Kringle Garland, a neat alternative to traditional Garlands

Kringle Garland is a cool type of lighted Garland that you can easily integrate in your current decor. Kringle lights are a 9 foot light string with a combination of normal mini lights and mini lights inside iridescent globes for a really unique look. There are great for putting in Wreaths, or wrapped in more traditional Garland. It's also great for outdoor lighting, you get the combined look of globe lights and mini lights, so they are great for hanging out doors for parties, weddings, or just for general lighting. As with all lights we sell your only limited by your own creativity so they could be used for anything you come up with!

Check out some more pictures of this cool light string.

 

Click here to check out our Kringle Garland

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

Repairing/Replacing bulbs in Christmas Displays.

Christmas displays for homes, businesses, and cities aren't going to last forever and let's face it these pieces get a lot of punishment in the elements during the holiday season! This blog is going to be a crash course in sprucing up Christmas displays and commercial decorations.

The most important thing you need to establish is what type of lights you need, typically displays use C7 or C9 bulbs, Mini lights, Rope Light, or LED Christmas lights.

C7 and C9 type bulbs are the easiest to fix or revamp. These glass bulbs need to be replaced every few seasons, mixing and matching old and new bulbs isn't what we recommend because the colors/brightness of the bulbs won't be consistent. Hours of burning the lamps, plus being exposed to UV will change colors and the brightness does tend to fade after a seasons worth of hours. So before you decorate with your piece, plug it up and establish what needs to be replaced, if you need many lights we sell incandescent bulbs in bulk for this type of job!

Luminara Candles at All American Christmas Co.

We are happy to be carrying Luminara LED Candles, we currently have 5" and 7" Ivory candles that are scented Vanilla, and we have 5" Pearl and Red Wine candles that are unscented. Luminara candles have a small animated flame that is lit with a LED, the faux flame moves and until you get close to it it's honestly hard to distinguish from a real or fake candle. These are a safe alternative to actual candles and look great at weddings, for table center pieces, as household decor, parties, proms, and much more. You can safely decorate around these LED candles without fear of starting a fire.

Click here to view our Luminara Candles for sale.




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

Patriotic Displays

We just added two great and light displays that will be great for the summer months and holidays. Our Rope light flag and USA sign are incredibly well made and will great on any deck or porch.

We enjoy Patriotic displays because they don't necessarily have a time frame for being up or down, they look great all year. For those of you that want to hang a rope light piece and leave it up you need to try to keep it out of direct sunlight. UV really does a number on the colors and the plastic and we don't want the Red, White, and Blue, looking like Pink, White, and Teal do we? By hanging it out of direct sunlight you can triple the life span of the plastics and enjoy your pieces for years to come. This is a good rule to follow for all rope light.

So if you are interested in checking out our rope displays visit our Patriotic lights page here. 

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

Floralytes at All American Christmas Co.

All American Christmas Co. are proud to begin carrying Floralyte products. Floralytes are small battery powered LED lights, they come in a variety of styles and are a cool way to add accent lighting just about anywhere and will look great for parties, proms and especially weddings. You can use them in bottles, under glass beads, in greenery, in tulle, inside flower arrangements or vases, pretty much anywhere a little accent lighting could spice up your decorations there is a place to set these cool battery powered lights.

We currently have two types of these products.

• Floralyte II - A Small battery powered LED bulb with On/Off switch. Small 3/4" wide product great for using in smaller spaces. Non replaceable battery.
• Floralyte Submersible I - A waterproof LED bulb, has On/Off switch. 1.25" wide and 3/4" tall which is perfect for vases, small fountains, and much more. Replaceable battery.

Both of these Battery LED light products are perfect for crafts and decorating alike and the coolest thing about products that run off batteries you aren't tied to an outlet so you can really let those creative juices flow. I've seen these used heavily in wedding decorations, flower arrangement, centerpieces, even hidden in the ceremony for great ambience. 

We will be getting these posted online asap so check back when we get them online and don't forget you can use our 10% coupon on orders over $40.

UPDATE!
These are on the website, Click Here to view our Battery LED Light page.

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

Mini Lights Description Video

Click here to view our Mini lights page

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

Christmas Pole Decorations

Christmas Light Pole Decorations adorn many downtown streets across the country and All American Christmas Co. has one of the largest selection Pole Mounted Christmas Displays online. We can customize any display you see on our website or get a piece custom designed and made for you.

Pole mount displays have been a main stay for most cities and business for many years because how quickly they can change a a street or a parking lot into  a festive place. We carry Snowflakes, Bells, Wreaths, Santas, Reindeer, Elves, Trees, Candy Canes, and Much More. Street Pole Christmas Decorations are fairly simple to install; each Pole Displays will require a power source on the pole itself, the display uses a bracket that allows the installer to use banding straps to secure the banding strap to a pole. Since the majority of poles are tapered if the pole decoration slides down it won't slide far because the taper.

All of the displays we offer can be lit with either Incandescent or LED Christmas lights, we recommend using LEDs because they use such little power and since so many cities and businesses are cracking down on power usage it really will allow you to save money during the holiday season. C7 incandescent bulbs use 5 watts and LED use .97 or less depending on manufacturer, so lets say the average snowflake has around 100 bulbs using incandescent will pull 500 watts and LED christmas lights will use 97 watts. So saving on average 400 watts for a standard size snowflake, that type of reduced power consumption will save hundreds of dollars.

For large orders please shoot us a email and we can work up a quote and can help you save. We are working all year helping customers meet their holiday decorating needs and will be happy to make your displays ideas come to light!

Check out all our Christmas Pole Decorations here

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

Commercial Christmas Displays

All American Christmas Co. has been providing the country with Christmas lights since the mid 90's (yeah we were online way back then) but what got us into this business was installing Large Christmas Displays, Large Christmas Trees and other commercial holiday decorations. Steve started out installing Christmas lights and what not helping out a college friend and when he heard about the internet his mind went to e-commerce and here we are now. One thing we pride ourselves with at All American Christmas Co. is our hands on experience with our products and that's what brings me to the purpose of this blog post, we have years of experience designing, repairing, and installing Christmas displays. Since Steve installed them for so long we have personal relationships with the largest Christmas display builders in the country and can help our customers design a perfect display or set of displays.

All of our Commercial Christmas Decorations are built to order, we offer Pole Mounted Displays, Standard Ground Mounted Christmas Displays, Building Mounted Displays, Custom Street Banners, Cross Street Displays and Signs, Christmas Arches, Christmas Signs, Large Christmas Trees, Large Christmas Wreaths, and more. We also carry Life Size Nativity Scenes, and Large Fiberglass Holiday Characters that are made in the USA and are hand painted. All of our Commercial Christmas products are made in the USA and can be lit with Incandescent or LED lights.

Check out www.allamericanchristmas.com for all of our great Commercial Christmas Products. This site is mainly set up as a online catalog, all of these pieces have to be quoted so if you're interested in a product(s) email us and we will begin the quoting process. Email us all your contact info, your shipping info, and the specific product(s) as well as any custom option and we will get back to you asap.
--
Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Differences in White LED Christmas Lights

Even though LED Christmas Lights have been on the market for a number of years now the colors of "White" are still confusing. Above are the 3 main colors of White LED Christmas Lights, on the Left we have Pure White, in the Middle we have the old White, and on the Right is Warm White.

Pure White LED Christmas lights are typically the bulb style with the least amount of color to them, they are paper white, and normally fairly colorless. Of course manufacturers can vary and some sets are little blue, but compared to the old style of white they are the most colorless LED Christmas light string available.

Old Style White LED Christmas lights, now this color is slightly phased out but some people call this color Ice White or Cool White, but those terms sometimes refer to Pure white so really you have to have a in hand description if people don't explicitly state what hue the set has. We (All American Christmas Co) only have a few Christmas LED light strings in this color. These sets have a strong Blue tint.

Warm White LED Christmas Lights are the most similar to a filament style Christmas light bulb. These sets have a yellow tint to them and are much "Warmer" than the pure white led light strings. If you want to replicate the appearance of traditional style light strings it's hard to beat Warm White LED light sets.

A little history, The first "White" LED strands were the blue-ish style seen in the middle above, and during these initial runs most retailers got complaints about the color of those sets and because of that the color has tended to fall by the way side. Recently many people want this color (my guess is to replace strings they bought previously) and most companies don't have it made anymore. I tend to prefer the Pure White LED sets, the look of LED Christmas bulbs is so different when compared to incandescent that I think it's nice to go ahead and take advantage of that different look. The main thing to remember with anything you see online is that colors are represented differently on different monitors and operating systems and we can all perceive colors slightly differently so remember that caveat when buying light strings, you can always call us to get our opinion or we'll grab a set out of a case for you if we have them on hand and check what color the sets are.

Click here to check out all our LED Christmas Lights.

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

Globe Lights for Proms and Formals

While we've talked about how great Globe Lights are for weddings and other functions we've not spoken much about how they are also great for Proms and Formals. Globe bulbs are so easy to string up and are such a cool look they are perfect and remain classy for any function.  These also come in a variety of colors to match a theme or motif. 

Globe Lights are great for hanging around walkways heading up to an event, you can use the lights as a way to direct people and "rope" off other areas people don't need to go. My personal favorite look for these lights is hanging them back and forth across a ceiling. This creates a really cool effect, you can mix and match the sizes of globe lights and put a fabric below to have a starry night effect. You're only limited to your imagination when it comes to decorating, one thing I tell all of our customers that ask for tips for decorating is take a step back for a sec and look at your location. Brainstorm ideas, put it on paper, doodle a picture, and get a plan of a attack before you commit to X number of bulbs. ALWAYS measure your location, measure it again after you measured it the first time to double check, nothing is worse than running out of materials at the last minute.

Now I don't claim to be a expert on proms or formals. When I was in high school I was more concerned with playing guitar in my punk band and didn't wan't to do anything what I considered "all too normal" like Prom. And when I was in college the most exciting part of my day was walking to my car which had been baking in the sun for hours and begin my drive home. I always envisioned Proms and what not to be something like the "Enchantment Under the Sea Dance" like in Back to the Future complete with raucous versions of Johnny B. Goode.

Head to our Globe Christmas Lights page to see what Globe lights we have to offer

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

Using Christmas Lights for Weddings

     We have done many blogs over the years about using Christmas Lights in Weddings. Curtain lights, Net lights, Icicle lights, Globe bulbs and more all look great to add just the right amount of light on your special day. By and large our most popular strings for weddings are our Commercial Curtain lights, or Wall of Light sets, these 9.5' tall drops have a great look and the drops are removable/replaceable so they allow you to easily repair drops after years of use or remove drops to customize your string.


Globe lights are another very popular light string for weddings and are perfect for outdoor weddings. We sell Globe screw in bulbs in both a C7 base and C9 base variety, which means you can use our Christmas light strings with most Globe lights we carry. The most popular way to use Globe Christmas lights is to swag a light string (preferably White or Black wire) and use them as a type of ambient lighting. They are also very popular around the edge of tents or to light paths. If you are needing a lot of lights we recommend buying a Spool of Christmas Light wire, this allows you (or your decorators) to custom cut every string to fit perfectly. The remainder can be stored or used for other holiday lighting needs. 


Mini lights are a classic light string that will NEVER go out of style. They easy to decorate with and inexpensive so you can get a ton of lights without spending a ton of cash.We have White Wire Christmas Lights  with clear bulbs in many spacing and styles so you can find just the right set for decorating everywhere during your ceremony and/or reception. We also offer many of these sets with colors on white wire to match the brides chosen color palette, a simple way to ad some accent lighting without blowing your budget. 


We also carry a wide selection of LED Christmas lights, these are a great alternative to incandescent lights and look great. They come in a wide array of colors and styles and can fit exactly your needs. We love the 5mm Wide Angle LED Light strings, they are small bright and have vibrant colors. 


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

Flicker Flame Bulbs

All American Christmas Co. carries a selection of flicker flame lamps which are great for any occasion or just as a accent lighting. Flicker flames typically go into a candelabra base, which is what a C7 light bulb goes into. These types of simulated flame bulbs are most commonly found in electric candles, these plastic (sometimes wax) candles can be plugged into the wall and are a much safer alternative to actual candles when you are only seeking the look of a flame. We recommend these to anyone needing candles for windows or table arrangements.

We carry a variety of different styles of Flicker flame lamps, and the image above gives an idea of what the bulb looks like once lit.

Check our Special Lights page for Flicker flames and other candle lights!
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Warm White LED vs Incandescent Christmas Lights

Warm White LED Christmas lights are a great alternative to traditional Incandescent Christmas lights because the color is about as close as one can get to that warm filament lit glow that classic Christmas lights offer. The images to the left is a comparison of Warm White LED Christmas Lights and Incandescent Mini Christmas Lights.

I grabbed the one of each our of craft light cases, these LED set in the picture is our Warm White 25 count Wide Angle 5mm String, the Mini lights are our 20 count Craft Light sets. The LED Light set is on the left and the Incandescent Mini lights is on the right. Now for a caveat, Colors are subjective everyones eyes are a little different and furthermore monitors are a little different, colors on a Mac may not look like a PC, your computers color settings could be different so don't take what your eyes see on a monitor as a 100% accurate representation of what ANY color of something is.

Here are some differences in LED vs Incandescent

• LED Craft Lights use 2.4 watts a set
• Mini Craft Lights use 9.6 watts a set
• LED Craft sets generate no heat
• LED Christmas lights bulbs are molded in and won't become loose or twisted when inserting into a bottle or block.
• LED Craft sets have 24" lead wire (the plug to the first bulb)
• Incandescent Craft sets have either 24" or 36" lead wire

Click here to check out all the Craft Lights we offer!

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

Brown Wire Christmas Lights

"Our Brown Wire Craft Mini Lights"

All American Christmas Co. is proud to carry a selection of Brown Wire Mini Christmas Lights!

Brown wire mini lights are a fairly popular light string for those that know about them, they are easy to integrate in to many designs and they don't look too "Christmasy" so they are great for using other times of the year. You can incorporate brown wire christmas lights into indoor and outdoor decorations, they hide easily against trees for lighting parties or weddings, and look great lighting for other holidays like thanksgiving.

Our newest member of the family is our Brown Wire Craft Lights sets, these sets feature Brown wire, 20 clear mini lights 6 volt lamps, Approx. 3.5 inch bulb spacing, 24" lead wire, and only one plug. These sets are just like many of the other 20 light sets we carry and since they only have the one plug they are perfect for crafts such as lighting glass blocks or wine bottles.

In addition to our brown wire craft lights in 20 count we also carry the same type of set in a 50 and 100 light count option. These sets are spaced closer to 4 inches apart and can be strung end to end. These are the sets you'd want to go with if you are needing to do long runs of lights and again they are great indoors and out.  We also offer these larger sets in case lots so you can buy multiples and save in the long run!

If you are interested in our brown wire light strings please Click Here to check out what we offer on the site. Be warned that we only have around 100 of the 20 count sets in Brown wire. Our 20 light sets are some of the most popular light strings we carry and these are bound to sell out before we get our new stock for 2012 so order early to insure you'll have them when no one else will!

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

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!
--
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!

--
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

Making the switch to LED Christmas Lights

Switching from Incandescent to LED Christmas lights may seem intimidating if you still haven't made the switch yet. The higher price tag and non traditional look of LED may seem a little, off putting, at first but once you compare the differences you'll be more than ready to jump on the bandwagon! I've blogged many times about how little power Christmas LED lights and I think most of you have gotten the point (if not check out some of my other posts on LED light strings), so this blog won't filled with complete technobabble!

Christmas LED lights come in a variety of shapes and sizes, most of which are based off classic bulb shapes we've seen all our lives. Below I will list some of the common shapes and styles of Christmas LEDs:

	C6 Lights - These have the shape of those classic C7/C9 bulbs we grew up with but are noticeably smaller. Great for indoor Christmas trees!
	C7 Lights - The classic C7 bulb never goes out of style, we offer LED C7 bulbs in both premade sets and screw in type bulbs. Use a fraction of the power will the same great look!
	C9 Lights - Just like C7 the C9 is a classic bulb that will always look great. C9 are perfect for outdoor jobs and have that classic look that can't be beat!
	M5 Lights - M5 LED lights look like Mini lights (Twinkle, Fairy, or Italian lights to some). You can string a ton of these together! These LED lights are perfect for ANY application.
	Wide Angle 5mm Lights - Our FAVORITE, the Wide Angle LED Christmas lights have a bright bulb with a concave bulb that can be seen from nearly any angle. The best LED Christmas light bulb in our opinion
	G12 Lights - G12 are often called raspberry lights because they look like the little fruit. These are cool bulbs that would look great mixed into trees and garlands!

These are just some of the LED Christmas lights styles available, but you can use this simple break down as a spring board to plan our your holidays lighting. If you are worried about the upfront cost we recommend buy a few sets for some small projects and try them out, they won't go bad!

Check out our LED Christmas Lights Page

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

How to repair Mini Christmas lights

We get a ton of questions asking if we can or know how to fix Mini lights. Well, we can't fix your light strings, but we can give you some tools and tips on how to fix your own sets.

1. 9 times out of 10 if a new light string is not working it's a loose or twisted bulb. Quickly look over the lights to see if a bulb has came out of the socket or somehow twisted and broke the connection. We get strings back all the time that people say are 100% broken and a bulb has just popped out.


2. Another common problem is overloading the wire and blowing a fuse. Most Mini light strings only allow 3 sets to be plugged together end to end. If a string has a fused plug then the fuse will blow, or it could potentially burn out the bulbs themselves. Don't think you can light your how house with one continuous run of lights.


3. New light strings have shunted bulbs, so that if a bulb burns out the rest stay lit. Old sets don't have this technology (if you call an extra piece of wire inside the bulbs technology). These older sets require the use of mini lights testers / repair boxes.


4. Using mini light testers, the small handheld mini light tester devices find where the flow of electricity is. You want to take the tester end and put it near the socket, if the flow of electricity isn't found near a socket then you're closing in on the culprit bulbs.


5. Mini Light repair boxes, they will actually repair the light string and any burnt out or problem bulbs will not light. Now, if you have a loose bulb these repair and testers won't solve your problems.

Our Commercial Mini Light Repair box is our best seller and the number one repair box we have ever found.
The Magic Box Isolates Twisted bulbs, empty sockets and bad fuses by forcing electrical current through a non-working set. You can start repairing your defective lights instead of of trashing them. It makes "dollars and sense" to easily repair a set as opposed to to throwing it away. Essential for lighting professionals and crews, this little box will pay for itself in no time.
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Miniature Light Tester Instructions
This special machine is designed to electronically isolate malfunctioning bulbs and/or bad fuses in miniature light sets by sending a controlled current through the string. There is no one particular way that problems are Indicated and it will take a while to become adept at using this testing machine. By following the detailed instructions below you will find that repairing bad sets is easier and faster than any other method available. Please read the following carefully before using the machine.
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Testing Procedure:

1. Plug machine into any standard 110-120-volt circuit.


2. Turn machine to "on" position by flipping toggle switch on bottom left upward.


3. Plug brown 6-ft. extension cord Into the outlet in the middle of machine. Then, plug only ONE miniature light set into the brown cord. (Remember the machine will test only one miniature light set at a time. Do not use on C-7 or C-9 light sets ...or any miniature light set that is operated by a computer chip, for example, chaser or fader sets).


4. The machine is designed to test single circuits. An example would be 35 or 50 light sets, both of which feature only one circuit. Additionally, a typical 100 light set is constructed with 2-circuits (i.e. they have two (2) 50-light sets wired back-to-back). To test 2-circuit sets, you'll need to remove one bulb from the circuit that is working in order to test the non-functioning circuit. When you test a 100-light set that features 5 circuits, pull out 4 bulbs (one from each circuit, which is every 20th bulb and usually color-coded) to test the 5th circuit.


5. If the circuit doesn't light up, push and release the large red button and the set will usually light up Immediately (with all bad bulbs that need to be replaced remaining unlit of course) or one or more of the sockets will make a loud "buzzing sound" which indicates a bad bulb or one which is simply "missing" from its socket. By listening for this buzz and watching for any sign of a socket "lighting up" with the arcing electrical spark inside, you can usually Isolate the problem area right away. You may have to spread the string out to discern just where the buzzing sound is coming from but it should be fairly easy to Identify the problem area. It may require two or more short buzzes for you to realize just where the buzz is occurring. Replace the bulb(s) and the set will light up unless there are other bad bulbs. Sometimes one of the wires is off to one side on the bottom of the bulb (straighten them up and reinsert).. .sometimes the bulb is a "one-legged" bulb (wire broken off) and other times one of the brass contact points Inside the socket is too far down inside the socket for the bulb to make proper contact. If the latter is the case, be sure to unplug the set first, then, pull brass contact "up" to correct position with sharp nose pliers, then re-Insert the bulb.


6. If all the circuits have been repaired and a "buzzing sound" comes from within the male plug, it usually Indicates a bad fuse. Replace fuse and the set should work.


7. If you have tried all of the above procedures and still can not get the set to function, you probably have a improperly wired set or a set with a direct short. Discard the set or return to manufacturer.

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NOTE: The protective plexiglass cover on top of the machine is designed to insulate and protect the user` from any potential shock which may occur when testing a light set with faulty wiring or 'a direct short. To reduce possibility of. electrical shock when using this machine, avoid touching the side of machine when testing. Position fingers on top of plexiglass when pressing the red testing button. Always use caution and work in a dry environment. SOME models have an external plastic enclosure.

Click Here to view our Mini Light Tester Box

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

Bubble Lights back in Stock

Bubble lights are back!! Our standard sets with wire and 3 pack of loose bulbs are back in stock and ready to go. These sold our for the better part of a year so if you need bubble lights ORDER NOW! We will only have so many cases until they are out again.

Click here to view our bubble lights





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

New Craft Mini lights and other News

We recently expanded our already large craft light section, we now have colors in our 10 and 15 light mini light sets! We got many requests for smaller light strings made like our 20 light strings (long leads, single plug, etc) and we recently got sets here so we can offer all the major colors! Our 10 light mini lights string has 3 inch bulb spacing, a 3 foot lead wire and is approximately 2.5 feet long. The 15 light string is the same expect it's total length is approx. 3.75 feet long.

These shorter light strings are great for installing the lights in glass blocks and wine bottles. You ideally want to use less than 50 lights in those projects because those sets are just going to be way to long for such a small enclosure.

We are talking about carrying NEW wine bottles in various colors. So if you don't want to have to wash bottles  or whatnot.  This should be happening in a few weeks! Watch the blog for all news about this. 

Click here to view our Mini lights

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Zach

All American Christmas Co

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

Screw In LED C7 and C9 bulbs

We carry a variety of what we call Retro Fit C7 and C9 LED bulbs. Retro fit LED bulbs screw into standard C7 or C9 sockets, so you don't have to replace all your wire if you are currently using screw in incandescent bulbs just your bulbs! This gives you a lot more flexibility in lighting with LED and you still retain all the perks that LED provide.

LED Retro fit bulbs use .96 watts a bulb! Incandescent C7 bulbs use 5 watts and C9 use 7 watts, so you are going to save a lot of money on power consumption and get a whole lot more mileage out of your wire! If you are using 18 gauge spt-1 wire you can use around 800 bulbs on one continuous run of wire, this will save many trips up and down the ladder and make tearing down your decorations so much easier!

We hand chose our Screw in LED bulbs because the look the best in the socket, the bulb doesn't sit way up high, the light in evenly spread out, and the colors are vibrant and true. We are also carrying a selection of twinkle and color changing bulbs!

Check out our re-designed LED page and all of our great LED products.

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

Halloween Lights

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, dressing up, eating WAY to much candy, and spending time with friends and family watching scary movies never gets old! Decorating for halloween can sometimes be just as fun as finding the perfect costume, and we have a selection of lights that are great for inside and out your home on this spooky holiday.  We offer Frosted Orange Mini lights on Black wire. These sets look great during Halloween and also during thanksgiving mixing in with leaves the orange really accents the colors of fall.

We also carry black wire mini lights with clear bulbs, which look great mixed in with orange lights, and we also have brown wire mini lights which look great mixed in with leaves or around hay bales!  In addition to simple light strings we also carry Halloween style icicle lights, small  novelty style lights (small pumpkins, spiders, ghosts), fall colored garlands, and even halloween/fall themed displays!

Combining all of these styles of products let you create a really great Halloween themed decoration for indoor or out. If you have any questions regarding these products feel free to check the website and give us a call if you can't find the answer you need.

Click here to visit our Halloween Light page

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

Musical Christmas Controllers IN STOCK!

Holiday Light Show Controller

These Musical controllers are no longer available with All American Christmas Co. (as of Oct. 30th, 2013)

We have received our MP3 player ready Musical Christmas light controllers! Our Holiday Lightshow musical controller is the simplest and most inexpensive way to decorate your house and have it dance to music. Click here to view them on our site.

This controller features 10 Built in songs, 6 channels (i.e. outlets), a Outdoor ready speaker, a built in timer, and jacks to plug in a MP3 Player or external speaker source.

Each channel on controller unit handles 1.25 amps, that is around 375 mini light bulbs per outlet. If you are using LED lights you can get a lot more mileage out of the controllers since LED sets use such little power! Most people may say, "Well, 375 mini lights per outlet is just not enough for the idea in my head!!" and we totally get that but keep this in mind, computer controlled systems that do those insane youtube-esque videos start at around 500 bucks for the most basic systems, you have to program them yourself (or buy a program) and have a dedicated computer for it.

While our controller does not do the level of intricate animation that those big computer systems do, it's also a lot less headache and money. We recommend customers to integrate this controller into their current decorations, if you are aleady going to light up trees, bushes, the roof line, ect. choose what items you have lit and have then dance to the music! Say you have a your roofline lit, make your trees sync to the music with our controller.Mixing in animation will make your Christmas lights look less busy and more like a cohesive group of decorations. You want people to drive by and look in wonder at your decorations, not be so shocked they wreck the car (or well I hope you don't want people to do that)!

We currently have around 40 in stock, and are getting more in a few weeks. These controllers are selling out fast so if you are interested please order early to insure you'll have one for the comings season.

Our Holiday Lightshow Musical Controller is $169.99 and remember you can get 10% off that if you order online! Use coupon code Save10 during checkout and the controller is 152.99 before shipping!

Thanks, if you have any questions visit our site or email me zach@aachristmas.com

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

So many Mini Craft Lights to choose from! Differences between Craft light sets.

I know I've been blogging a lot about craft lights lately, and since we now carry 8 different types of Craft lights I felt like I needed to explain the differences between all the different craft sets. Craft lights are the most popular light string for the majority of the year and they are hard to find January to September but we are happy to offer these small Christmas light strings all year! They only time we aren't selling them is when we sell out of them!

About our Mini Craft Lights

• No End to End plug - All of our Craft sets only have one plug that goes to power outlet.
• High Brightness bulbs - These sets have bright bulbs that aren't like normal mini light string bulbs, they are a higher voltage and look great in blocks and bottles
• Color Variety - We offer sets (or cases) in all available colors on either White or Green wire, these colors include: Clear, Red, Blue, Green, Amber (Orange), Yellow, Teal, Pink, Purple, and Multi Color.
• Close bulb space -  Most of these sets have a 2" to 3" bulb space, this cuts down on the wire you have to have inside your project
• Longer lead wire -  Our craft lights have either a 24" or 36" lead wire, the lead is the wire from the plug to the first bulbs, this means you won't have to go hunting for a extension cord for a 4" lead wire.
• Stackable plugs - These light strings allow you to stack plugs on top of one another so you can plug multiple sets into a single outlet.
• Shunted Bulbs - If a bulb burns out the rest stay lit! If a bulb is loose or twisted the wire can not light but this is a rare occurrence.
• Case lots - All of our incandescent light strings are available in a case option, this lets you stock up on sets and save big money down the road.

Currently we are offering the following different types of Mini craft light sets

• 10 Light Set - 3" bulb spacing,  2.5 feet lighted length with 36" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 15 Light Sets - 3" bulb spacing, 3.75 feet lighted length with 36" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 20 Light Sets w/ Short Leads - 2.5" bulb spacing, 3.5 feet lighted length with 24" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 20 Light Sets w/ Long Leads - 3" bulb spacing, 5 feet lighted length with 24" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 35 Light Sets w/ Short Leads - 2.5" bulb spacing, 7.5 feet lighted length with 24" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 35 Light Sets w/ Long Leads - 3.5" bulb spacing, 13 feet lighted length with 36" lead wire from plug to first bulb

I hope this clears up the differences in all the types of Craft Mini Lights we carry, please visit our Mini lights page to view what sets in stock!

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Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

10 Count and 15 Count Mini lights now available.

We carried 15 count mini lights for a long time and for a little while the manufacturers halted production for a limited time but now they are back and better than ever! Not only are the 15 light count an option but so is a 10 count mini light string, these are for the decorators or craft makers who want fewer number of lights and less wire inside their craft projects. We are selling individual sets in Clear on White or Green wire, and selling cases of 50 strings in Colors on White or Green wire.

The 10 count mini light strings we carry have a 36" lead wire, 10 bulbs, 3 inch bulbs spacing, Stack-able plugs, No End Connectors, and are approx. 2.5 ft long.

The 15 count mini light strings we carry have a 36" lead wire, 15 bulbs, 3 inch bulbs spacing, Stack-able plugs, No End Connectors, and are approx. 3.75 ft long.

These sets are great for lighting Glass Blocks, Wine Bottles, and since they are smaller light strings they could fit into even smaller blocks or bottles! Lighted Beer/Liquor Bottles would be very cool!

Click here to view our Mini lights page

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