SPT-1 polarized plugs

[IndianaChristmas]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but....
Where do people find reasonable prices on polarized plugs (female and male) for SPT-1 cord?
I have two basic needs:

1. "Inline" - I've seen the ones that go "inline" but the prices are quite steep if you ask me. What is considered a good price for these?
2. Cord ends - Do others simply buy inexpensive extension cords and use the male/female ends? (If your not doing "inline")
The reason I'm asking is because I thought it would be nice to "chop" up a string of plastic snow flakes dressed with minis and place each snowflake on its own channel, others must have thought of this too. Or simply making a run of SPT-1 cord useable.

Thanks in advance.

[WWNF911]

The real question is should you chop up your string of mini's?  The answer is no. Ever read the directions for bulb replacement concerning your string of mini's? They say to replace any burned out bulbs as quick as possible. This is because when bulbs go out on mini strings, it puts greater stress on the other bulbs. So,.... cutting up those strings will allow them to burn really bright for a short period of time.  LOL

Thats why different strings of minis have different ratings of bulbs. A standard string of 100 and strings of 50 are rated at 2.5 Volts. 70 count at 3V. and this year Wal-mart had strings of 20 rated at 12V. Cuttimg those strings of stars will create a circuit of less bulbs than the circuit is designed to have and will cause those bulbs to burn out in a flash.

Thats the rule on Mini's. Some bulbs like C9's,... that rule doesn't apply.

As far as the vampire plugs, I have used the ones from CDI and had terrific results but to be honest the price is probably somewhere in the range that youre finding. I've also used plug replacement ends from Ace in a pinch but those were even more.

Hope that helps.

Leon

[rcouto]

Here's a secret in regards to the inline plugs!

You only buy end type female plugs.

Whenever you need to put one inline  then just shave off the plastic tab that is located at the end of the plug.  It could not be any simpler.

I agree with Leon, cutting mini's or LED's is rarely done because of the reason stated.

Ricardo

[austindave]

I'd like to add a little to what Leon said (at the risk of getting my head bitten off)...

Re: cutting up light strings (separating snow flakes & the like) - the key to this is how the strings are wired and the rating of the bulbs. As Leon points out, the lights on the snow flakes are probably wired in series, meaning that the power goes through each light, one after another. When wired this way, each bulb only receives 2.5 or 3 (or whatever - depending on the number of bulbs wired in series) volts. Multiplying the number of bulbs in a series by their voltage rating will generally result in the total rated voltage (about 120v in the US). And these days, the mini-lights generally have a fail-safe mechanism, where when the filament (light) burns out, a bypass shunt closes, shorting-out that bulb. When the bulb is shorted-out because of this shunt, all the other bulbs in the string have to "take" the extra voltage that the failed bulb would have been consuming - over-voltaging them (a little). With each additional bulb failure, the situation gets worse & worse for the remaining bulbs, & they'll eventually have an avalanche of failures. That's why you need to replace the bulbs ASAP after it fails.

Now, some light strings are a little more complicated. They are wired in series / parallel sets, where half (or a third or whatever) of the bulbs are chained one after another in series, and the other half are in their own series, wired in parallel with the first series. In this case, removing one bulb will only cause half the string to go out (since the other half is in its own series). The multi-series strings will have extra wire(s) at points in the string. And strings wired this way don't conform to the general voltage rule (volts-per-bulb x bulbs = supply voltage), but will instead add up to 2x or 3x the supply voltage (since each series substring adds up to the supply voltage).

I haven't seen these, but the strings Leon mentions with a 70 count at 3v or the 20 at 12v are probably both wired as a 2 parallel sets of series-connected lights (since the bulb count x bulb rating comes out to around 2x the supply voltage). And, theoretically - not that I'd recommend anyone do this - if one knew how the string was wired, the two series strings might be separated from each other & controlled individually.

Finally, as Leon mentions, the C9-type bulb (and the like) is a special case. These bulbs are rated at 120v, so are all wired in parallel - that is, each bulb is connected directly across the supply (so the bulbs don't feed one-another).

Hope this helps explain...

--Dave

[IndianaChristmas]

Thanks for the responses about the mini lights.  I never even considered that.  I guess I would have found out VERY quickly though!
Guess I'll have to think up another way to deal with these lights and unfortunately it will be as a string.

As for the inline modification on female plugs, sounds simple but I'll have to play with this to see how it works.

Thanks again,
Eric

[IndianaChristmas]

I was rethinking this (not because I want to do something dangerous) but what if I was to place a resitive load that matched the other flakes in the circuit before each individual flake?

Thanks again,
Eric

[johnbullard]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but....
Where do people find reasonable prices on polarized plugs (female and male) for SPT-1 cord?
I have two basic needs:

1. "Inline" - I've seen the ones that go "inline" but the prices are quite steep if you ask me. What is considered a good price for these?
2. Cord ends - Do others simply buy inexpensive extension cords and use the male/female ends? (If your not doing "inline")
The reason I'm asking is because I thought it would be nice to "chop" up a string of plastic snow flakes dressed with minis and place each snowflake on its own channel, others must have thought of this too. Or simply making a run of SPT-1 cord useable.

Thanks in advance.

Regarding the SPT1 plugs and sockets,   I'm not sure what you consider reasonable or "quite steep", but...  During CDI's presale, they are only 52 cents each.   Male, Female, or Inline      Seems cheap enough to me.

I used to convert the females to inlines as mentioned above, but last season I was going to need about 70 of those things.  I started converting std females, then said screw it.  Taking too much time, ordered 100 from Paul at CDI, went on to doing other stuff, and 2 days later the inlines arrived.

I now keep several hundred inlines in inventory along with the M and F.   Since they are the same price and I know I'll be using them from time to time, why not?

After CDI's presale is over, the regular price is 60 cents, but put "PC2010" in the discount box, and the price drops to 54 cents each.

[austindave]

...what if I was to place a resitive load that matched the other flakes in the circuit before each individual flake?

Thanks again,
Eric

[Note: Just answering the question. I'm *not* suggesting that anyone should cut up their light strings - for any reason. If you choose to do this, make sure you know what you're doing & that you are safe in doing so.]

Hi Eric,

I think that would work. But I don't think it's a good idea...

First, this is a *very* inefficient solution, as you'll be wasting far more power than you're "using" (say there are 4 snow flakes; splitting it into 4 separate circuits & inserting appropriate resistive loads into all 4 circuits will quadruple the total power, wasting 3/4 of it).

2nd, the resistive load will probably get quite hot - so it needs to be protected from small (and large) fingers, can't come into contact with flammable materials, etc. Also be aware that, as components (& wires, etc) get hot, their values can change, insulation breaks down, etc.

If you're absolutely sure you want to go this route, be sure that the resistive load is rated at a high enough power (watts) to be able to dissipate all the power in the circuit (i.e. make sure it can be placed straight across the input power line - say, 120v) and is properly enclosed, insulated, etc. It needs to be able to handle line voltage because in the worst case, in unlikely event ALL the mini-lights burn out, your resistive load will be the only load on the circuit, so must be able to handle the current & power.

In my opinion, a (much) better solution would be to disassemble the snow flakes & replace their lights with (short) strands that don't need to be cut up. Or make wire-frame snowflakes & wind them with complete strings that you can then control individually.

-- Dave

[tbone321]

The easy answer is to plug in the string of snow flakes and remove one of the bulbs and see what goes out.  If just the lights on the flake you removed go out then you can separate the flakes but that is unlikely to be the case.  If no lights go out then the string has shunts in the sockets which would make it difficult to find a separation point.  If all of the lights go out then the string is one continuous string and separation will not work out well for that string.  If part of the string goes out it can be separated between the last bulb that is out and the first one lit but you relly need to understand how they work and how they are wired to do this successfully but even there, if half of a snowflake is out then seperation there wouldn't make much sense.  As others have said, you could remove the existing lights from the flakes and replace them with new ones that are 20 light strings.

[PJNMCT]

The best I could do this year was to buy the "snowflake icicle lights" strings. They are a string of 9 snowflakes with three big flakes and 6 smaller flakes on the string. They come with an 8 function controller built in. They are made by "Grandlite Co." They come in a mostly red box and the manufacturer is not mentioned on the box. You have to look on the little controller to find out the manufacturer. I think I bought them at Lowes.

Anyway, I was able to find that they are made of up of three circuits of three snowflakes each - one big one and two smaller ones on each circuit. Each circuit will have three flakes operating together at one time and they are arranged in an alternating pattern - 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3. This makes it great for chases!

The controller uses 6 conductors connected to the string. The first two conductors labeled A C are connected to the power plug and is daisy chained directly to male plug (feeding the controller) and to the female plug at the end of the light string for connecting other strings to it.

The other four conductors are power for each of the three circuits and one "neutral" for return of all three strings!

These are controllable by the LE but I had to be EXTREMELY careful about the polarization of wiring from the controller all the way to the string. Controlling these are not for the faint hearted but very satisfying once the leap is made.

I do NOT recommend doing this unless you know what you are doing but I had a great time making it all work...and yes I did blow out two channels (SSRs) out of 42 on the LEs by hooking them up wrong (had the hot and neutral reversed at the terminal block on the LE).

If you are adventurous, it turned out to be a great and very flexible outline lighting effect.

--my two cents worth--

-Paul

[tbone321]

I am going to do the same thing to some 4 channel multi-function lights that look like C9's but are really just odd shapped mini's with glass C9 covers.  Instead of using an LE, I will replace the controllers with SSR4's with DMX.  This way I can make them part of the light show when it runs and make them match each other between shows.  I have some color changing icle lights that I will do the same thing to.