10’ tall. When you are wrapping, space each loop 1-3 inches apart depending on how bright you want the tree to appear.

  • When installing lights on your house, think about different light patterns. You can do clear or painted bulbs. One of my favorite patterns is the Red and White painted bulbs.

 

Electrical Capacities

  • An 18 gauge wire can support the electrical current of approximately 120 7 watt C9 incandescent bulbs. If you put more than 120 C9 bulbs on an 18 gauge wire, it may cause the plastic coating to melt off and cause a fire.

  • Most circuits in your house will be on a 15 amp breaker or a 20 amp breaker which can support 200 C9 bulbs and 270 C9 bulbs (using 7 watt bulbs).

  • Keep in mind that these numbers are for 7 watt bulbs so make sure to check the wattage listed on the bulbs you have to make sure that its still within a safe amount.

LED bulbs draw significantly less power for the same amount of brightness so if you’re trying to create a massive display consider choosing them over incandescent.

Note:  There are often more than one outlet on one circuit, so you will need to ensure you find a separate circuit if your wattage requirements exceed the allowable capacities.  If you put too many lights on one circuit, your breaker will trip.  Because there are often more than 1 outlet per circuit, if you plug something else into the same circuit that is maximized, you can risk tripping the breaker.  This happens sometimes when you add yard ornaments that seemingly don’t draw a lot of power, but can overload the circuit.

  • For mini lights, you can install 6 strands end to end before they begin to blow fuses. You can install up to 80 stands of 50 mini lights on one circuit.

Timers

  • Timers are a very important component of your display. There are several models and from experience, the photo cell timers are not always the best choice. Sometimes when you hide a timer under a bush or back in the corner of your patio, there isn’t sufficient light to keep the lights turned off. When you pick a timer, make sure its rated for outside use. We recommend purchasing a higher quality timer around the $20 range so you will have a good product for several years.