Christmas Rope lights

[waterworks]

Hi all we are fitting rope lights on an Estate, they vary in length and are being fed from one of the lights on each block, we have installed some which are approx 15metres in length they are 240volt rope lights they have been on for approx 18 hours and so far sections of them appear to have gone off (bulbs burnt out i presume) has anyone got any opinion as to why this should be, could a resistor of some sort be fitted in series to reduce current if so what value? or any other ideas welcome.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If I were a betting man I'd put what's left of my pension on it being down to procurement having bought the cheapest ones they could find.

 

[waterworks]

Thanks for your reply, these rope lights were bought from QVS and cost approx £1 per metre is that what you would class as cheap or not?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

IHNI - I've never bought any, so have never done any pricing or quality research.

 

[rebuke]

If they're the multi coloured ones then the quality you tend to get from electrical wholesalers seems to be very poor, of the 4 or 5 I've bought for various reasons over the years, I think none of them still have everything working, not even 2 that were used very briefly for one scene during a theatrical production.

The static single colour ones seem better, but I haven't done as much with them so might just be luck...

 

[dannyboi2003]

LED Ropelight is the way to go! Yes its a bit more expensive but i got so fed-up of buying ropelight figures etc. only for sections of them to start failing a year later i now only buy LED stuff and have even re-roped some myself to LED. The choice of colours is just as good as tungsten ropelight and there are many suppliers online. If the ropelight is new, contact the firm you bought them from and have them replaced under warranty, next time have procurement buy LED!

 

[electronicsuk]

As above, LEDs are the way to go, although you shouldn't have failures after 18 hours. How are these rope lights attached to the building? Long, unsupported spans may cause premature damage if the weight of the light itself causes it to stretch.

Oh, and £1/m does seem cheap, but if you managed to get a good bulk deal from the supplier then I guess it's possible it could still be of reasonable quality.

 

[timtheenchanter]

£1M seems incredibly cheap to me, are they fixed to a structure or swung from point to point? if the latter they will probably need a support wire, that and the pea light types dont like being moved around alot whislt on.

it only takes one lamp in a circuit to take out a god meter or so, they are wired in series-parallel.

 

[waterworks]

Hi Guys update I made a mistake they cost £1.97 a metre and they haven't gone o9ff they have sections between cutting points which don't light from the start, we are checking them now before they are strung, also they are connected to catenary wires.
Thanks for your replies