Wow - funny timing - I just happened to look at a few of my HD strings yesterday (trying to find my transmitter actually...). I found a few strings with rust/corrosion that appears to have leaked into the gap between the LED and the outer plastic shell making them dim (and instead of "ice" white are now brownish... Other stirngs of the same type that would have gotten just as wet (rains a lot here in CA during Winter) were fine - so - not sure what to make of it.
Frankly this is outrageous to me - these are specified as indoor/outdoor and should be expected to survive wetness at least as well as regular minis.
Yeah that is a common issue. That is why for those that wonder, so many of the people that have been doing lights any amount of time only use LEDS from places like CDI, ect. And ost will only used non replacable LED strings. You can fix a problem if you have one by splicing in a new led but you have little issues with corrosion do to there being no place for water to get in. As often people point out they are more costly by maybe twice in some cases but removing bad design changes like we had with CDI last year. The lights a built to hold up and there is no comparing what a LED from CDI or simular looks like compared to big box stores leds. I live in Florida so we get lots of rain at that time of the year and the big box led strings are a one year product unless you take each bulb out and put grease in the socket and reassemble it. I would rather pay the difference in price get brighter better built lights and not need to do this.
No Matter what is always posted about the energy savings and etc this is not people like me move to LED's the cost of the LEDS are not going to be made up in power savings unless you do a big static display. It is because they are less trouble as in very few failures if any during the display year and they are easier to store since they are so much tougher. You do not have to handle them with kit gloves.
Not trying to take the thread somewhere else but with all the new members it was a good place to point out that a LED string is not an LED string, there is amazing differences in them from one brand to the other. Much more difference than you see in standard lights. Even between the big box stores they are night and day. Some hold up much better than others.
RJ
