You most likely did not miss that the holiday season is officially upon us if you have gone into any department store lately. When many people take the time to decorate their homes with Christmas décor, traditionally, it is done over the Thanksgiving weekend, but it can easily be done anytime until December 24th. No matter when you tackle your Christmas decorating project, Simon Electric would like to elaborate on the safety of connecting string lights together. Keep in mind that both LED lights and incandescent lights need to be strung together differently.
How to Join Christmas String Lights Together Safely & Wattage Usage Cost
Incandescent Bulbs: Incandescent light strings are initially cheaper than LED lights. Each string should have its own outlet. The cost of running these lights are approximately $50 in power consumption for the season with the comparable length of incandescent string lights consuming 1,925-watts.
LED Bulbs: Using 38-watts and connecting 265-feet of strands together, they could be plugged into a single outlet. LED lights initially cost a little more, but they last 10 times longer than incandescent lights and only use about a tenth of the wattage in operating costs. Determine how many strands of Christmas lights you can safely string together to avoid blowing circuit breakers or in-line fuses, no matter which type of light bulbs style.
Maximum Load: The holiday lights need to first be planned with what circuit or circuits they will be plugged into. Be sure to take note on whether it is a 15 or 20-amp circuit once you have found the breaker on your home’s electrical box. You should never exceed more than 80% of circuit capacity, no matter which type of lights you decide on. This will prevent overheating, tripped breakers and potential electrical fires.
Do Christmas Lights Need Their Own Circuit?: From lighting to appliances, all other items running on that same circuit should be accounted for in the 80% max circuit load. Installing a separate, dedicated circuit for holiday lights lets you install as many outlets as needed to simplify the math and decrease extension cords.
Watts in a String of Light: Limits the need for brain-melting holiday math projects, with the UL, the math is already completed. Located on the box or tagged on the light strings, the label indicates the number of lights that can be safely strung together.
Adhere to UL Tags: A maximum of 210-watts according to the UL tags should never be exceeded though the LED lights don’t have this issue being that they use less energy.
Calculate Christmas Lights: Divide 210 by the number of watts of each string to get the quantity of strings you can connect together safely per outlet. A 10.5 string lights connected in series should not exceed maximum wattage, 1,440/1,920 for a 20-watt strand, for instance.
Lighting Consultations, Electrical Wiring, Fixture Installations & More in Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter & Boca Raton & Palm Beach County, Florida
For safe and effective holiday displays, call Simon Electric and let our experts install outlets and a dedicated circuit. This will help you plane a better display. Call our experienced electricians today and let us do the rest quickly and efficiently.
