led christmas lights

[larry]

Would someone give me a good website which can give me unbiased information
concerning this new product of LED Christmas lights. I am curious about the
technical specs., such as current drain. How a d.c. product fits into an
a.c world.
Larry
larya@rogers.com

 

[James Sweet]

"larry" <larya24@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g%kAb.189884$Fv8.28899@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...

Would someone give me a good website which can give me unbiased
information
concerning this new product of LED Christmas lights. I am curious about
the
technical specs., such as current drain. How a d.c. product fits into an
a.c world.
Larry
larya@rogers.com

You could always buy a set and measure the current draw yourself. They run
on AC just fine, LED's are diodes and conduct only one way. Virtually any
electronic device runs on DC internally.

 

[Steve Reinis]

I have a set of these that I purchased about two years ago at Orchard Supply
(california hardware store) when they first started showing up. I thought
how neat they must be, but boy was I disappointed.

Perhaps the newer ones are better, but these (string of 100 in red, green,
and amber) are extremely DIM and you can see a flicker in them if you pay
attention. Not as exciting as I had hoped for @ $15.99 versus $1.99 for a
string of 100 mini incandescant lights. If they were high-intensity LEDs
they would be quite spectacular. Especially if the mix included the newer
blue LEDs.

-Steve



"James Sweet" <jamessweet@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:_mqAb.41323$_M.186659@attbi_s54...

"larry" <larya24@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g%kAb.189884$Fv8.28899@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
Would someone give me a good website which can give me unbiased
information
concerning this new product of LED Christmas lights. I am curious about
the
technical specs., such as current drain. How a d.c. product fits into
an
a.c world.
Larry
larya@rogers.com



You could always buy a set and measure the current draw yourself. They run
on AC just fine, LED's are diodes and conduct only one way. Virtually any
electronic device runs on DC internally.

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[Bob Parker]

There's some interesting info at
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/xmas1.htm

Bob


"larry" <larya24@hotmail.com> wrote:

Would someone give me a good website which can give me unbiased information
concerning this new product of LED Christmas lights. I am curious about the
technical specs., such as current drain. How a d.c. product fits into an
a.c world.
Larry
larya@rogers.com

 

[Andre]

"Steve Reinis" <no-email@all.com> wrote in message news:<bqtd77020df@enews2.newsguy.com>...

I have a set of these that I purchased about two years ago at Orchard Supply
(california hardware store) when they first started showing up. I thought
how neat they must be, but boy was I disappointed.

Perhaps the newer ones are better, but these (string of 100 in red, green,
and amber) are extremely DIM and you can see a flicker in them if you pay
attention. Not as exciting as I had hoped for @ $15.99 versus $1.99 for a
string of 100 mini incandescant lights. If they were high-intensity LEDs
they would be quite spectacular. Especially if the mix included the newer
blue LEDs.

You can buy a cheap set and "hack" them to fade, this is easy enough
using a PIC and a couple of high gain NPN transistors.

-A

-Steve



"James Sweet" <jamessweet@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:_mqAb.41323$_M.186659@attbi_s54...

"larry" <larya24@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g%kAb.189884$Fv8.28899@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
Would someone give me a good website which can give me unbiased
information
concerning this new product of LED Christmas lights. I am curious about
the
technical specs., such as current drain. How a d.c. product fits into
an
a.c world.
Larry
larya@rogers.com



You could always buy a set and measure the current draw yourself. They run
on AC just fine, LED's are diodes and conduct only one way. Virtually any
electronic device runs on DC internally.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.547 / Virus Database: 340 - Release Date: 12/2/2003

 

[Bob Parker]

testing_h@yahoo.com (Andre) wrote:

You can buy a cheap set and "hack" them to fade, this is easy enough
using a PIC and a couple of high gain NPN transistors.

-A

Reminds me of a Monty Python sketch... "To play the flute, just blow
across here and run your fingers up and down the holes!".

Bob

 

[Andre]

Bob Parker <bobp@bluebottle.com> wrote in message news:<pdc6tvsanug8jq0u10l0c3q9lh2t0nd0f0@4ax.com>...

testing_h@yahoo.com (Andre) wrote:

You can buy a cheap set and "hack" them to fade, this is easy enough
using a PIC and a couple of high gain NPN transistors.

-A

Reminds me of a Monty Python sketch... "To play the flute, just blow
across here and run your fingers up and down the holes!".

LOL!

Well, its fractionally cheaper than buying a new set, plus you get to
choose the patterns which AFAIK you cannot do with the commercial
units.

If anyone wants pre-programmed PICs that do this, I am making up a
batch in a week or so.

-A

Bob

 

[Bob Parker]

What I meant was, for someone with no experience with micros (I
loosely apply that term to PICs), it'd be one hell of a learning curve
to go through just to flash some Christmas lights. If you've got some
PICs already programmed with a schematic of how to make it all work,
that would be entirely different.

Bob


testing_h@yahoo.com (Andre) wrote:

LOL!

Well, its fractionally cheaper than buying a new set, plus you get to
choose the patterns which AFAIK you cannot do with the commercial
units.

If anyone wants pre-programmed PICs that do this, I am making up a
batch in a week or so.

-A

 

[Andre]

Bob Parker <bobp@bluebottle.com> wrote in message news:<jivbtvo8n8r43pcsho3bp24rbsf6158lom@4ax.com>...

What I meant was, for someone with no experience with micros (I
loosely apply that term to PICs), it'd be one hell of a learning curve
to go through just to flash some Christmas lights. If you've got some
PICs already programmed with a schematic of how to make it all work,
that would be entirely different.

Duh, PIC, whats that Sorry, I keep forgetting that not everyone has
PIC programming equipment and/or experience.

-A

BTW, its probably cheaper to buy a dozen RGB LEDs from
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk

Bob


testing_h@yahoo.com (Andre) wrote:

LOL!

Well, its fractionally cheaper than buying a new set, plus you get to
choose the patterns which AFAIK you cannot do with the commercial
units.

If anyone wants pre-programmed PICs that do this, I am making up a
batch in a week or so.

-A