C7 and C9 bulbs could quite possibly be the most recognizable Christmas bulbs in the country. You can find them on trees, homes, and businesses during the holiday season and during the rest of the year they are great for mood lighting for parties, restaurants, and other decorative purposes. C7 bulbs and C9 for that matter are a great alternative to using household size bulbs for decorating indoors because they use much less power and since you'll probably be using it as accent lighting. These bulbs come in Transparent colors in both a Steady Burn or Random Twinkle option and a Opaque, or Painted, style.
C7 bulbs are often called Candelabra base. For Christmas light and decorating applications most C7 lights you'll encounter are 5 watts. C7 base bulbs are also known as E-12 base.
C9 bulbs are larger than their C7 cousins and also use more electricity. C9 bulbs are typically 7 watts and their bases are called E-17.
Incandescent style of lights are still very popular but with energy costs going up and up many are switching to LED bulbs. We offer a wide selection of LED that go into C7 & C9 sockets, so you don't have to replace your wire if it's already hung, just swap out the bulbs. LED Christmas lights pull about 1 watt of power, whereas incandescent pull 5 to 7 to sometimes 10 watts per bulb! So a typical 100 count lightstring with filament style C7 lamps will pull 500 watts of power (4.5 amps!) and if you used LED retrofit bulbs you'd only pull 98 watts (less than 1 amp). Now LED bulbs are pricey but their long term power savings is tremendous! They are made with hard plastic instead of glass, typically have truer colors, and bulb life that will dwarf filament style lights. Here's a comparison shot of Incandescent bulbs vs. Led bulbs.
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
