Analysis of a 100 LED string of "wire lights".
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- This style of LED string used to be quite expensive, but it's clear that it lends itself to mass production well as the price has come crashing down quickly. This type of LED string has two lacquered copper wires with surface mount LEDs soldered in parallel along their length. The wires are obviously held tightly in parallel and formed into a flat topped peak that has the lacquer ground off. The wires seem to be pressed tightly against the back of a surface mount LED, soldered and then dipped in resin that encapsulates the LED and wires for strength and insulation. These may prove to be quite good for outdoor use as the connections are fully encapsulated in resin.
I was intrigued by a set of 100 LEDs designed for 12V, and wanted to see how they were wired. They have been divided into four sections of 25 parallel LEDs that are then connected in series to give a combined forward voltage of 12V (4 x 3V). I couldn't find a series resistor, so they are relying on the combined forward voltage and the knee/slope that gallium nitride LEDs have where they will have a forward voltage that typically varies between about 2.5 and 3.4V depending on the current passing through them.
The way the sections were hooked in series was clever. Both wires of the parallel circuit being cut, and one sections positive being connected to the others negative and the other wires just folded back and covered with heatshrink sleeve.
Excellent! Thank you very much, you saved my bacon. I had cut down a 5v 3x wire 200 LED string, and it didn't work, of course. I was perplexed as the little joints, (there are many in this system) didn't make any sense. Until I watched this video. My solution, basic as it was, was to solder it all back together and coil up the excess out of harms way :-).
I couldn't fathom out how these lights are to run on 12volts.
Thank you for explaining the wiring.
I always seem to find the answer from you.
Much appreciated.
Your resistor is the ~50m of thin copper wire... You only need a resistance of a few ohms for sufficient current regulation.
Hi, and thanks for a bang on video. Having just cut a string to a more useful length .... nothing worked. I read down to your reply to Jackie Murray Bernardo and sorted within minutes. Brilliant.
LOL, gotta love that test to see if it's insulated XD
Cool I can't wait to lick all my Christmas lights!
That pun at the end :)
Some good points, Clive. My wife and I are now in southern Spain for the summerand I plan to do lots of experiments with battery powered and solar LEDs now the sun is with us. The rice wire LEDs we have so far are running off 3v solar cells and come as little bottle corks with a strand of the lights. I've just ordered some RGB rice wire (many metres of RGB) which should be with us in a couple of weeks and I'd never thought to check if it is 12v or low-voltage - and I was wondering how they get the red to run at the same voltage as the rest. Your comment that the colours are almost all base on blue makes sense. The solar variety are not that bright and so I plan to run them off my solar 24v (250w) installation via some cheap, tiny dc-dc convertor pcbs that came to about 50p each, able to take in anything up to 30v and output almost any low voltage. I'm expecting to need just short of 4v but if it turns out the long strands are indeed 12v then these little boards will handle that, too. I seal the convertors with the glue gun usually though resin would do just as well. If they are in parallel-serial it could make it harder to customise the length. I do know the white ones are simply all in parallel and hence you can cut the wire anywhere. The RGB 12v LEDs you describe could be slightly trickier to cut down.
For 12V 2wire LEDs you can rewire the joints into one parallel circuit to allow these to run on a 3.5V supply...Then cut off some or all of of the excess and reconnect the injection wire. Consider being nice to your remaining LEDs because they will have to share a higher current. You can resist(or) the advance before it gets too hot to handle. RGB likely have 3 wires and I admit I haven't tried rewiring them...
Love the 'Ol School meets New Tech video. the paper diagrams are awesome, with so many animated instructional videos out there This was Awesome DIY tutorial. Real Hands-On. My Hat off to you
I have a set of these very thin copper wire lights which is made up of 16 strings joined to one 12v 6W supply wire and designed to "cascade" down a christmas tree. Every 5 or so lights pulses on and off to create a "twinkle" effect. My question is would it be possible to fit a suitable dimmer, if so, what should I be looking for?
Would it be possible to shorten these lights?
It's not easy, as one of the wires going to the other end is a common. On the 5V sets you would have to work out which wire the third strand was supposed to join to at the end, and on the 12V strings it's not very viable.
thank you!
Can we join these wires if the string's cut off
@@baesilvaz4440
So I guess the 5V ones just include a resistor to drop down to the 3 ish volt?
I bought a set on clearance the other day for 7 euros (70% off) that includes 180 warm white leds in 9 strings of 20 at 5ish cm spacing instead of the more common 10, each hanging from a thicker wire busbar at about 15-20 cm spacing, sold as a light curtain effect. The power adapter it comes with is 6V 800mA, and where the power feed comes into the lit part, I can see under the heatshrink that there are two large, probably 2W resistors, presumably one for each leg - I can even see they are colorbanded, although not which colors. It really does look like they're literally pissing away half the power as heat - the resistors get appreciably warm but not excessively so.
Seems like it'd be a lot more efficient to have a current regulated driver...
Hi. I want to join a few of these together, not as a continual strand but as individual strings, out of one battery pack, would i need to add something to ensure they are safe or maybe a bigger battery pack?
Thanks in advance
You could parallel these sets from a central battery pack no problem. You might also consider the 5V versions that could be operated from USB power banks.
Thanks for your reply.
They need to be portable as the display they will be used for is in the middle of a field and no electricity supply.
How would I connect a couple of LED string lights together. So I could go from a 10m strand to a 20m strand etc. save on using extra power cords and what not.
+scottyv1985 The strings are arranged with a specific wire resistance and feed from both ends, so it's not easy to just join them together. But you can save some cabling by feeding two sets from a central point and running them out in either direction.
Do you think it would be possible to cut single lights out of these strips to be used and powered by something small like a watch battery?
Neffertity At that point I would just buy individual SMD LEDs
i get one with 12 v ac in output but with + and - indicated and 3 wires after
how it works?
Hi, i got a 10M (100 LEDs) USB powered set. If i cut 2Metres (20leds) from it, how can i solder it and how many volts will i need to power it? Thanks!
Note: my set only has 2 wires.
You are funny - love 'take a shine to these lights' thanks for this, such a clear explanation and solved a simple problem I was having with a chandelier. Cheers!
Hi. I have 300 led 12 volt fairy light string. And I have 12 independent short fairy light string with 20 leds and operated 2 pcs 3v battery. Can I connect thoose 2 type or can I connect the 12 small to a 1 long with plug in end to a wall cause the batteries die so fast.
I cut these into singles and use in greeting cards, I've made several videos on different ways to do it. I use a CR2016 battery, which is very thin and easy to use.
I have five sets of these driven by a USB flasher. I want to drive the five sets so they flash in synchronism. How easy is that to do ???? Could one USB drive be buffered to achieve it ???
I'm sure it's been asked but I have several of the 2 double aa battery style lights and see them often at dollar stores. I think you already covered the subject but I would like to know if connecting two of the 3v parallel strands in series would make it a 6v strand and if then could be run dimmer with a 5 volt usb? Think you may have answered the question saying the connections are not easy to distinguish but the lights I have are the bigger gauge wire more common style led string light and not the fairy lights. Would be nice to not have to buy a bunch of 3v power adapters, but guess I can start working with resistors too and learn something new. Love the videos and the way you tinker with lighting. You pop up in many google searches often times the only person to have answered the typical diy questions Ive had. Have a wonderful day!
Search my videos. I have one showing how to convert these LED strings to USB with just two 10 ohm resistors.
Hi there.....that second diagram where you talk about the cut wires after every 25 leds has me a little confused......
Or should you have reversed the polarity of the leds in your diagram after the cut wires.....?
Cheers.....Tony......
I WANT ONE! A string of 100? COOL! Where are they sold? I'm in the U.S. but haven't seen these strings of 100 that are 12V powered! Great.
I have one USB powered set in a fireplace and two battery operated sets up on the mantle. I'd like to splice them all together to be powered by the USB and into the wall thus eliminating the need to constantly replace batteries. Is it doable? Seems simple enough to cut and splice them together.
I have a question . I bought a christmas tree with white LEDs built in, and they only lasted 10 mins. When I tried to change the blinking mode it died. The power supply doesn't have any power output anymore, the info on the power supply says Urated=29V , Uout = 32V , Prated=15W . So I decided to do the power supply myself, I had old toroidal transformer and wound up enough wire to provide 30V . Now I ordered on ebay bridge rectifier KBPC3504 so this should sort out the AC to DC issue. Now I am not sure about the resistance needed, as my transformer is probably giving 10A on that 30V . And also not sure about capacitor, do I need any? How do I calculate the resistance needed considering the old PSU had 15W and 30V , which means 0.5A output. I would need to achieve the same output and not higher or the LEDs will burn .
I'd recommend trying to find another standard Xmas lighting transformer rated around 30V. Especially if there are a couple of flashing channels, as it may be using alternating polarity to switch between circuits.
Hi thank you for this helpful video. I was just thinking about this as i recently found them and i bought 4 of this (battery suplied 1.45meterea long) i used them for a project and i would like to kink all those 4 packs togethers and try to make something be powered by plug . Can you help me how i can do that. Is it fin if i jus link the end of each pack with other pack by sording cables? How i know which one is + and which is -
There is a lot to learn about the various types of these that occur out in the wild. I just got a solar powered string of 100 RGBYs and it does not chop the LED’s into sets of 25. they are all in parallel and powered by a 3.7 volt Li Ion cell. However the string I got seems to have a defect. It only runs for about a half hour before the red yellow and blue lights dim and then drop out and the green goes bright. This suggests that the LED’s are not correctly voltage matched - eh? Also tells me why they were so cheap on eBay :-)
The reds and yellows are probably blue chips with phosphor. The green is probably a bare green chip, and as you say, probably has a lower forward voltage.
Thanks, just what I was looking for. Just a basic schematic =)
Can the 100 bulbs be cut into shorter segments, say 4 (25 bulbs each), or 8 (12-13 bulbs each)? I plan to put the segments in small jars powered by a 3V or a 1.5 V cell each segment.
Thanks! been hunting around for how these work
can't have had lany questions if this video answers them..
You are 100% correct good madam, I indeed did not have lany question
Hi Clive, what's the best way to make a 9 led panel say 4inx6in to illuminate a lithograph. ideally, it would need to be run on 3v
Hi! Love your videos. I have a question that you may be able to help with. I have a set of copper string lights that I am attaching outside to a tree. The lights are "waterfall" or "vine" lights. There are 10 strands all connected to a central point. Each strand consists of two wires. They appear to end with a simple cut. They are not soldered back on themselves. I attached it to a tree with staples. About halfway through, I checked it and it worked. At the end, I plugged it in, and none of the lights will light. Did I short the entire bunch of lights? If I did, how do you think I managed it and is it repairable? I have a soldering gun and novice level experience. I'd love to hear what you have to say!
Thank you in advance
The staples may have pierced the lacquer and shorted the string. They're not a good choice for attaching thin wire.
Thank you so much for all your knowledge about these mysterious little things!
I have an issue with my set of 100 lights. I have only just bought them, had them lit for about 5 minutes, then they flickered and died. I think I smelled a slight burning smell just before.
I had wrapped them in some fabric to make a costume with them, but I thought they didn't get too hot and would be ok for that purpose? I also hadn't completely unravelled the roll they came in.
Any ideas as to whether this could have been an overheating issue, or is there a chance I've short-circuited them somehow?
I'm making this costume for someone and it has to be finished within a week so I'm starting to stress out! If I use a new set I'm worried the same thing will just happen again!
Any light you can shed on the situation would be much appreciated!
Hi. I hope that the show went on.The next time, starting "halfwayish" along the string with 2 lightly pinched alligator clips to pierce the insulation of each of the 2 wires in the LEDs, inject 50 ohm resistor-limited 3 to 5V . You should find a clue when the LEDs light up in both directions outward from your injection. If all LEDs light, the third wire is likely broken.
Thank you for sharing this informative video! 🐔🖐🏻
I am trying to fix one of those 100 lights string, already tried all 3 wires possible connections in the RED and BLACK wires of the cable adapter. I am leaving a third wire disconnected as I compared it to a working string and is having that.
Could someone explain how to solder this 3 wired string into the 2 wired adapter part with the females end.
Thanks!
One wire usually goes to the far end, and is one of the power connections. Just one of the wires at the other end is normally connected to the other connection. The voltage of the power supply must match the string. Some are 12V and some are 5V.
Polarity matters. Wrong polarity and they won't light.
awesome - answered a ton of my questions!
I just bought a set of 300 of these lights in warm white, I thought they would look good and not too bright
Do you know if there is any way to fix this type of light strand? One of the two wires snapped, and will still make a connection when put together very precisely, but I have no idea if there's a safe and effective way to reattach them. I'd just replace the whole strand, but the lights have more ornamental casings and were a bit more expensive, so I'd like to save them if I can and this obviously isn't my area of expertise.
Is it the 12V type of copper strand lighting or the lower voltage type that runs on a couple of batteries or a USB power supply? Or is it even a wall powered set?
If I shortened the length by removing a section, would the excess voltage short them out?
why is in 4 sections of 25 leds in parallel? the 12v would not be enough to power it at 100% brightness. The proper way is to cut it in 25 sections of 4 leds in parallel, right? coz 4 leds = 12v
+KLONES Each section of 25 LEDs in parallel requires 3V. So you then wire four of those parallel sections in series to make the 12V.
I am using similar lights in a wall hanging . I wresting with the problem of making the batteries last as long as possible to avoid having to change them every few days. The timers on some strings greatly help but still they are only good for a week. I don't mind sacrificing brightness or adding additional batteries or added expense. My only concern is minimizing the maintenance. Do you have any suggestions on how I can maximize the duration of the batteries? They need to burn only 4 hours a night.
As BC had mentioned in one of his "lovely" videos, a series diode can reduce the voltage. This works for one-channel strings, and/but converts a 2-channel string into a one channel string.
Oh, dear... I thought i was confused before, bit now i am totally lost. I have a set of these lights (100) but each series has its own resistor, and they're divided into 5 sets of 20 LEDs, all white. Dingbat that i am, I assumed I could cut and rejoin them as desired like LED strip lights (with which i have some small recent positive experience) so I cut them apart and decided to use them as 5 series sets of 20. The original set of 100 ran on 3 AAA batteries, with the 5 resistors delineating the 5 parralel series.
Can you guess what comes next? Well, my creations only have 2 wires each, and their own resistor (for each 20), but....they don't work. Before anyone has a tizzy, one of the reasons i split them up wad the horrid controller that nearly caught my couch on fire!
So can i salvage my LED lights as I have separated them? I SO thought this would be simpler.....
And thanks -seems like lately, every pinch I get in, I can find a video of yours to help me get out of the pickle!!
CC~
Are the LEDs wired in parallel? Just two wires looping through every LED? Have you tried swapping the polarity?
can i put 300 lights or 3 sets by 100(10m) to 1 charger or to power surply.they are powered by 3 AA batery each now..but i want them be wired and if posible to power them with cable?!
Thats easier. 5v usb if it's 3 batteries. Just make sure to wire to the + / - battery case terminals since inside the case is other circuitry usually stepping down the voltage. (Meaning don't just cut the wires right before the lights and splice on there, run in series and keep intact the battery case and or circuitry. But if they can run off 4.5 volts they will do fine.
can you please do a video on repairing these I have 100 12v lights with 3 copper wires all are 3 of these were cut at one point by a sissors and I would like to repair. 😕
In the case of the 12V ones they can't really be cut to length. If they have been cut then there will probably be three wires at the cut point. One that does not connect directly to any of the LEDs (join the two ends of that one) and a pir that do connect to the LEDs on either side. They can be joined, but will only work one way round. You should be able to work it out by pointing the drips of resin surrounding the LEDs in the same direction.
I dont really understand there is one wire with no lights that I have wrapped the ends together the other two I have done the same but no joy. Do I need to solder ? normal wire I join with a tape of with a plastic wire connector, I am a woman don't understand electrics🤔
Although it looks like bare copper wire, there is a super thin lacquer on them like nail varnish to stop them just shorting together. If you were to use a fine sandpaper (like a nail file) to clean the lacquer off then you could connect the bare copper ends together. If you find it difficult getting the lacquer off, try holding the ends of the wires in the flame of a cigarette lighter for a few seconds to burn it off.
Hi I just wanted to say thank you for all your help. I got my lights to work again 😊
I have the same problem. Wires were accidently cut. Battery operated. How do I put the wires back together to make them work again?
If it's battery operated there will be three wires. two go to the closest end and one goes to the far end. The two active wires will be the one that goes to the other and and one of the two other wires. You may need to experiment to find which one is which polarity.
Hi I was quite interested in these lights when I first found them I have a project for which I want to adapt solar lawn lights to be the source voltage for these so that they would charge during the day and then illuminate at night I tried to make a measurement with a a meter set up for milliamps however I could not get a reading it was a it was as if the draw was so small that the Fluke meter that I was using could not perceive how much current was being drawn even on the milliamp scale does anyone know how much they draw or a way to measure them I would appreciate that!
I have a string of these plugged into a switched outlet, I notice there is a delay after I turn them on. Why is this, and is there any way to correct it?
If using with a power supply then there may be a delay in the power supply caused by it's bootstrap circuit charging. It's the power supply for the driver chip.
Hi! Really enjoyed your analysis. It made me wonder . . . Can you get smaller sized strands from stock ones. For example, can you build a 1m strand? 75cm strand? from current ebay supplies? The elegance seems to rest on the way they avoided using resistors . . . If you start cutting thing up, will you have to mess with resistors? Why don't they just include a resistor in each led to begin with?
Leonardo Legorreta You could cut a standard USB style string of the LEDs down to length and get rid of the third wire. But you would have to add the resistor to limit the current through the LEDs. They don't add a resistor per LED since the way the string is manufactured is simply the LEDs hard-soldered onto the bus wires.
bigclivedotcom Great. I'm a newbie at this, but I will try what you say ! Thank you for the advise and for your incredibly prompt reply!!
Did you get mixed up about series/parallel around the 1:50 mark?
Or am I just too confused at the moment? =D
Nope. They are by default all in parallel since that's the easiest way to manufacture them on a continuous string. In traditional Xmas lighting LED strings a higher voltage like 24V is used and the LEDs are wired in series sections of 7 or so LEDs to accommodate the higher voltage, but in these ones the manufacture of them in a series array would be harder. Hence why the big 100 LED 12V set has the parallel array divided into four sections hooked up in series.
wow that's genius! thanks for that! love your vids by the way
bigclivedotcom
The reality of using 12 volts is probably for product safety see the following from the LED equipment standard:
CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 250.13-12
Light emitting diode (LED) equipment for lighting applications
E.3 Canadian Electrical Code, Part I, Class 2 circuits
Rule 16-200 of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I describes requirements for Class 2 circuits that are, depending on the voltage, divided into four categories:
(a) 0-20 V;
(b) 20-30 V;
(c) 30-60 V; and
(d) 60-150 V rms.
However, for the purpose of this Standard, we recognize extra low voltage (ELV) Class 2 circuits up to 30 V rms (42.4 V peak or dc) and Class 2 circuits above ELV level, up to 150 V rms. All Class 2 circuits operate at very limited power levels and, since the hazard is reduced by the lower power availability, a less onerous set of requirements can be used for those circuits. Class 2 circuits are designed to limit the continuous available power to 100 VA. Therefore, transformers supplying Class 2 circuits need to have rated (marked) output not exceeding 100 VA. A Class 2 power supply needs to have its rating and “Class 2” markings. LVLE power supply needs to have its rating and be marked, “LVLE and suitable for use
in Class 2 circuits”. Per Rule 16-222(1) of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I, ELV Class 2 circuits may be accessible to the operator, while Class 2 circuits (e.g., 60 V dc) are not to be accessible for touch. Therefore the voltage on
exposed terminal outside the lighting products cannot exceed 42.4 V peak or dc. An output form devices complying with Class 2, LVLE and SELV requirements are deemed in compliance with Rule 16-222(1).
The use of 12v is a compromise between the construction method and the availability of standard PSUs. The construction is optimised for large parallel arrays of LEDs, and the typical forward voltage is 3v. A 5v USB style supply would be too high a voltage for a single parallel array, and too low for two arrays in series. 12v works nicely with four
A Series configuration would be the most simple since it would be one trace or one wire in one continous row. There are problems with that since any trace or LED opening would shut down the whole row, OK if it is on a circuit board but a flexible wire or ribbon not. When 10 or more LED's are in a row (series) it becomes a shock hazard because of the accumilated voltage drop to drive the LED's. I have seen arrays of 200 in series requiring over 600 volts to drive them all in a street light, even a 7 by 7 LED panel in series takes about 200 volts the current is typically about 300 to 500 milliamps of current. This isn't a problem from a driver point of view because a constant current drive just keeps pumping up the voltage. A standard non current regulated power supply wouldn't be suitable to drive multiple LED's, it could be done but it is not optimal for the technology. The parallel system is a problem because the current varies from one diode to the next (due to forward voltage differences, especially among different colour lights) causing different brightness in the LED's and driving 100 in parralel would be 3 or 4 volts at 50 Amps. The gauge wire and power supply to provide that much current would be prohibitily expensive. The compromise is a series parralel setup to optimize the voltage and current to drive the LED's and also comply with safety standards. Safety standards address voltage and current usually about 30 Volts Max and 8 Amps Max and total power to not exceed 100 Watts limits. These limits apply to the strings you are reviewing in this video. Street lights, LED light bulbs, etc with correct protection from user access to live parts have other limits.
Can you connect two fairy lights ? Can you make a video?
Merry FISHMAS hope u guys have a great 1. Hey i have a question not sure if youve ever covered small electrical stuff like. 1 watt uv leds in series maybe 2 or 3 bulbs. Id like to run them off battery. Im thinking 9volt but not sure and what size resistor would i need for 2 or 3 bulbs
For 1W LEDs it's typically about 3V per LED, so on 9V you would have 6V across 2 LEDs and 3V to drop across the resistor. For a current of about 300mA that would require a 10 ohm resistor that would need to be rated for at least 1W.
@@bigclivedotcom Merry FISHMAS hope u guys have a great 1. Hey i have a question not sure if youve ever covered small electrical stuff like. 1 watt uv leds in series maybe 2 or 3 bulbs. Id like to run them off battery. Im thinking 9volt but not sure and what size resistor would i need for 2 or 3 bulbs.
Emitting Colour: UV
DC Forward Voltage: 3.9V - 4.5V
DC Forward Current: 350mA/700mA
Luminous Intensity: 50~55mW
Wave Length: 365nm - 370nm
Viewing Angle: 120 Degree
Hey! I was wondering if you could help me, so I have a few of these 100 led copper wire strands. The way they are wired only the first 25 light up but the other 75 don't. Do you know why this would be?
Thank you in advance
+Brandon Parry If they are 12V then it sounds like they have connected the wrong wires at the power supply end. There should be three, with one power supply connection going to the wire that runs right to the other wend, and the other going to one of the other two that are connected to the first LED. Dont run them for too long on 12V if just the first section is lighting. It will damage them.
If it's a 5V set, then one of the joints at the 25th LED seems to need resoldering.
Is there a way to fix these? It seems mine may have a short.
Has it been cut in length at all or has a modification been made?
bigclivedotcom I actually got it to work, I think I had pinched one of the wires when I was hanging it up. Thanks for responding!
I have some of these 10 meter strings I need to cut some down to 8 meters and some to 6 meters. Would this be possible just using the same 110AC to 12V DC voltage converters that came with the strings?
Thanks.
The long 12V strings have a fairly complicated wiring arrangement of one supply wire going to one end and the other to the other end, then several sections of lights connected in series along the run. Just cutting them would not work. Can you fold the excess 2 metres back on the string or even just roll them into a ball at the end?
bigclivedotcom Thanks for your suggestion. I will be rolling them up if necessary. I was hoping to avoid this. These strings will be hanging from a panel suspended from the ceiling. I wanted to avoid light shining from above the panel from excess lights. Would it be dangerous to mask them somehow?
Jaydubya TX The LEDs run at such a low temperature that you could stuff them into a ball or something no problem. That could also act as a weight to keep them straight.
where do you buy winding wire for coils?????????
Is there any way to put two or three of these 100 strand lights together (one strand). They don't make them any longer and my yard is big!
Without starting a fire, I hope.
You would have to run a common 12V supply to each full string. They can't be electrically joined end to end because only one polarity is at each end.
bigclivedotcom
I thought that might be the case. Don't really want cords running to every corner of my yard. I very much appreciate the reply, and the video!
+Lermopolis you can series 2 or three by splicing them at the ends (with proper attention to the polarity needed to maintain the series connection) then running two strings on 24v or three on 36v, possibly 4 at 48v but this would be pushing the safety limit of low energy circuits. I have done this on three 10 M strings and powered them with a 36v current limited power supply. this series connection has the advantage that each string receives the same voltage and there is not a drop in voltage to the further string. You do have to understand the connection as described in the video and extend it. you should confirm that the resulting voltage meets the electrical code in your area. As long as you understand the series connection you can make any multiple of 25 LEDs you like.
what is their current, 12v ?Amp?
can you please do a video on repairing these I have 100 12v lights with 3 wires also
accidently cut thanks
If you tried trimming the length then they will need spliced back together.
two of the three wires will probably go straight to an LED on either side.
Clean the varnish off the wire that passes right through (you can sometimes burn it off with a lighter) and then twist and insulate those two ends.
Then join the other two pairs between the LEDs in a random order and try it. If the string doesn't light swap those wires around.
thanks clive i spent years at raf lakenheath love the the u.k! john
Nice
how would you add to it? I have two of those that I want to wire together....
NotNow You could solder one onto the end of the other, but you would need a power supply that is the same as the two originals, e.g. 12v + 12v = 24v supply. Make sure you connect the correct wires together for the correct polarity.
Will do i need to cover the exposed areas with electrical tape?
NotNow If you don't want a shock. also make sure to separate the leads to prevent a short, I tend to individually wrap each wire before wrapping all 3 together.
Where did you buy this light string from?
I was about to make one from scratch til I saw this video
MATT HARRIS Do a search on ebay for ...
LED copper wire string
You'll find plenty of Chinese sellers shipping various sets of battery or 12V sets for very low cost.
bigclivedotcom In fact, here's a link to a search on the main .com ebay site.
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=led+copper+wire+string&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1
can't these kill you? It's copper wire plugged into the outlet. Can't i get shocked?
+TheAdmiralThrawn 116 They are low voltage and the wire is insulated with a clear coating.