Spt-1 Wire Vs. Spt-2 Wire.

Spt-1 on Top, Spt-2 on bottom

18 gauge wire is found pretty much everywhere, almost every house and office in the country has some that is used for power cords on products and for those of us in the lighting industry it's the standard for C7 and C9 light line. The wire come in generally two varieties Spt-1 and Spt-2. These are both 18 gauge wire, that means that the copper wiring on the inside of the wire itself is the same. The main difference is the insulation!

On the left the photo shows both Spt1 (top) and Spt2(bottom), as you can see Spt-2 wire has almost double the amount of insulation. This added protection lets you run more power through the wire itself.

Spt-1 wire can handle up to 7 amps, or 770 watts.

Spt-2 wire can handle up to 10 amps, or 1100 watts. 

Using that information will let you evaluate your power needs, be sure to never exceed the recommended amperage this WILL cause the wire to fail and be a potential hazard.
Click here to check out our rolls of 18 gauge wire!

Click below to read more.

Lighting your house like Clark Griswold

"250 Strands of light.... 100 individual bulbs per strand.... for a grand total of 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights!" That's the supposed number of lights Clark used on his house for the 1989 classic Christmas movie. If memory serves me, most of the lights that Clark was using were in the C9 variety, although in the scene where he gives Rusty the knot of Christmas lights to untangle there where mostly C9 bulbs but some C7 bulbs were mixed into the bunch. He's not using Mini Christmas lights even though he said "Italian lights" which are commonly associated with the small mini lights found on Christmas trees. 

If there were indeed 25,000 lights consisting of mainly C9 bulbs then the lights on the Griswold house would be using 175,000 watts! Using that type of power would drive up anyones electricity bill to a astronomical price, it would make you probably save a Christmas bonus and not blow it on a swimming pool.

For the modern Griswold family, or Griswold wannabes, you'll probably want to go with a LED type bulbs or set. But still using the incredibly large number of LED Christmas lights you'll be pulling major power! The most important thing is don't overload your outlets or your wire, you need to know many amps a circuit can handle. Large scale lighting projects require a ton of amperage, for instance Clark would need 1,590 amps to power the massive number of lights! When it comes to overloading wire, most 18 gauge wire will fail after you pass 7 amps through it, once you begin to get close to that 7 amp limit you'll need to start a new line with a brand new power source.

There are so many things you have to take into consideration when you start any large scale lighting project, always be safe, have someone helping you when you work on a pitched roof, and do the math on power before you commit to large scale!
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

The Many Non Christmas Uses for...Christmas Lights!

In our industry we call pretty much everything Christmas lights, Mini light strings, LED light strings, C7 bulbs, C9 bulbs, etc but just because they found favor lighting houses during the Christmas holiday season doesn't mean that's their only time to be used. I talked to the boss man about many mini light strings that get tossed and he guessed hundreds of thousands, and I'd say he's right. That is a sad thing because Christmas trees, garlands, and on the hedges outside aren't the only places/things you can use Christmas lights to decorate. Below I've give a little rundown on other uses for these light strings.

Christmas Light Sale

The Season is over, lights and trees are coming down and if you're like us you assess what lights have gone out and what you need to replace and get ready for next year. We are still offering 10% off online orders over $40 dollars.

Enter coupon code SAVE10 on the shipping address screen and the cart will deduct 10% off the product cost! Buy now and save!

I know many people have Christmas lights on sale but many of our competitors have little to no stock! Check out our wide variety of LED Christmas lights, Mini lights, Craft lights, C7 bulbs, C9 bulbs, Wire, and much more!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

All American Christmas Co Coupon & Sale!

For any order over $40 use coupon code SAVE10 to knock off 10% of the product cost! Now is the time to get all your lights so you can have them up and enjoy them this holiday season!

In the coming weeks as the major holiday rush dies down we are going to search the warehouse for overstock and discontinued items and will be revamping our sale section. We are going to offer deep discounts on these products so bookmark www.aachristmas.com and check back often, also keep an eye on this blog as I will keep it updated as well.
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com