Christmas light controllers...

Most of us have seen the videos of Christmas lights on homes that are synced up to music, and while the same number of us normally don't have the time or money to devote to those sort of Christmas light antics there are some simple and affordable ways to animate the lights on your home.

Our Musical Christmas controller is by far the most popular light controller we have ever carried. This easy to use controller features six outlets and 20 different Christmas and Holiday songs! There are 3 modes for your Light Show; Steady, which makes all the lights stay on, Unison, lights simply in time to the music, and Multiplex, this mode makes every outlet effectively a different instrument so that every string of lights is doing its own part of the song. It can handle a total of 12 amps, has a built in speaker, and can be mounted in a variety of ways. No programming, no dip switches or jumpers, just a simple plug in, turn on operation.


If you don't need music and just want to simply animate a display we have our small preset chasing controllers. These controllers have anywhere from 2 to 4 outlets and a dial that you can use to control speed of the chase. These controllers simple rotate through the outlets, lets say you have a 3 circuit chasing controller, all the controller will do will be a simple turning on and off of each outlet as they are ordered. So, outlet 1 is on then turns off, then outlet 2 comes on and then turns off, and so on. There's a small potentiometer that controls the speed, from slow to fast.





On the opposite end of the chasing controller spectrum we have our Programmable Chasing Controllers. These controllers have small DIP switches which allows the user to make their own light show. The more expensive versions of this controller can do build ups, fades, chases, flashes, and can be set to do anywhere from 2 to 8 circuits!


If you just need a gentle fading controller we offer those too, our small fader box simply plugs into a wall outlet and lets the user plug two different strands of lights into the controller. We do offer some commercial quality Faders as well.



I hope this post has given you some insight into the world of Christmas light controllers. We carry a wide variety of controller but no magical controller that makes normal lights chase, fade, twinkle, etc inside the string itself (btw if you know someone who makes one, send us a email!).

Click here to check out all our Light Controllers

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Getting a decorating plan for your Wedding Lights...

90% of the time when a customer calls us to purchase lights to be used in decorating a wedding they have not fully laid out a plan on how to hang their lights, get power to them, and how to hide the wires. These steps are quite possibly the most important part of your light decorating agenda and should never...ever be a afterthought.

The first and the most important step is planning how to hang your lights. If you're purchasing lights to be hung along a wall or a ceiling figure out how you can attach them to the wall or ceiling before you commit money to a product. If a room has block walls or something you cannot drill or hammer nails into you may have to improvise with tape or something like a sticky pad hanger (the 3m Command Series largest hook holds up to 7.5 lbs per hook) that wont damage your walls. Tapes and sticky hangers might not have the strength to hold up a whole string of heavy duty Curtain lights so you may be out of luck. If the ceiling has a drop panel ceiling you may be able to hang your lights from the frame in the ceiling. You can use fishing line, thin wire, even paper clips can be transformed into a quick and easy hanging device for drop ceilings. Remember to try not to damage the panels if you want your deposit back!

The second step may be more important than the first to some but finding a good power source for your lights is second on our list. Hanging lights from a wall or ceiling can put a decorator in between a rock and hard place, they can really give a great atmosphere by hanging lights but it's usually hard to get power where you need it. You usually want to draw a layout of your room, note where your power outlets are and then using a pencil, draw your extensions cords to where your lights will be. Using your extension cord map you can start to power you lights. We recommend using our bulk bare wire rolls and quick connect plugs to make your own power cords, this way you can hide them (more on that later) and cut them to EXACT length that you need. If you have to run up a wall, find a corner and run it up the corner taping it as you go up. Another option if you are hanging lights from a drop ceiling is to run the power up the wall far away from the wedding action and simply run it over the ceiling panels and drop it out where you need to power lights. Powering lights on tables or in places where the power is closer to the ground is easier, again make a map and see how you need to layout your wires. You usually want to keep wires out of high traffic areas but you can always use our bare wire and quick connect plugs to make your own perfectly cut cords and them tape them to the floor.

The last and final step is hiding the wires. No one wants a extension cord to ruin a good wedding photo. Hiding extension cords isn't as hard as it may seem, on carpet you want to stick your wires along the wall or next to furniture and you can usually push the wire into the seam and make it almost disappear if the carpet is thick enough. Tile or hard floors can be a bit trickier, usually running wires along the wall and only coming out when necessary is about the best one can do, you can use tape to secure the cordage and or rugs laid over the wires will really help if you have to take pictures in a are with a lot of wires about. Another tip is to use anything around to hide your outlets and wires, foliage, cloth, anything available that matches the weddings theme will work.

I hope this has given you some insight into the world of wedding light decorating. Remember to plan ahead, map out your area before you commit money into products.

Click the link on the right to visit AAChristmas.com and see all of our wedding lights and Christmas light accessories.

--
Zach

Mini Lights

Christmas Mini Lights have been and will continue to be one of the most popular Christmas lights strings available. They are a simple, relatively hassle free light string that comes in the same variety of colors that makes large bulbs so popular. Our Miniature Christmas lights come in a variety of spacings; 2.5 Inch Spacing, 4 Inch Spacing, 6 Inch Spacing, and 8 Inch Spacing are standard. There is also a large selection of bulb counts for different strings. All spacings come in 50 bulbs and 100 bulb per string sets, but the 4 inch spacing sets come in 15 light, 20 light, and 35 light.

The smaller mini light strings have been gaining a huge following in the craft market. The trend of lighting glass blocks and emptied wine bottles is becoming more and more popular, using 20 or 35 light count, a glass drill bit, and a little ingenuity can lead some nice looking results. These smaller bulb count strings generally do not have any sort of end plug, we call them NEC sets ( No End Connector sets) and they are probably our most popular light string.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum our Commercial 6 Inch spaced lights are the toughest and longest mini light sets we carry. Unlike most other mini lights these sets allow you to connect 6 sets end to end, these sets allow for LONG decorating runs without having to worry about extension cords. Generally standard mini light sets only allow for 3 sets to be plugged end to end.

Many of the past problems that plague mini light users have been remedied. In the not so distant past when a bulb would burn out it would usually kill half the string. Current production strings have a simple fix, a shunt. If a bulb is shunted then it has a small piece of wire wrapped around the filament leads, if the filament burns out the shunt continues the flow of electricity through the bulb. This simple little strand of wire keeps burnt out bulbs from killing half of your light strings. Now, if a bulb is loose or twisted then generally it will also kill the string. Usually this can be fixed by a light push on the top of the bulb if it's just loose, for twisted bulbs you have really inspect each bulb.

I hope this blog has given you a little insight into the world of Mini Lights, please visit our mini light page to view our selection.

Christmas Mini Lights Product Page

Fourth of July...

In less than a month we will celebrate our 232rd year as a country. July 4th is a time where we should celebrate our birth and remember what our great country was founded upon. As a way of celebrating this historic day any online order will receive a 10% discount! This is the perfect time to stock up on Red, White, and Blue C7 or C9 lights! Get Sphere lights for your July 4th or Election Parties. Get Red, White, and Blue Mini lights, perfect for around your patio when you are grilling out! We also have great LED lights that will look great and save money on energy!

Enter the Coupon Code 232USA when you are checking out to get 10% Off the products cost.
Offer valid on online orders ONLY! Discount will not be applied to an order after the order is placed.

Visit AAChristmas.com today to take advantage of the savings! God Bless America.

Long time, no blog.

So spring is in full swing and we are still getting items back in stock. We are happy to get our shipments in because some of our fellow competitors and suppliers are already running out of stock of LED. Some people call the new LED lights a "Trend", we call it a industry shift. As the country tries to save money on energy and save the planet we have started to see the real benefit of LED. We are beginning to see all the classic/traditional products being produced. C7 and C9 retro fit screw in LED bulbs are beginning to come in a flash and twinkle style.

More and more of the smaller LED light sets are coming with removable bulbs, so in the unlikely event of bulb failure you can easily replace them. We are guessing by next year we will see 75% of all LED products with removable bulbs! If you can't tell, we love our LEDs.