Alright I got a little test for everyone. This year I decided to add lights along my roof eaves and gables and after having them up about 6 days I noticed that some of the sections of my LED lights had "gone out"; after hoisting a ladder and inspecting the strands closer I noticed that either a squirrel of chipmunk had used my lights for a chew toy (insert full turrets breakdown from rooftop). I fixed each section by splicing the wires back together after determining the string polarity. Then I went to the local hardware store and purchased Deer Off a pepper spray mixture along all of my lights including the path to the roof along the redbud trees. Keep in mind all doing this on a moistened and icy cedar shake roof.
After that the weather turned into a bitter cold that must have kept them at bay but the day before I took the lights down we had an Indian Summer of 60 degrees that must have brought them out of the holes. While taking the lights down there were several broken sections once again. I have already worked on some new anchors to hang the lights under my gutters on the eaves but I simply must decorate the gables because it will look too "off".
A good friend of mine is a union electrician and he told me that they chew on the lights because the shielding used attracts them, and he sees it all the time with low voltage cabling that they install in attics or interstitial spaces in buildings. He only stated that the plenum rated cables apparently don't appeal the them but since there is not likely a way to get Christmas lights with plenum rated cable I am forced to come up with a different plan.
Have any of you had this problem previously and if so how did you solve it? I would love to have the time to monitor my lights during the day with my 410 in one hand and the 12 Ga in the other but something tells me my neighbors won't like that addition to my holiday display.
Thanks,
Corey
