cutting rope lights

[sabie]

has anyone cut incadcent rope lights if so what is the minimun lenght i was planning on using for some stars

[chrisatpsu]

it depends on the rope light.

this might help
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[MrChristmas2000]

There are cut marks on incan rope light. Usually indicated by a small pair of sizors. This may also depend on rope manufacturer as well, some rope light you buy at WalMart, Kmart etc usually dosen't have cutting marks.

If you cut in in the wrong place then it will not work.

[tbone321]

There are cut marks on incan rope light. Usually indicated by a small pair of sizors. This may also depend on rope manufacturer as well, some rope light you buy at WalMart, Kmart etc usually dosen't have cutting marks.

If you cut in in the wrong place then it will not work.

Don't always count on those cut marks on the rope light.  As said above, those are only found on commercial quality rope lights that have the trunk conductors properly positioned and secured so that the endcaps can fit properly and connect to them.  Many of the rope lights that you find in the big box stores are not commercial quality and were never intended to be cut. 

If you don't see the cut marks on them I would suggest not doing it.  Unless you know the voltage of the bulbs or can see the internal connections, it would be a luck shot as to where to cut them and then you may not be able to reconnect the trunk conductors to supply power to the new cut section which would make the section after the cut useless. 

[JonB256]

If you really really look closely, with back lighting, you can "find" the cut points.

The makers put bulbs together in series, adding the voltage up to the rope voltage. You can actually see a "cross wire" from bulb to bulb that connects them in series. When you get to a Cut Point, there is no cross wire. Just the two bus wires (Hot and Common). You cut exactly between the two bulbs that don't have the cross wire.

If they used 5volt bulbs, then they would tie together 24 bulbs to equal 120 volts
If they used 6volt bulbs, it would be 20 bulbs to equal 120 volts.
A common value is the 3.3volt bulb. That gives you 36 bulbs, at 1/2" spacing, for an 18 inch cut space.
Just depends on the maker.

If the rope is new and clean, it is pretty obvious. If you're lucky, you'll also see the scissor printed there.

If you are looking while power is applied, PLEASE unplug before cutting.

[thestig]

I want to echo what others have already stated. If there are scissors on the rope like that is where you can cut it. If you are looking for rope light then I reccomend action lighting. They sell great rope light and my failure rate on each piece of my singing faces has been 0 (knocks on wood). 

[therealbigjim]

I cut rope light last year for some stars. Pay attention to the cut length when ordering and planning your element.  Also I used the left over male plug ends from an express to make plugs. I tinned the wires and pushed it into the rope light and secured it with shrink wrap and tape. They wanted 4+ $ per end kit and I needed 10, they worked well all season.

[JonB256]

There are several ways to make connection to freshly cut light rope ends.

You can use the barbed ends that they sell. They literally are "shoved" into the two multi-strand conductors that run the length of the rope.

You can shove a finishing nail (copper is best) into the conductor, then solder a wire to the copper nail.

You can strip back the vinyl covering about 1/4 inch and solder directly to the conductor.

With proper strain relief and waterproofing, I've had homemade connections on a Mega Tree star that worked for 4 years without problem.