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jackalope
01-12-2011, 08:07 PM
If you need lights at night, to be able to walk around your greenhouse, basement or warehouse, you can consider this;

My saloon is 75 feet long and 20 feet wide, but no windows to speak of (2 3x4s in the front). My Light switches are in the very back and the door is in the front, but I do have a plug-in at the front where my aquarium/FT is located. I have a lot of clutter, work benches, packing tables, storage boxes etc., so I always have to carry a flashlight, which seems to go out just about the time I'm in the back, but before I get to the light switch.

Try finding a light switch by braille while tripping over boxes and buckets filled with tools, saves, fish food, etc., ........ and try not to kick a hole in that spare aquarium sitting there on the floor! .......


So the other day I was at the thrift store, and someone had kindly donated all of his xmas lighting. I bought 4 of them, one 50ft. and three 100 ft. strings for $2.00! I strung three of them along the sides of the building, and you'd be surprised at how much light they produce at night. Commercial nite lites that you plug into the wall so you can see down the hallway are usually 4 or 5 watts.

This way, if one of the lights go out, I'm not wandering around in the dark feeling for the light switch, there's 99 more that will keep running! I can put 9 more strings in there and only use as much power as I would have used if I was using one 100 watt incandescent bulb And if I buy them at thrift stores whenever I see them, replacements are pretty cheap!.

Another benefit of these lites is that 100 of these little LED bulbs uses only about 8 watts! I'm using three strings, so that's about 24 watts for the 10 or 15 minutes that I'm in there at night! With the sub-zero temps, we have a lot of heat tape action going on, so just this little savings is easing my mind that much more! I used these kind of lites in a work-shop in another place I lived, and they provided enough light to work by, sort saves, etc. One string gives off the equivalent light of a 55 watt incandescent bulb. but only uses 8 watts instead of 55 watts.

Now all I have to do is to make a cord with a line switch in it and I can leave them plugged in all the time, and just switch them off at the plug-in at the front of the building. At this point, the only time I have to use any great amount of power is for the aquarium heaters and pumps! When I get my fish room (12 x 16) finished, I'll string two or three of them around it and that'll probably be enough light to work by.

davidstcldfl
01-13-2011, 04:53 AM
That's a great idea. My buddy has some lights like that, on his inclosed patio. I was surprised when he first turned them on.

Maybe you could add a motion sensor to them.
I added one to a light in my shop. I wish I'd done it sooner. As I open the door, it's on. It even turns the light off, after I leave.

JCO
01-13-2011, 05:50 AM
Merry Christmas... :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen:

urbanfarmer
01-13-2011, 12:16 PM
Merry Christmas... :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen:
LOL

davidstcldfl
01-13-2011, 01:26 PM
They are only Christmas lights, if your drinking eggnog. If your drinking your rum on the rocks....they can be anything you want.... :D

JCO
01-13-2011, 02:05 PM
Very much rum on the rocks and you'll be lit also :? :mrgreen:

stucco
01-13-2011, 02:15 PM
Get a disco ball, black light, dance floor and open the saloon back up.

JCO
01-13-2011, 06:42 PM
After it warms back up :lol: :lol: :mrgreen:

jackalope
01-14-2011, 12:17 PM
I'm always on the lookout for these lites .... the icicle lites are best IMO, since they provide several lites hanging down every foot or so. And, just after xmas is the best time to find them!

Another advantage, I've noticed that with the sub-zero weather, the CFL lights can take 15 minutes or more to warm up so they will produce enough light to see by, LEDs don't take any time at all! I'm using up the last of my CFLs in the saloon. With the new anti-incandescent laws, I'm buying as many incandescent bulbs as I can find, (A lot of stores are selling them by the case-cheap!), before the Feds phase out incandescent bulbs -
Under the federal energy bill signed into law in December 2007, traditional incandescent light bulbs will be phased out over the next four to 12 years <snip> The phase-in will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70 percent more efficient.Clik ;) (http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/topics/preventing-waste-and-pollution/product-stewardship/initiatives-in-minnesota/compact-fluorescent-lights.html?menuid=&redirect=1)
Sorry, pet peeve; I hate it when the Feds tell me what I have to use for lighting! I'll get off my soap box now :lol: :lol:



Get a disco ball, black light, dance floor and open the saloon back up.
Not going to happen stucco, not with the lawsuit-happy people around in this day and age, and the high insurance rates would be more that it was worth - minimum $1,000,000 liability required by the state for a bar.


@davidstclfl - I like the idea of a motion detector - thx, Dave, that would be cool, but a light switch would probably be cheaper to install ;). I'll have to keep an eye out at the thrift stores for a motion detector ;)

@ JCO, We're having a heat wave here - we're up to 36F .... must be the global warming we keep hearing about ....... errrrr ...... Oh, that's right, now they call it climate change :!:

dufflight
01-14-2011, 02:12 PM
Xmas lights are great for outdoor areas. Nice soft, and don't seem to attract the insects too much.

On the topic of lights, I'm setting up one to thro some light on the shade cloth above the pool. Hoping to get a lot of insects to drop into the water for the fish to play with.