Showing posts with label C9 Wire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C9 Wire. Show all posts

Monday, January 17, 2011

Restoring your Christmas Displays


The Holiday season can put some major wear and tear on Christmas Displays. Bulbs break and burn out, UV rays wear our plastic, Clips come loose or break and after multiple seasons your displays may look a little lackluster. Wear and tear is a natural thing and happens from use and even when you move them to storage. We get calls on a regular basis if we do restoration work for displays, we have brought old displays to life. We completely restored a intricate angel tree topper for Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. But typically it's cheaper for the customer to do the restoration themselves.

If the display just needs bulbs replaced we suggest ordering all new bulbs, old bulbs don't burn as bright as new bulbs and it's obvious once the displays is on a lit that certain bulbs are new and some are old. We sell both Incandescent bulbs and LED, LED bulbs will cost more up front but save you money in the long run because they use such little power and their hard plastic bulbs are much harder to break.
Displays that are lit with Mini lights or small LED usually use Sculpture Clips to attach the sockets to the metal frame displays. These clips can come loose and get lost or break. If you're missing clips we have three different sizes in Black and White that are perfect for fixing up your Light displays. They come in 1/8", 3/16", and 1/4" sizes. The size of a sculpture clip reflects the size of the opening that will clip on the displays frame. You can easily measure your displays frame diameter with a crescent wrench and a ruler, simple slide the wrench onto the frame and tighten it down, slide it off them measure the opening and viola you have your size.

If you are lighting your display with C7 or C9 bulbs you will have to use 18 gauge wire with sockets on it. Replacing this wire is a fairly simple job. Remove all the existing wiring, and if you are so inclined now is the perfect time to wire brush and paint your frame ( a couple coats of a quality spray paint will work fine, just allow it to dry fully before wiring). There are a couple ways to secure the wire/sockets. You can use electrical tape to tightly wrap the sockets and wire to the frame, but always cut the electrical tape with scissors or a knife, pulling the tape causes it to stretch and after time it shrinks back to normal and will come loose. Another option is using zip ties. Both of these methods will take a long time so be patient and don't rush! The more you pace yourself and do it right the longer before you have to do it again!

I hope this gives you some insight into how you can go about restoring Christmas Displays!

--
Zach

Monday, June 30, 2008

SPT-2 Wire...

SPT-2 Wire is a great alternative to the standard SPT-1 Wire that most companies carry if you are looking to run higher wattage bulbs or do longer runs. As you can see from the picture on the left, both SPT-1 and 2 are 18 gauge wire (determined by the copper inside the wire), but SPT-2 (bottom of picture) has a noticeable amount more of insulation. This extra insulation allows this wire to be rated at 10 amps (as opposed to 7 amp Spt-1).

SPT-2 is usually considered a commercial product, but works equally as well for small residential projects as well. We carry a full line of products for this wire type, bare wire, quick connect plugs, replacement sockets, and C7 & C9 Spools. Using 10 amp C7 spools will allow you use 7 watt bulbs without concern, and with C9 you can use 10 watts bulbs no problem.

Please note, you shouldn't mix and match Spt-1 and 2 products. For example, you shouldn't use SPT-1 barewire with SPT-2 sockets.

Unlike most big Christmas Light retailers we carry a wide varitey of C7 & C9 lightline spools in SPT-2. They are available in both Green and White wire colors, and in all major spacings.

Visit www.AAChristmas.com to view all our SPT-2 products.