@tightwad sams (and therefore probably costco) has some pretty bright shop/hood lamps for cheap, I almost bit but they have no diffusers on them. worth a look (I think they are clearing them out, so check the 'clear' shelf).
@thismyusername The Costco version (as usual) is better. They diffuse the light - you cannot see individual LEDs unlike the SAMs version. Replaced three of our shop lights so far - got tired of the florescent tubes prematurely burning out. Instant on baby!
@RedOak@pufferfishy@christoc How much were the Costco version? Are your referring to the whole 4' assembly or the bulbs? I saw them there on my last trip but didn't look too closely. How does the light output compare to a "normal" 4' fixture? I currently have 48' of double tube fluorescent lighting in my shop...
@tightwad the whole assembly is what I purchased, it wasn't more than buying the bulbs and converting existing units over to LED (I didn't have any existing units to start with anyways).
I got them about 9 months ago, for somewhere near $30 each I believe, haven't looked at pricing recently.
I lucked out on the intro deal at Costco when they launched the full fixtures. Paid $31.99 in April.
Checked today, SAMs price for their non-defusing (120 bare LEDs) model is $35.98. 40 watt consumption, 4200 lumens, Lights of America. Closeup of the visible LED chips:
The Costco defused light (opaque lens) model is $34.99. 38 watt consumption, 3700 lumens, Feit Electric.
@derpandabar - the concentration camp comment of your's should win a prize - and @Pavlov is full of shit - he damn well knew what he was doing - I laughed my ass off just for the shit-storm it may have stirred - what gets me the most though is six full hours of his Valley Center, Kansas denial and no one even dares to call bullshit on him.
For some reason I really want some of these. The problem is I don't know what for, or which color is better, or how many since I don't know what for. Do any of you know ?
@ceagee behind a tv, under a desk, under the bed (if you could be able to see it) under kitchen anything lol. match the tone of white with what you got.
@ceagee buy a travel trailer if you don't have one .. They will make cool outdoor lighting either on trailer itself or on ground area in front of door under awning ..
@pbretones I was just going to suggest behind a TV. I forgot that I have a strip of these stuck to the back of my TV. Since they are LED, they stay on 24/7.
@ceagee We have custom built cabinets on our home theater wall. There are glass kickplates at the floor and overhangs above the gear/book shelves at the ceiling. Currently have incandescent back lighting but considering replacing some of it with these.
@ceagee As far as color goes, my experience has been than warm white is for if you want to be cozy and pleasant, and warm white is if you want to SEE WHAT YOU'RE FLIPPING DOING. In this context, don't stub your toe lights or effects like under the bed or whatnot want warm, and work lights in a kitchen or garage should be bright white. I'm not sure they're bright to be work lights, though.
I outlined my entire 1100 sqft finished basement floor with a bright rope light. It was pretty sweet. When I sold the house, the new owner requested it stay.
@narfcake Yeah, I'm hoping these are somehow better - but then, they're not super expensive comparatively. And I've gotten some Chinese Christmas LEDs that were complete shit
@mfladd Thanking the scapegoat-of-the-month isn't something new. Yeah, shit still goes wrong, like I snagged my shirt yesterday, but seeing how it was an Anvil shirt and had holes anyway, it definitely wasn't blame worthy.
I dunno ... maybe if I blame @jaremelz more, then even more things will go right? Is that the issue?
@narfcake You said, "Thanking the scapegoat-of-the-month isn't something new." So does that mean I have to thank @jaremelz for when one of the shotguns went off on it's own (one of them gravity finally got and it fell over and then one of them went off - no idea which one) and shot a hole in the roof (this is not my house - housesitting a cow farm and they did not tell me there were guns leaning against the wall by the back door nor that they were loaded) that I am required to blame him for the fact that it went off and blew a rather large hole in the roof and then am required to turn around and thank him that it missed me and all the animals inside and outside of the house?
@Kidsandliz Umm... well I'd have qualms about someone not telling a housesitter about that and making sure they were safed... they probably forgot, so tell them they need to have a word with that goat person... @jaremelz wasn't it? about making sure such things don't slip through the cracks.
@jaremelz There is a second shot gun here you can use if you want. No idea if it is loaded or not and no idea how to tell - I am not messing with it. I gingerly took them both and put them on the floor in the master bath (aiming them out of the house) and shut the door. Duct taped the roof for now (hole there is the size of the palm of my hand, inside about the size of a quarter).
@jaremelz Well I would have said something direct about @jaremelz effective responsibility in and for this situation but the last time I did something similar I got flipped off by a cute dog...
@Dash Agreed. Also, in my experience, "warm" led's are still much cooler than regular incandescence. I Bought warm even for those task lighting needs areas
Oh lord I would love to have like 3 sets of the 45 ft. length. They'd look rad around the edges of our rec room, but the timing is bad for the bank account. Dammit. Argh.
Okay! Hubby got tired of listening to me fretting over it, and said to go ahead and order. Yay! Who needs to pay bills when you can have a mystical-maroon-manatee? :D
@Pufferfishy if you carefully hide them on the underside of the cage frame won't that help keep at least the direct sun off them?
Might need to pick up some exterior grade 3M double sided tape to stick them there if you don't want to drill. That's the way the cheapo direct from China strips arrive. (If they ever arrive!)
@nadroj Yep. Bought two 45' strands. One for permanent installation on the deck of our vacation place, and the other for hook & other configs. Ran off a dimmer, I bet we could get something interesting at night.
Had a pickle of a time getting my billing address to get validated. Googled swapping my address lines and that worked apparently. Never had that issue on Meh before. In for 32ft bright white and 6+13ft warm white. Keep selling me lights, I'll find something for them eventually.
@squib you would need blue and red LEDs with very specific wavelengths. These may have the required wavelengths, but odds are they will have a bunch of others you don't need, which would waste a ton of electricity.
@tizioAmerican Lighting's instruction sheet for these light strips says only change the length by adding more strips and throw out any strips with damaged PVC insulation. These "line voltage kits are economical - no drivers needed" which means the full 120V courses through their veins; no wimpy 12V here - touching bare metal in these ropes will put YOU on the ropes!
No. I just called American Lighting. Cutting voids the warranty and is considered unsafe. This is a discontinued older model, but their new one can be cut every 18 inches.
@tizio You can surely cut them wherever you like. The real question is: will they still work? Sounds as if that's a no, unless you're an electrician and you can rewire them. :-)
I think the Meh staff are going to hate me. I just bought the 3 foot length for three dollars. I'm going to test it out, if I like it, I'm going to hope that they list this again in the future, so I can buy more. So, sorry meh. I feel you, dog.
@thismyusername if my math is correct and assuming they are averaging 20 feet per item (averaging all the lengths), they have only sold about a third of the roughly 36,000 units they have. We get at least a few more days of these. I am helping to avoid that though, I ordered 9 sets myself, or should I say 242 feet...
No mention on their product page or the spec sheet what voltage the power cord inverter puts out. 12 volts would be a good guess, but it would be just that, a guess. (Most of the China-sourced strips connect directly to 12 volts DC unless they have USB connectors.) http://www.americanlighting.com/tape-rope-hybrid.html
@G1@RedOak My morning math says 1.45w/foot * 105' max = 152.25 watts/1.6 amps = approx. 95v. If I had to guess, the way each segment (0.5m) is constructed is with 30 LEDs in series, as the forward voltage on white LEDs is typically in the 3.0- 3.4v range.
@G1Shockingly, it appears to be 120V DC. American Lighting's cut sheet explains that these "line voltage kits are economical - no drivers required" and then explains that the voltage is "120V, 60Hz AC (1.6A inverter on cord converts AC to DC for LEDs)".
@G1 Electronic Low Voltage dimmers are also known as reverse phase dimmers. 120 volt AC in, up to 100% of the 120 volt AC out. It dims by dropping the trailing portion of each half cycle. A common switching power supply design dims without making a horrible buzzing sound, when fed that kind of waveform. http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Education-Training/Pages/LCE/DimmingBasics.aspx
With a few extra parts, switching power supplies can be designed to work quietly and still dim on a dimmer designed in 1977. They cost more.
An even more common switching power supply won't support dimming at all. It will keep the brightness the same until it suddenly stops working at all, or worse, flashes in an annoying way. This was a common operating mode for some early LED light AC power supplies.
I also want to see pictures of the labels on the power supply.
@hamjudo I have a friend who is a professional electrician and he has been in contact with the engineers at American Lighting. So far he not gotten consistent answers from them regarding a dimmer and his current thought is that an ELV dimmer is not what should be used in this case. He is experimenting with one of the shorter strands that I purchased and I will update this thread when I know something definitive.
How long is the power cord? Trying to light underside of bar, hoping I can get the 13 footer and cover the majority of the 15 ft run (going up a size to 19 leaves excess). Outlet's only about a foot away.
Bought several sizes because I might need them at some point. Maybe if we buy a new couch, then maybe I'll build a behind the couch shelf, then maybe I'll want it lit, THEN I will have a use for these.
Oh well- In for 60 bucks worth of unarmed-rocky-flag.
I've been waiting for LED rope lights like this to be cheap enough so that if I screw them up, I didn't waste too much money. Might figure out a way to brighten up my dark bathroom.
In for 19' of soft white. Couldn't figure out a use when I got them but impulse buy! Now I think I'll install it under my baby crib for soft, indirect lighting. Hope that's a safe plan. Blergh
Edit: I'll put them in the closet so I can see at 2am without turning on the light. Score
@bakerzdosen Nope. But the contractor who remodeled our house before we bought it built a closet into a bedroom and right around an outlet, so I suppose it didn't set off too many alarms during the inspection.
not here to tell you what to do, but perhaps putting discontinued low end lights under your infant child crib might not be the place you want to save a few bucks.
Well, as someone whose new house will be finished in the next month and has planned on adding LED light strips in several places (including exterior Christmas lighting) this is somewhat of a no brainer.
My only debate now is whether to buy more...
Ironic that I'd receive my first non-newsletter coaxing me to buy something hours after my first meh purchase in a month or two...
@blcarson I wish I’d have listened to this advice and ordered more. A small section (1 ft?) of my 45ft (“permanently mounted”) rope on the front of my house is now significantly dimmer (like, at 10% vs 100%) than the rest of the tape.
I paid $22 for that 45ft rope, but to buy the same thing, but current model, will cost $300 now. Ugh.
@narfcake It's certainly more efficient and cost-effective than buying full-priced 120 VAC LED strips and attempting to plug them directly into vehicle power.
@flynnski I don't see any gains in energy efficiency there; the loss is from 12v DC to 120v AC. Cost effectiveness is having to buy an inverter for these lights (plus the cost of the lights) versus just buying lights that are designed for 12v use in the first place.
A thought based upon learning the hard way... If you plan to install the included clips in an outside/wet location, consider replacing the included screws with stainless steel screws.
I'm betting the included screws are some kind of plated steel. Rust. If outside/wet over time.
@mamajoan They're hard wired into the electrical of the house. More than likely to a light switch or photo cell. That is a professional installation done by a professional and not a DIY.
@mamajoan Those were almost certainly installed while the stairs were being built, with the electrical lines going behind the risers and connected under the stairs.
@Bogie@Tipop OK, thanks for clarifying. The description is pretty misleading, saying "Just unroll the lighting strip, screw in a few clips, plug it in" but then showing pictures of hardwired installations.
Question: Could these be used to lay on the ground outside (patio)? Asking for mother-n-law. I know they're "outdoor" but would they get too wet on the ground?
@Jpuck71 I wouldn't. At a minimum a trip hazard. But no matter which light ropes you use, there would be durability issues. And note the power cords carry 120 volts so at a minimum you'd need to protect that portion from electrocution risks.
I got these same American Lighting light ropes before and had them fail after less than a year. Maybe I just got a bad batch but, still. Fool me once, shame on shame on can't get fooled again.
After 12 years, my kitchen counters will be visible. Indecisive as always, I got three different orders because I kept thinking up additional places to put them. The order name generator seems determined to annoy me lately, so my lucrative-pristine-earwig (yeah, no way), woeful-bipedal-hedgehog (yech, double yech) and unruly-buttoned-home (it got nothin') look like this:
@Kidsandliz Nope, if the order generator assigns me something unlovely, I substitute an image of my choice. The generator deliberately messes with me all the time. I know that. I mean, icy-exclusive-stove? Omnipotent-wormy-warlord? Unsafe-rabid-bee? It's persecution, I tell you.
@n8guy One year I went dressed as a compact fluorescent light bulb. I put a 120 VAC rope light (this was long ago, so incandescent) into a translucent white drier vent (plastic drier vents, not safe for driers, okay for costumes). The drier vent was connected to a hat made of cardboard and foam with an aluminum foil coating, so it looked like a light socket. The drier vent went next to my face, then wrapped around my torso, between the legs, wrapped a few more times and up to the socket on my head.
I had a 12 volt, 7 amp hour gel cell battery hooked to a belt, as well as an inverter to make 120 VAC. I had spare batteries.
It was plenty bright, and lit up the street pretty well as we escorted the kids as they trick or treated. I couldn't see so well, because I stupidly had lights shining on my face.
offensive-frightening-rosemary. My second wife! How could Meh have known. You know my personal information was just stolen...again. This time including my fingerprints and probably DNA. It is a bit comforting to imagine it has been Meh behind the identity thefts the whole time and not China! Wait a minute...most of this Meh crap is probably from China! What's going on here? I'm not paranoid, I'm not paranoid.
@Lotsofgoats It's a bad idea, how would you power them? If you want to light up your bike, look into El wire. It can run off of battery packs and looks pretty nice. it can break easily if you pinch the wire, but the prices have dropped a lot on them in the last couple years, so it's not as much of a costly mistake as it used to be.
@Bogie@Reaverbeaver I actually just bought some EL wire and will notify you about how derp it looks. It probably won't last very long, either, since I ride a Brompton and will be constantly creasing and uncreasing the poor defenseless little wires :(
@j8erg Cheap under cabinet kitchen and garage lighting were the reasons I decided to try these out. If they don't work out, at least the niece and nephews will have some nice decorative lighting for their rooms.
@MEHcus I already have what I'm going to use it for. I should have gotten the next side up but oh well. What is the power usage on the new version of these? I had been using a string of Christmas lights for their low power usage. edit* I guess I'm just fucking lazy as that was posted also. I wish the accessories were on sale too so we could string 2 strands together.
@sohmageek - I'm with you 100%... Whole house is lit at 4500K for general lighting, with a few lamps that vary, depending on the needs. For example, the home theatre backlighting (bias lighting) is at about 6000K (give or take a couple hundred, since there was variance in the ropes), and my workbench runs at 5500K.
Call me crazy if you'd like, but none of the waxy, yellow light for me! I will reserve that for creepy, poorly lit street lamps, and classic cars' headlights.
Yet another idea for using these, especially since @RedOak very kindly found the connectors , clear plastic mounting strips etc. My library will finally be lit, so we won't have to wander around with candles and lanterns. My hospitable-soaked-goat looks very nice, doesn't she, @jaremelz? I'm always suspicious when the order generator actually gives me something pleasant.
@terrence - Generally, this will be a plug/unplug situation. The exception is if you have a few outlets wired to a regular light switch (or some other switch). I installed a light switch in my kitchen to control the under-cabinet lighting, since it runs off the outlet up above the ventilation hood over the stovetop. Depending on your house's age and wiring, this could be an easy job if you know some relatively basic electrician things. HOWEVER, be careful before even thinking about tinkering if you do not know about how your house is wired. It may be pretty, but not worth dying over ;) There are a few other ways to make it work - see the link below.
A similar setup in my house is in the living room, where the house was pre-installed with two outlets, presumably for standing lamps, wired to a switch right next to the main chandelier switch. Instead of that, I use the first switch to power two small LED lamps for end tables, and about 75' of LED rope (probably more of the "inferior stuff" mentioned by others). The extended run creates a halo around and behind my entertainment center, including a bunch directly behind the TV. To the AV uninitiated, this is called 'bias lighting', which looks cool, is much healthier for your eyes than staring at a glaringly bright screen in complete darkness, and actually improves your perceived image quality SIGNIFICANTLY. It has to be bright white for this usage (between 5000-6500K minimum) for this to work well and not cause distraction. So now my living room has one switch for main lighting, and one for home theatre lighting. Worth the time, if you can make it work, IMHO. I do custom home theatre installations and calibration here and there, so I've done this for a few folks. Some, who did not have switches wired for this, we were able to make work by using other outlet remotes (like http://amzn.com/B00DQ2KGNK), and those can be tied to universal remotes, like Logitech Harmony remotes.
Here is a picture that I quickly took of the home theatre lighting. The camera on the iPad was hardly ideal, but it's what I had on hand. I ran LED rope from the bottom left corner, up, across, down, then all the way back along the same route. From there, it is enclosed in nylon sheathing to prevent tons of light leaking as it runs from the bottom left corner to the TV stand and up - Then it wraps around the TV's VESA mount to create a stronger central bias light.
All of this, and the end table lamps (you can see the reflection of one on the blank TV screen) are hooked to a light switch right next to the main room lighting switch. For 3D we turn off the lamps by hand to prevent glare.
@arosiriak just a heads up that might be useful in the future, if you link using the .jpg link the picture shows up in the thread. Like this: (just replace comma with a period) http://i.imgur.com/l1nqZjy,jpg
@arosiriak def not pestering - i sincerely appreciate the level of effort and detail.
i don't want to mess with any electrical stuffs and really just wanted to know if i got this and hooked it up if it'd need to be a thing where it was always on because of course its kind of silly to always have that rope light on in many scenarios and the unplugging is just as annoying as having to plug something in every time.
the remote link you provided gives me something to think about.
@arosiriak I've drastically reworked my planned use of the lights I bought, based on your suggestions. Now I wish I'd bought more, but these will keep me occupied for awhile. Thanks so much for sharing your expertise.
Too late... All the lengths above 13' in the bright white are gone. Would have been all over these had I seen them earlier, but now it's officially fallen to meh.
@Barney - Occasionally Wallyworld will have some that allow colour choices (or in my case, bright white ended up being more purple one time - That required an immediate return). They are going to be of a completely different grade though; Much closer to 8-10 LEDs/foot, but similarly priced.
@neveraging - These are of a fixed size. Typically the more tape-style ropes can be trimmed at specific points, but these cannot. These are a more heavy-duty grade, so their wiring does not allow for cutting, but they do have the ability to be spaced with jumpers, which you can find pictured/mentioned above.
@arosiriak I realize that cutting them voids the warranty, but I also realize that the 'what could possibly go wrong' crowd is going to snip and crimp or wrap the ends. Follow up ought to be fun.
@Kidsandliz@arosiriak So far, all of my light strands have been good end to end. If someone sends me a broken one, I would be willing to cut one open, take some pictures, and show whats inside.
The wires inside pulse up to an unhealthy 177 volts DC. I don't think I would want to use it after the autopsy.
@RedOak I should do that... Figure out how much to ship it would be... then get them to order through me as a forwarder... and drive it over to Montreal and ship it out... too much work... and would depend on the roa... I think I need to run the numbers, and check laws on it...
@sohmageek Yah. Lots of work. Could do the same Here via Sarnia or Windsor. And used to frequently drive to Toronto and thru Canada as a shortcut to Ithaca NY.
But the big reason I'd never try that? Ball busting Canadian border agents. Or should I say, "Ministry of Labour" agents. If I were on the fence about locating a business in Canada, their over-protective labor policing at the border would tip the scale to 'no thank you'.
I need help getting my order through...we are a cash strapped non-profit main Stret program and are geeked at the chance to light downtown (and save energy) in beautiful warm LED lights this Holiday season, but I cant get it to validate our billing address...Help please.
Also @MEHcus@hollboll@moose@thumperchick @Ihavenoideawhohandlesthisstuff No idea if any of you can help, but figured one of you might be able to assist.
@NilesMainStreet You have two street address lines? If so try swapping them. Maybe even if not, I'm not sure when that validation error does/doesn't rear its head. But I would guess line 1 is mandatory. Anyway try swapping those, seem to remember that being a thing that caused a problem before.
@NilesMainStreet Someone earlier in this thread mentioned something about Google swapping the address lines. Not sure if that has anything to do with the issue you are experiencing, but figured I would mention it. Good luck - hope you get your order in! :)
Remember that movie Crumb, that scene where his even weirder brother is doing yoga and he swallows the really long string and says that in a day or so, he'll be able to grab both ends and give his innards a good swabbing? Using some of these will really help you track its progress on the way down and out. Think of the cosplay opportunities!
Let's get on the metric train! Those weird lengths are inaccurate and confusing, so here's a decoder sheet:
3.3 feet really means "1 meter"
6.6 ft = 2 m
13.2 ft = 4 m
19.7 ft = 6 m
32.8 ft = 10 m
45.9 ft = 14 m
IKEA does the same stupid conversions in their USA stores. Note to marketers: metric measurements are not scary, give use the real, metric dimensions instead of your crude approximations. (Alternatively, do a proper conversion to the nearest 1/32"; e.g. 10 m = 19' 8-7/32" )
@mwarren Didn't the government try that back in the 70s or 80s and were pretty much met with apathy by the general public? Until they start giving the dimensions of your house in meters as the primary units, we will likely continue to see feet and inches in daily life.
Meh, you suck. I had to think all day for reasons I had to have these. Then, you really, really suck, a lot because you let me buy as much as I wanted!. I really hate you for making me buy this crap.
One long chain for my study, 2 shorter ones for the bathrooms, one smallest for, eh, maybe somewhere in the kitchen? I'm not sure yet. But yeah. My apartment appreciates the side lighting. I was having trouble figuring out where, with limited floor space (and not wanting to fuss with trying to attach large wall light fixtures), I could add more lights. For a lot less than I'd spend on real lamps, this will work for the reasonable future.
Decided to order. But the front page would not load on two different devices. Blank stare. No error message. Timeout. Other sites and the meh forum pages work fine. @shawn?
@sohmageek I/T never sleeps! At least not uninterrupted. ;-) But agreed, that was a fast response time.
@shawn, do you have a script running alerting you of pings or is it simply smartphone notifications turned on for the email account associated with meh?
@shawn thanks. Order worked from the slightly stat-neutered front page on a Windows box.
Although the order number generator seems to be more out of whack than normal: wiggly-tight-earwig(Makes me want to cancel and reorder simply so I don't have to look at that phrase again on my orders page!)
@shawn note to self... soon to be middle-age-brain-forgotten: add "/checkout" to front page path. But only after the plain path has been updated with the product of the day portion.
@shawn perhaps don't make it so obvious with fukus as then people can bypass everything to get to the checkout page and have an unfair advantage. Name the url for fukus something totally unguessable.
That will be my special one. Who cares what it will be for everyone else because there will be one just for me even if I miss the regular one because meh thinks I am a robot like last time. : )
@G1 Hah! It did appear that way. Clicking on the above link opened the order popup. But I tried and alas, @shawn put a deal status check at the "...buy it already" button-click stage: "OOPS, SORRY. YOU'RE TOO LATE."
@shawn No. Despite the green check where it agreed I was not a robot, the green bar kept giving the error that I can't be a robot to buy this (got this several times after re-hitting the buy it already button) and then finally got the message indicating that it was too late and sold out.
As an aside, this is the second fuku in a row that this has been a problem with my attempts to buy. I am on time and trying to buy before it sold out. I am not a robot and get the green check, I can't buy despite the green check because it won't sell to robots. I'd appreciate it if there is a way to fix that.
What the Heck!!!! You get me all excited and then in a move that is somewhat reminiscent of the past. It's over!!! After a couple of attempts to order I finally clicked the button to order and it tells me I am too late it's over. Well, I have that excuse too many from my ex. At least he pays me alimony. What are you going to do to satisfy me!!!!
@iammakarios and if the email they sent out is correct.... then don't worry, the led string lights will be up for sale again... and again... and again...
@Thumperchick me too, I tried doing some calculations but its all guesses since we don't know the quantity sold of each length, and eyballing a pie chart,well that will take more time that I am willing, I decided in a random guess that they might have sold 100 miles worth.. heh
@brhfl bascially yea I approximated percentages based on their pie, then calculated total feet per size then added it all up... I might be off a percent or two in a couple segments. :)
Wow Meh. NEVER thought these would get here in time for my merch booth this weekend. Thanks. These suckers are bright. One section of the rope flickers once in a while though. I just call it special effects.
Packaging was really well done - they "rolled" them nice and flat - so they "lay down" without a billion kinks and twists. Put my 2M cable right on the floor behind my entertainment center for mood lighting - no issues getting it to stay nice and flat.
Warm white is a WHOLE lot brighter than I thought. @Pufferfishy and @StrangerDanger do not exaggerate. Apparently I've only ever seen the cheap crap. Fortunately my installer person is out of town this weekend, giving me time to play with them. Already know that we're getting some of the things @RedOak suggested. And dimmers, with remote controls. Definitely dimmers. Installation may be next weekend, though.
@Pufferfishy I didn't get them, and I'm still pouting, but they're available on AMZN. If Meh doesn't offer them again this week OR IF MY FUKU ISN'T FULL OF THEM, I'll buy them.
@OldCatLady cool. However you install them, I'd recommend installing them in as product-ambivalent a manner as possible. In other words, I laugh at the 50,000 hour life claims made by LED purveyors. They will fail in some way prior to most of us dieing. @phatmass's flickering strip illustrates this (above).
I'll be replacing some painfully failure-prone (halogen) hockey puck and (incandescent) aluminum light strips in our entertainment wall. In the case of the hockey pucks their 12-volt transformers are hard-wired so I'll be installing standard 120 volt recepticles. Luckily our existing light strips are already plugged into 120 volt recepticles. I wired all the lighting back to a central bank of wall switches when I built the wall.
PS: normally we receive meh stuff early on. Not this time. Bummed. Perhaps reflects the hundred miles of this stuff @Dstanley and crew have to ship. Or simply our sucky local USPS.
@RedOak If 'product-ambivalent' means tucked out of sight, they will be. After seeing them, I think the bright white strips will be mounted dead center atop the 24" wide 'plant shelf' which runs through my open plan kitchen, living, dining, and hall space. They'll have just enough clips in place to make sure the cats can't displace them. If one strip dies, I'll plug a new one in. The cord will run down beside a door frame and over to a convenient outlet. We have 10' ceilings and the uplight will be very welcome.
@OldCatLady that's the idea - simple to replace with a completely different brand without a lot effort. Accessible too. And I'm generally not a fan of these light strips ever being directly visible.
Our existing light strips simply lie on the floor behind opaque glass in the toe kick area.
@RedOak Now I'm afire to get them up, but a) some are still in the mail and b) my installer won't be available for a week. And c) the 'Warm White' are too bright for the undercabinet locations I had planned. That's a LOT of candlepower. Putting them behind a frosted toe kick would just highlight the drifts of cat hair.
@OldCatLady a rare challenge - too much candle power!
I'm not a fan of dimmers for permanently matching single level light needs. Added expense/complexity and typically energy wasters in the form of heat burned off instead of that portion of the light being output.
Ideally the correct light output would be matched to the use. But if the strips are not visible, a somewhat jury-rigged solution might be to cover every other LED chip with electrical tape. Still an energy waster, but without added expense/complexity of dimmers.
@RedOak I'm clearly going to have to get remote controlled plug-in dimmers. These will all be indoors, mostly mounted on plant shelves; do you have any recommendations? I don't want to say cost is no object, but after saving so much on the lights... I had no idea how dark and spooky my 10' ceiling area was. First world problems, I know.
@OldCatLady You didn't fully describe how you'll use the strips but... The problem with dimmers is they waste energy themselves. Perhaps as much or more waste as simply blocking every other LED in the strip. Or blocking them with a diffuser lens like opaque plastic panels.
However, if there are scenarios when you want the lights dim and other times, bright, OK, then dimmer. I believe the specs said a standard (not-LED specific) dimmer would work with these.
@RedOak I bow to your expertise, I really do, and thanks for sharing. The lights are destined for the top of @ 50' of plant shelf, which runs around my 'open living' area. It gets pretty dark up there now, but I bought the house in a hurry and had't really thought about it much. Maybe to begin with I'll just put in something like these, and live with them awhile. The problem is that I can't visualize worth a hoot, so it's going to be trial and error. https://meh.com/deals/ivation-remote-control-outlets
@OldCatLady trying it out before installation makes great sense - even if it requires an extension cord to reach power. Ideally you'd have a 120volt recepticle installed up there where one end of the strip/strips are. And that recepticle would be controlled by a wall switch/dimmer. Any decent electrician can run a wire like that pretty reasonably assuming there are no surprises. I'm not an electrician but it seems like a $150-300 install if nearby power with capacity is available. These things don't need much.
Got mine today 32ft has cracks in the white pvc spacer but not in the clear cover , 3sets of 3ft also have random cracks in the spacer . They are bright but can't leave them exposed with the visible cracks
@thismyusername yah, the warm whites sold out fairly early and then the longer lengths also sold out. (Not sure about the warm versions of the longer lengths tho.)
I got mine,and replaced the old, failing ropelights on my deck with them. All I can say is "wow, these are Bright". I'm glad they are supposed to be dimmable, because I'm pretty sure the neighbors are gonna be cranky if I dont dim them somehow. They light up the deck like daylight.
There were questions above about the voltage of these. Just measured it - 108.2 volts DC.
That is measured on the light-strip end (the output) of the power cord. So it appears that bulge in the power cord is simply an inverter to covert AC to DC, with some corresponding voltage loss from 120 volts AC.
Thereby for folks hoping to wire these directly into existing 12 volt DC power supplies - do not do it!
On the other hand, connecting the LED strip itself to a 12 volt DC power supply probably won't cause any harm - the strip won't likely put out much light if it expects 108 volts DC!
@thismyusername Thanks for the tip! I got an email from Meh shortly after my post saying that they oversold the bright white 32' strings and had to confirm what I wanted to do with my order. Hope nobody else was [un]lucky enough to have the same issue!
Dang I wish I ordered more now. I plugged in a 1m of bright white just to see and its much brighter and more awesome then expected especially with the low wattage use.
Getting them ran and plugged into sockets controlled via a switch or dimmer is another issue and story entirely but when I get a new house soon they will be fun to place in random spots.
So I got them last night, and they are WAY brighter than expected which is great! However one of the three is "Warm White" (yellow) and another one flickers and strobes about a foot at each end. The third one has not been connected yet but I'm scared...
Just got these bad boys installed last night! In the second pic, they're dimmed to about 50%. They're nice and bright, and very even. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Sorry to be contrarian, but too bright. Needs dimming. Looks too commercial to my eye. Landscaping with its own lighting would give some depth and dimension. ...ducking now...
@RedOak totally agree, but I have very little landscaping (we rent). One thing I do like about this install, as opposed to up-lights, is that it is night sky friendly. As for brightness, the iPhone does what it wants to do. That picture isn't totally representative of what it looks like to the eye.
Mine arrived. And I don't remember everything I was going to use them for. I did it in 2 orders. So the one box I have down. But the other box is a bit of a mystery. I think they are all for Holiday lights, but I was thinking of some for under the counter. Where oh where is the little scrap of paper I used to do my calculations on ? I don't want to go back outside and remeasure the railings in the rain.
Does anyone know where I can find it or what was on it ?
@jaremelz Thank you goat. I appreciate your honesty. I would give you 2 stars if I could. Here have some more paper instead. Oh dear, are those bills ? oh well.
OMG SOOOOOO Bright. Like, way too bright. From the picture I expected the warm white to be useful to light my lounge up with some soft lighting. No way. This shit is insanely bright. I have no idea what I will use these for...
@homelesswarrior get a dimmer, and be careful, the insert says the plastic contains lead and to wash your hands after touching them. Or wear disposable, latex type gloves. Skin absorbs toxins.
Got mine today. Look great along my living room ceiling, but one has a defective section that flickers on and off. Emailed support, so hopefully they'll replace that one.
Reverse engineering the lump in the power cable. It is a full wave bridge rectifier.
AC goes in, pulsing DC comes out the other side. Here is my high tech testing apparatus:
For safety reasons, I am using 3 partially discharged AAA batteries and a low voltage LED array for these tests. You do not need to risk bodily harm by using a meter on a live 110 volt circuit. I did not do these tests at 110 volts.
My 4.2 volt power supply and LED array are from my DOA flashlight, as seen in my tear down https://meh.com/forum/topics/tear-down---ideaworks-multi-use-led-area-lights I soldered on red wires to the positive terminals and black wires to the negative terminals. Red to Red and Black to Black, the light lights brightly (despite the batteries not being fully charged).
I did my experimenting on a raised stool, which makes it easy to verify, that nothing was plugged into the wall. In the picture, you can see I stripped the ends of the red and black wires. I connected the power to the plug. I plugged the LED array into the DC connector. Trying red in the left side, and black in the right side, and vice versa. One way it lit (but not as brightly as before), one way it didn't light at all. LED lights are like that, if you get the polarity wrong, they don't light.
Then I swapped the red and black leads at the other end of the cord, and the light was lit both ways. That is what full wave bridge rectifiers do.
The light was dimmer, because there was only 2.8 volts at the LED array. The meter in the photo shows the voltage drop on half of the rectifier was 708 millivolts, which is 0.7 volts. I also measured the other half, and it was about the same. (At one point it showed 666 millivolts, but I was too slow with the camera.) 4.2 volts minus about 0.7 volts twice is 2.8 volts, which gives the dim light in the picture.
When used as intended, a 1.4 volt voltage drop will not be significant. 110 volts minus 1.4 volts is 108.6 volts, which is not a significant change in brightness. It is just as correct to refer to standard AC voltage as 117 volts or 125 volts, or any other value in that general area. I chose 110 volts so it would match what @RedOak measured.
Stop reading now, unless you like diode trivia. A voltage drop of 0.7 volts tells us they used a generic silicon power diode. Diode voltage drop varies with current and temperature. There is also a voltage drop across the contacts made between my bent wires jammed into the connectors. Those aspects combined with the lack of quality of my meter, means that the measured voltage drop varies significantly over time.
@hamjudo I bow to your much more sophisticated test procedures. Surely much safer than my plug-it-into-the-wall rig:
Interesting - that reading is a bit down vs. previously - aha, the 120 VAC line is down a bit: (Honey, did we just start a load of laundry?)
BTW, we normally have a full 120 VAC on both sides of the 240 VAC feed from the utility. As the utility guys were replacing several of the lines in our neighborhood I innocently asked them "should I be reading 120 VAC on both sides - I'm off by 2 volts on one side?" They made it happen.
120 VAC doesn't really hurt that much as long as you are not locked into it like standing in a tub of water.
@hamjudo I couldn't help myself. I didn't understand a thing you wrote and yet I didn't stop when you said "stop". I read about diodes anyways. I'm a crazy rebel sometimes. Congratulations on your experiment, whatever it may mean.
@jzmacdaddy Of course it can with enough current and no exit for you. Perhaps you took the in passing comment a bit too seriously. One wonders whether you've accidentally touched a live 120 volt circuit yourself.
BTW, many electricians don't even bother to shut off a 120 volt circuit to change out a receptacle.
Bought a bunch, sadly two (46' and 6.6') were defective :( The 46' had multiple sections flickering off, the 6.6' was just flickering dimmer a bit. Sent a support request. Besides those, I really like the others! Hopefully they will hold up!
I bought some of these hoping to set up a fake sunrise kind of thing where the lights gradually un-dim for about 30 minutes to gently wake me up. I haven't found an off the shelf timer+dimmer, so maybe I need to learn arduino. Anybody have ideas? I don't know if it's better to put that at the ac level, or DC after the inverter.
@ComputerGames Dim the AC, most AC dimmers will just work. In normal operation, the peak voltage on the pulsed DC side is the square root of 2 times the incoming AC voltage. For 125 volts, the routine peak voltage will be 177 volts. The voltage rectifier doesn't do anything to suppress line noise, so your electronics should be prepared for the occasional 200 volt or higher spike.
Google computer controlled light dimmer to see a variety of AC options.
I'm all in favor of people learning how to use an Arduino, so this could be your learning project. The Arduino won't be the cheapest, smallest, or most convenient option, but it will be a great learning experience. There are a lot of Arduino controlled AC dimmer examples on the web. For an even more complex approach, you can use a Raspberry Pi.
@ComputerGames If you have a Microcenter nearby, they carry a pretty good supply of Arduino kits and accessories at reasonable prices. Just started goofing around with them with my son who has been using them on his robotics competition team.
Certainly far from expert, but you might find using those cheap eBay Chinese-sourced (choose a well-rated seller) LED strips a better match since they are available in both USB (5VDC) and 12 VDC.
@ComputerGames I already do that with my SmartThings home automation setup. So if you don't want to get your hands dirty, you'll need a hub ($99), a dimmer switch ($35), and smartphone, iOS or Android. I put a 19' rope light under my bed, and every morning, I have it undim in about 30 minutes. Works great.
Here's a dimmer with a remote that will work with these lights: The Lutron - PD-3PCL (here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Lutron-PD-3PCL-WH-Wireless-300-watt-Plug-In/dp/B00KHSXB60) From talking with a professional electrician, the reference to ELV dimmers is a red herring. You don't need an ELV dimmer in this case.
My 5 sets arrived, but one did not have the mounting clips or screws :-( Wrote to customer service, so we'll see what happens. I have never had to before, and heard good things.
OK -- So, I ordered a LOT of these lights. So far, every single one > 6 ft has had at least one full section that blinks on and off. I think there's a serious QC issue at play here.
Do we contact manufacturer? Where do we contact manufacturer? I'm moving into a new house this weekend, and am currently using the defective lights to light up rooms that don't have built-in overhead lighting :|
@eblade Looks like the warranty on these is through mediocre itself. Send a message to meh.com/support and let them know that you have the worst luck of anyone in this thread. It'll take a business day or two to hear back, so please be patient.
For future reference, the warranty info is always included in the first post on any product thread, with all of the product specs and information.
@Thumperchick cool deal. I've never had to look for meh warranty information before, so .. this is a first. I don't know about worst luck, other people are complaining about the lights being pretty poor QC also.
.. total aside, you aren't from Michigan, are you? I knew a lady that went by the name "thumperchick" a LOT of years ago.
Please be careful. The insert says the plastic contains lead and to wash your hands after handling them. Please keep them away from children and animals that chew wires.
Weird. I bought a bunch of these. It seems that the shipping guys decided that my color choices were just "suggestions". Number of packages, and sizes were accurate, but Warm White and White are random. Off to write a very polite, but mildly irritated email to meh.com/support .
Note: "Weird" because Mediocre Labs usually over-achieves with shipping. Except for the exploding mugs debacle. And the time it takes. And the lack of tape. And dunnage.
So far I've only mounted a 20' strand under my cabinets and it has 2 sections that blink on and off sporadically. I'll have to get the 50' ones rolled out somewhere and see if they're any better. The overall brightness is impressive, but it is a bit tempered by the reliability factor. The individual LEDs might last 35,000 hours, but the power delivery circuits might not be up to it.
@kuoh if you look closely (I have 2 6 foots that did this) I think you will see the ribbon is broken inside there, contact support (from your orders page) they will fix it for you.
What about the smell? Wow...they smell bad. I have these installed in a trey ceiling in my bedroom. After 2 days I still smell them. Plus I emailed meh too... I have flickering sections. Ugh...otherwise...these really are awesome!!!!! My bedroom looks really high end now at night...and these are much better than turning on a lamp when the dog has to go out in the middle of the night. I have these connected to a Belkin wemo and my echo so I just say the magic words and these puppies light up the night!
I purchased 5 45ft sections of these lights. I have one of these on my front porch, and it is so bright, it is like Jesus comes down form heaven and stands on my porch at night.
I think if I put up the rest, the neighbors will complain. I am officially Clark W. Grizwald, and I love it. Sorry neighbors.
Same problem with one that, after a week of being plugged in, suddenly started flickering half the yard strand. I'm going to try plugging in all the other ones I got and check for defects too, and emailed support just now, but I have a feeling that's going to limit what I end up doing with these. I actually REALLY like the brightness on the bright white, it makes me feel like it's sunny and summery on grey fall days.
So, after maybe 10 nights of having these turned on on our lake house deck, they died last night. How did everyone else do with requests to customer service? We were so in love with these lights. Totally bummed now.
@winegeek They replaced my defective ones, but at this price they only had a 90 day meh warranty (no mfg warranty). I fear you are out of that 90 day window (unless you bought them in the Jan offering and are replying to the wrong product thread).
Since they all died it makes me wonder if the power cord thinger has popped a fuse, or failed... if you have another set try the power cord thinger from the working set on the failed set and see if they light up... then you know you just need to get a new comparable power cord thinger (or replace the fuse).
Specs
Condition: New
Warranty: 90 Day Mediocre
Estimated Delivery: 10/27 - 10/29
Shipping: $5 or free with VMP
What’s in the Box?
1x LED Tape-rope hybrid
1x Power cord
1x Bundle of mounting clips and screws
Pictures
Two color temperatures
Warm white long strand
Bright white long strand
Bright white
Warm white
Warm white short strand
Bright white long strand
Meh
Price Comparison
$33.74 - $365.99 List, $14.16 - $69.99 at Amazon for Warm White
$33.74 - $365.99 List, $17.70 - $114.23 at Amazon for Bright White
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a comment in this thread
Estimated Delivery
Monday, January 28th - Monday, February 4th
Bright idea
@AttyVette will i ever be first?
@AttyVette What led you to that conclusion?
@AttyVette Get the rope!
@AttyVette Now they're just stringing us along.
@AttyVette - Got 2 ropes! :-)
I should have gotten lit and said "fuck meh" tonight.
@jaremelz you know who to blame, right?
@nadroj
ahhh... seems you do
@jaremelz - Glare ಠ_ಠ
@nadroj
@nadroj
@KDemo You're barking up the wrong tree...
@jaremelz - Illuminating, but I'm still in the woods.
@KDemo I've got a bright idea, owl be keeping an eye open for you.
@snapster and you save money buying a smaller pumpkin as well!
Light years ahead I'd say
Umm...why? I should have gone to bed early tonight.
hmm... I may have to get these...
Someone needs to tell the copywriters that "contractor grade" isn't a compliment.
@saodell It is for lighting products
@saodell but it sounds so professional!
what an illuminating offer...
Christmas lights in a tube. What will they think of next?
@nadroj Christmas tree in a tube.
@mcanavino light tubes on a Christmas tree.....oh wait.......
How long a strand do you get with a single-quantity purchase?
@ManiacClown you select the length you want from the drop down list on the order screen.
I wish it was the brighter 5050 LEDs...been wanting to mod my shop lights into led
@tightwad sams (and therefore probably costco) has some pretty bright shop/hood lamps for cheap, I almost bit but they have no diffusers on them. worth a look (I think they are clearing them out, so check the 'clear' shelf).
@tightwad I did and don't like it. It may just be the cheapo lights I got - but it's too direct, not nearly diffused enough. YMMV.
@thismyusername The Costco version (as usual) is better. They diffuse the light - you cannot see individual LEDs unlike the SAMs version. Replaced three of our shop lights so far - got tired of the florescent tubes prematurely burning out. Instant on baby!
@RedOak nice I'll swing by one next time I am near!
@RedOak I concurn on Costco, I have 3 or 4 up in my garage, great lighting provided by them.
@RedOak @pufferfishy @christoc How much were the Costco version? Are your referring to the whole 4' assembly or the bulbs? I saw them there on my last trip but didn't look too closely. How does the light output compare to a "normal" 4' fixture? I currently have 48' of double tube fluorescent lighting in my shop...
@tightwad the whole assembly is what I purchased, it wasn't more than buying the bulbs and converting existing units over to LED (I didn't have any existing units to start with anyways).
I got them about 9 months ago, for somewhere near $30 each I believe, haven't looked at pricing recently.
@tightwad @Pufferfishy @christoc yah, saw the tube only retrofit option. But they were something like $19 each.
I lucked out on the intro deal at Costco when they launched the full fixtures. Paid $31.99 in April.
Checked today, SAMs price for their non-defusing (120 bare LEDs) model is $35.98. 40 watt consumption, 4200 lumens, Lights of America. Closeup of the visible LED chips:
The Costco defused light (opaque lens) model is $34.99. 38 watt consumption, 3700 lumens, Feit Electric.
These would have really tricked out the attic for Anne . . . yeah, I better stop there.
@Pavlov I did nazi that joke coming.
@Pavlov that was in poor taste, frankly.
@Pavlov @Thumperchick @derpandabar You guys are turning my stomach with these tasteless jokes. I've been up all night with diary-a.
@Pavlov This was really out of mein kampfort zone.
@Pavlov Holocaust jokes on a daily buy website. Was reddit offline or something?
@dkat All I said was "Anne" and "attic" - wherever you sick fookers go with it, well, that's all on you.
I live in the KC area and travel frequently across the state - Anne's Attic is in Valley Center KS - and the owner occasionally buys online here.
http://www.yellowpages.com/valley-center-ks/mip/annes-attic-461716560
@Pavlov Ah, well. Always a matter of time until someone goes waah, stick up the ass and all. That camp should just concentrate on buying.
I don't strictly disagree with dkat's point; unfortunately I'm just feeling waay too contrary atm!
@derpandabar - the concentration camp comment of your's should win a prize - and @Pavlov is full of shit - he damn well knew what he was doing - I laughed my ass off just for the shit-storm it may have stirred - what gets me the most though is six full hours of his Valley Center, Kansas denial and no one even dares to call bullshit on him.
@jaremelz made me do it.
@justbuyit that's because it was funny...
@Pavlov It's what I do...
For some reason I really want some of these. The problem is I don't know what for, or which color is better, or how many since I don't know what for.
Do any of you know ?
@ceagee One of each is the only solution!
Better yet, two of each! Or three, even!
@ceagee behind a tv, under a desk, under the bed (if you could be able to see it) under kitchen anything lol. match the tone of white with what you got.
@pbretones Matching things is not a talent I possess.
@ceagee buy a travel trailer if you don't have one .. They will make cool outdoor lighting either on trailer itself or on ground area in front of door under awning ..
@pbretones I was just going to suggest behind a TV. I forgot that I have a strip of these stuck to the back of my TV. Since they are LED, they stay on 24/7.
@AttyVette Wow. Buy some lighting and see the world.
@ceagee We have custom built cabinets on our home theater wall. There are glass kickplates at the floor and overhangs above the gear/book shelves at the ceiling. Currently have incandescent back lighting but considering replacing some of it with these.
@ceagee As far as color goes, my experience has been than warm white is for if you want to be cozy and pleasant, and warm white is if you want to SEE WHAT YOU'RE FLIPPING DOING. In this context, don't stub your toe lights or effects like under the bed or whatnot want warm, and work lights in a kitchen or garage should be bright white. I'm not sure they're bright to be work lights, though.
@ceagee we have some in the alcove above our dining room and we also used some to wrap around our deck.
@ceagee I used these in a gun safe on a motion detector ... just in case!
You had me at "sex lighting".
@Trillian You know you only get the lights, right?
I outlined my entire 1100 sqft finished basement floor with a bright rope light. It was pretty sweet. When I sold the house, the new owner requested it stay.
But they aren't shaped like chili peppers? :-(
@njd Or Georgia Red.
Do these work in Hula-Hoops?
@mfladd She does...uh...extra-curricular activities too.
Just in case anyone was wondering.
@waiting for censoring in 3-2-1...................(banned?)
@Mac454 Oh, he's not posting this because he's clueless, haha. Well, he is...butt not about this.
@mfladd That baby definitely has back!
@mfladd
@Mac454 you mean her start at Burning Man, right? That is where she learned her hoop skills.
@venussuz
@mfladd I'm just going to back away from this. They might ban you yet.
You've really got yourself in a tight spot with this one.
@jaremelz Oh Shit! Not Double Secret Probation (I didn't even know about the first one)
@mfladd
Man she should try out for America Got Talent. Im sure Stern would love her. Maybe toss some bologna at that.
@mfladd Every so often people wonder what the big deal about Periscope is. They have not seen "hulahoopin Clementine" yet.
Anyone want to convince me on whether this is a good deal or not compared to the ones that ship direct from China?
@narfcake There's a much better chance you will get these ones actually delivered to your house.
@narfcake Yeah, I'm hoping these are somehow better - but then, they're not super expensive comparatively. And I've gotten some Chinese Christmas LEDs that were complete shit
@narfcake You can blame Meh or @Jaremelz if they don't work instead of nameless chinese government megacorp factory.
@duodec
@jaremelz What a cute puppy! Thank you for sharing!
@duodec I've had very little luck so far this month blaming anything on @jaremelz without something else going right at the same time.
@narfcake
@mfladd Thanking the scapegoat-of-the-month isn't something new. Yeah, shit still goes wrong, like I snagged my shirt yesterday, but seeing how it was an Anvil shirt and had holes anyway, it definitely wasn't blame worthy.
I dunno ... maybe if I blame @jaremelz more, then even more things will go right? Is that the issue?
@narfcake
@mfladd Hate to burst your bubble...
@narfcake You said, "Thanking the scapegoat-of-the-month isn't something new." So does that mean I have to thank @jaremelz for when one of the shotguns went off on it's own (one of them gravity finally got and it fell over and then one of them went off - no idea which one) and shot a hole in the roof (this is not my house - housesitting a cow farm and they did not tell me there were guns leaning against the wall by the back door nor that they were loaded) that I am required to blame him for the fact that it went off and blew a rather large hole in the roof and then am required to turn around and thank him that it missed me and all the animals inside and outside of the house?
@Kidsandliz Umm... well I'd have qualms about someone not telling a housesitter about that and making sure they were safed... they probably forgot, so tell them they need to have a word with that goat person... @jaremelz wasn't it? about making sure such things don't slip through the cracks.
Thank @mfladd nobody was hurt.
@Kidsandliz I'm relieved to hear no one was injured.
And @duodec, don't use @mfladd in that fashion, he'll get a big head and I'll have to put him down.
@jaremelz There is a second shot gun here you can use if you want. No idea if it is loaded or not and no idea how to tell - I am not messing with it. I gingerly took them both and put them on the floor in the master bath (aiming them out of the house) and shut the door. Duct taped the roof for now (hole there is the size of the palm of my hand, inside about the size of a quarter).
@duodec
@jaremelz Well I would have said something direct about @jaremelz effective responsibility in and for this situation but the last time I did something similar I got flipped off by a cute dog...
@duodec
Baby arm plugged in meh lights --it's "Meh-agic"!
I just bought way too many of these.
@DaveInSoCal Me too!: aquatic-decorative-bat
@DaveInSoCal [me too. Torrential-knobby-vulture]
@DaveInSoCal Me three! I've needed some patio lighting. yielding-rowdy-perch
minimalist-supreme-boron
I'm in. Been looking at this kind of lighting for a bit and this is a great excuse.
Warm white only though. Who the hell wants their house looking like a hospital room?
@Dash extra lighting for a workshop, holiday lights, craft room... so many options!
@Thumperchick Yup, we bought 2 45+ footers for our barn/garage/workshop/man and chick cave...
@Dash Agreed. Also, in my experience, "warm" led's are still much cooler than regular incandescence. I Bought warm even for those task lighting needs areas
Oh lord I would love to have like 3 sets of the 45 ft. length. They'd look rad around the edges of our rec room, but the timing is bad for the bank account. Dammit. Argh.
@Pony But Christmas is coming and you must entertain people. Go ahead. I won't tell anyone.
@Pony same here. We're both sitting here like, "damn - that looks super useful!" But our bank balance told us to calm the hell down.
Okay! Hubby got tired of listening to me fretting over it, and said to go ahead and order. Yay! Who needs to pay bills when you can have a mystical-maroon-manatee? :D
@Pony Nice order code!
@Pony rub it in with your super fancy lights! I see how it is.
@Thumperchick I sowwy. :(
Not sure how these will hold up under brutal Florida sun - but I gabbed some to light up my pool cage.
@Pufferfishy pool cage, which is to- to keep your pool from escaping? i am confuse
@fuddledumpers It's like a Thunderdome, but with more chaise lounges and potted plants.
(Florida has a lot of bugs, and liveoaks drop leaves CONSTANTLY - it's nice to keep both OUT of your pool)
@Pufferfishy I am thinking the same thing. I need to go measure the pool enclosure to see how much I will need. I'm thinking the warm color.
@Pufferfishy if you carefully hide them on the underside of the cage frame won't that help keep at least the direct sun off them?
Might need to pick up some exterior grade 3M double sided tape to stick them there if you don't want to drill. That's the way the cheapo direct from China strips arrive. (If they ever arrive!)
@RedOak Yeah - actually I have a nice overhang / soffet front that's mostly out of the sun, particularly when it's blazing....
A "corrected" (as in - as corrected as it can get) image of my pool cage shot with an 8mm fisheye.....
How distored is that? Well - the pool is about 18 feet long and that back "wall" is about 65.....
spiffy-thrilling-rat
ordered a bunch and hoping i can find a use for it in my new home
@eblade Under- and In- cabinet lighting is a great place to start
@Pufferfishy ugh do i need to order a bunch more small ones or can the long ones be split up i wonder...
@eblade For the price I just got multiples.
I bought the warm white lights and got burnt-ungracious-orange. Oh, Meh. You've done it again.
@JustKen hook em?
@nadroj Yep. Bought two 45' strands. One for permanent installation on the deck of our vacation place, and the other for hook & other configs. Ran off a dimmer, I bet we could get something interesting at night.
Had a pickle of a time getting my billing address to get validated. Googled swapping my address lines and that worked apparently. Never had that issue on Meh before. In for 32ft bright white and 6+13ft warm white. Keep selling me lights, I'll find something for them eventually.
@neshcom you're not the first to have to swap lines like that. Glad you were able to figure it out!
think these would work for growing tomatoes? also, i feel the need to buy them but have no idea what i would do with them...
@squib Not very well - wrong parts of the spectrum
@squib you would need blue and red LEDs with very specific wavelengths. These may have the required wavelengths, but odds are they will have a bunch of others you don't need, which would waste a ton of electricity.
@squib
If by "growing tomatoes" you mean "providing ambient light so you don't trip over a rake while you are night watering," then yes
holy-grave-pastry can only mean one thing: King Arthur Flour, which is just across the river from me!
@mhuyck Oh, I miss Norwich so much. And Dan and Whit's. Meanwhile, here's tender-earthy-experience.
@madamehardy I miss Waggy's Wine Rack...kind of a precursor to Two-Buck-Chucks but back in the 80's.
@madamehardy Norwich might also qualify as a tender-earthy-experience. :-)
This shit is flying off the shelves!!
Can anyone recommend a dimmer they've used outdoors??
Is this the type of light tape that you can cut at specific points?
@tizio I would say no. However, you can buy custom lengths when ordering, if that would work for you.
@tizio American Lighting's instruction sheet for these light strips says only change the length by adding more strips and throw out any strips with damaged PVC insulation. These "line voltage kits are economical - no drivers needed" which means the full 120V courses through their veins; no wimpy 12V here - touching bare metal in these ropes will put YOU on the ropes!
@tizio These ropes are organized in 3.3' segments, so they could be shortened. Just be sure to properly insulate the cut end.
@tizio
No. I just called American Lighting. Cutting voids the warranty and is considered unsafe. This is a discontinued older model, but their new one can be cut every 18 inches.
@tizio You can surely cut them wherever you like. The real question is: will they still work? Sounds as if that's a no, unless you're an electrician and you can rewire them. :-)
I think the Meh staff are going to hate me. I just bought the 3 foot length for three dollars. I'm going to test it out, if I like it, I'm going to hope that they list this again in the future, so I can buy more. So, sorry meh. I feel you, dog.
@MightyPipsqueek what do you think this stuff is? speaker docks?
@thismyusername Rope lights: the new speaker docks 🐀
@MightyPipsqueek
Just got an email saying they have 138 miles of this. So, yes, it's the new speaker dock. Get ready for R/THLS!
@MightyPipsqueek
I fear you are correct...
@thismyusername if my math is correct and assuming they are averaging 20 feet per item (averaging all the lengths), they have only sold about a third of the roughly 36,000 units they have. We get at least a few more days of these. I am helping to avoid that though, I ordered 9 sets myself, or should I say 242 feet...
Dumb-Pushy-Glue. Its nice to find the longer lengths of this stuff at a decent price.
ripe-delerious-society
Mediocrebot needs his spellcheck dictionary updated
Alas, the 3.3 foot in warm light version is sold out. That was the size we needed.
@RedOak Buy the 6.6', cut off the excess and cap the cut end with electrician's tape. Or wrap it around the area so you have a double row.
@OldCatLady please do not cut these.
@Thumperchick I won't. Somebody else can, like a MacGyver wannabe. I just give bad advice and provide pretty pictures.
What is the voltage on the strand? Is it 12V?
Please say it's 12Volts. I have 12V wired in my house already (partially, at least).
Theses are water resistant?
@G1 per the spec sheet, they are indoor/outdoor - "c/ETL/us, suitable for wet locations"
http://www.americanlighting.com/assets/cutsheet_tape-rope_hybrid.pdf
No mention on their product page or the spec sheet what voltage the power cord inverter puts out. 12 volts would be a good guess, but it would be just that, a guess. (Most of the China-sourced strips connect directly to 12 volts DC unless they have USB connectors.)
http://www.americanlighting.com/tape-rope-hybrid.html
@G1 @RedOak My morning math says 1.45w/foot * 105' max = 152.25 watts/1.6 amps = approx. 95v. If I had to guess, the way each segment (0.5m) is constructed is with 30 LEDs in series, as the forward voltage on white LEDs is typically in the 3.0- 3.4v range.
@G1 Shockingly, it appears to be 120V DC. American Lighting's cut sheet explains that these "line voltage kits are economical - no drivers required" and then explains that the voltage is "120V, 60Hz AC (1.6A inverter on cord converts AC to DC for LEDs)".
@mwarren i HIGHLY doubt that they would use 120 Vdc. You could not use an Electronic Low Voltage dimmer if it was 120 Vdc. (just to start with)
Any Mediocre employmehs feel like taking a look at the writing on the rectifier?? They've gotta be labled...
@G1 Electronic Low Voltage dimmers are also known as reverse phase dimmers. 120 volt AC in, up to 100% of the 120 volt AC out. It dims by dropping the trailing portion of each half cycle. A common switching power supply design dims without making a horrible buzzing sound, when fed that kind of waveform. http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Education-Training/Pages/LCE/DimmingBasics.aspx
With a few extra parts, switching power supplies can be designed to work quietly and still dim on a dimmer designed in 1977. They cost more.
An even more common switching power supply won't support dimming at all. It will keep the brightness the same until it suddenly stops working at all, or worse, flashes in an annoying way. This was a common operating mode for some early LED light AC power supplies.
I also want to see pictures of the labels on the power supply.
@G1 Meh's picture of the bright/warm color difference shows the light strip's are marked "120V"
@G1 @mwarran see: (below) 108.2 volts DC measured at the power cord output.
https://meh.com/forum/topics/american-lighting-led-ropetape-hybrid-lights#562fc66b8e893eec09e3704e
@hamjudo
I have a friend who is a professional electrician and he has been in contact with the engineers at American Lighting. So far he not gotten consistent answers from them regarding a dimmer and his current thought is that an ELV dimmer is not what should be used in this case. He is experimenting with one of the shorter strands that I purchased and I will update this thread when I know something definitive.
-Charles
How long is the power cord? Trying to light underside of bar, hoping I can get the 13 footer and cover the majority of the 15 ft run (going up a size to 19 leaves excess). Outlet's only about a foot away.
@MehAmphetamine according to the American Lighting page, the power cord is 5 feet long (same model number shown):
http://www.americanlighting.com/tape-rope-hybrid.html
@RedOak sweet! Putting in my order now
Bought several sizes because I might need them at some point. Maybe if we buy a new couch, then maybe I'll build a behind the couch shelf, then maybe I'll want it lit, THEN I will have a use for these.
Oh well- In for 60 bucks worth of unarmed-rocky-flag.
@mkacid Good planning. You never know, right? In the meantime you can have some fun putting them in various odd places around the house.
If you don't like messing with individual clips to mount the stips, a clear track is available. Google the part number: 120-TL-TRACK-4
There are also 3, 6, and 15 foot jumper cables if you need to spread the strips out. 120-TL-JUMP-3, 120-TL-JUMP-6, 120-TL-JUMP-15.
Very cool to share those, @RedOak thanks!
@RedOak lol - cheaper to buy more lights and use them as an extender...
American Lighting's instructions & safety sheet for their 120-TL60 rope lights.
@mwarren Quality po... oh.
Baby Arm.
ornate-cowardly-bird
Hopefully I will catch me a ravishing-flighty-eye after I adorn my almost exacty 45.9' bedroom with the warm white ones.
Also got a 3.3' bright white just to test.
I wish I could forget you meh.
sneaky-formal-shake
I'm not entirely sure why I'm getting this.
@mistamoose Hopefully enlightenment will come
rousing-hypnotic-substance
More than what I bargained for!
Impulse purchasing lighting at 3 in the morning. Nothing could go wrong with this right?
unguarded-unnatural-gin
I kind of really want to get some, but I don't have an application in mind so they'd probably just sit in the corner.
I can probably find a use for 20 feet of LED lights.
pertinent-yippy-existence
YES MORE WEIRD SHIT FROM MEH
I love this deal
YESSSSSS WEIRD SHIT MAKING ALL SORTS OF MONEY ON MEH WOOOO
I've been waiting for LED rope lights like this to be cheap enough so that if I screw them up, I didn't waste too much money. Might figure out a way to brighten up my dark bathroom.
In for 19' of soft white. Couldn't figure out a use when I got them but impulse buy! Now I think I'll install it under my baby crib for soft, indirect lighting. Hope that's a safe plan. Blergh
Edit: I'll put them in the closet so I can see at 2am without turning on the light. Score
@jbrookebarrow does your local building code allow electrical outlets in a closet?
I know ours doesn't.
@bakerzdosen Nope. But the contractor who remodeled our house before we bought it built a closet into a bedroom and right around an outlet, so I suppose it didn't set off too many alarms during the inspection.
@jbrookebarrow
not here to tell you what to do, but perhaps putting discontinued low end lights under your infant child crib might not be the place you want to save a few bucks.
@squib In all reality, they're probably going around the ceiling of my porch. The baby can save his money to buy his own damn rope lights.
Well, as someone whose new house will be finished in the next month and has planned on adding LED light strips in several places (including exterior Christmas lighting) this is somewhat of a no brainer.
My only debate now is whether to buy more...
Ironic that I'd receive my first non-newsletter coaxing me to buy something hours after my first meh purchase in a month or two...
@bakerzdosen Load up on them if you can - I ended up getting ~850 feet worth. My wife is gonna kill me.
@blcarson holy crap - now I don't feel so bad with my paltry 3 orders totaling 83 feet.... but I can't shake the urge to order more...
@blcarson I wish I’d have listened to this advice and ordered more. A small section (1 ft?) of my 45ft (“permanently mounted”) rope on the front of my house is now significantly dimmer (like, at 10% vs 100%) than the rest of the tape.
I paid $22 for that 45ft rope, but to buy the same thing, but current model, will cost $300 now. Ugh.
If I knew they were 12v I would wire them in the bed of my truck to add more light...
@StrangerDanger Not 12v by my math posted elsewhere in this thread.
@StrangerDanger If you're wiring up LED lights in the bed of the truck, a permanently installed 120 VAC inverter wouldn't be that much more effort!
@flynnski That'd be inefficient and would negate the cost savings of buying these.
@narfcake It's certainly more efficient and cost-effective than buying full-priced 120 VAC LED strips and attempting to plug them directly into vehicle power.
@flynnski I don't see any gains in energy efficiency there; the loss is from 12v DC to 120v AC. Cost effectiveness is having to buy an inverter for these lights (plus the cost of the lights) versus just buying lights that are designed for 12v use in the first place.
Are those cut to length? Can I buy a longer one and cut into sections and hook them up individually?
@Jersey
Officially, no
If I buy a longer length, can I chop it up into sections or is that not how this works
@jd No they're not adjustable - would have to buy a smaller strip to fit.
A thought based upon learning the hard way... If you plan to install the included clips in an outside/wet location, consider replacing the included screws with stainless steel screws.
I'm betting the included screws are some kind of plated steel. Rust. If outside/wet over time.
These will be excellent upgrades to the older style rope lights we use in our crawlspace!
@johneed Beware the man that has mood lighting in his crawlspace.
I don't understand the photo of the stairs. How are all of those rope lights plugged in?
@mamajoan hardwired. No plugs.
@RedOak Hardwired to what? It says in the product specs, "plug into any wall outlet."
@mamajoan They're hard wired into the electrical of the house. More than likely to a light switch or photo cell. That is a professional installation done by a professional and not a DIY.
@mamajoan Those were almost certainly installed while the stairs were being built, with the electrical lines going behind the risers and connected under the stairs.
@Bogie @Tipop OK, thanks for clarifying. The description is pretty misleading, saying "Just unroll the lighting strip, screw in a few clips, plug it in" but then showing pictures of hardwired installations.
@mamajoan I think their goal with the pictures was to answer the question of "What are rope lights actually used for outside of college dorm rooms?".
In for way, way, way too many light strips.
Question: Could these be used to lay on the ground outside (patio)? Asking for mother-n-law. I know they're "outdoor" but would they get too wet on the ground?
@Jpuck71 I wouldn't. At a minimum a trip hazard. But no matter which light ropes you use, there would be durability issues. And note the power cords carry 120 volts so at a minimum you'd need to protect that portion from electrocution risks.
@RedOak Thanks for the reply. We agree. Just needed verification for the m-i-l. Know what i mean?
@Jpuck71 MILs know everything, right? ;-) Love 'em anyway.
@Jpuck71 I think the real answer depends on this question: Do you like your mother-in-law?
I got these same American Lighting light ropes before and had them fail after less than a year. Maybe I just got a bad batch but, still. Fool me once, shame on shame on can't get fooled again.
After 12 years, my kitchen counters will be visible. Indecisive as always, I got three different orders because I kept thinking up additional places to put them. The order name generator seems determined to annoy me lately, so my lucrative-pristine-earwig (yeah, no way), woeful-bipedal-hedgehog (yech, double yech) and unruly-buttoned-home (it got nothin') look like this:
@OldCatLady Wow
@OldCatLady You having a midlife crisis?
@Kidsandliz Nope, if the order generator assigns me something unlovely, I substitute an image of my choice. The generator deliberately messes with me all the time. I know that. I mean, icy-exclusive-stove? Omnipotent-wormy-warlord? Unsafe-rabid-bee? It's persecution, I tell you.
@OldCatLady Wait until it gives you cat-kills-lady or dog-ate-cat
These will go great around the edges of my convenient store windows!
@phatmass consider mounting them in a way that indirectly lights so the strips themselves are not visible. Might require some figuring. Classier.
So looking forward to my Halloween costume now that I have these lights!
@mattupp Halloween 2016, right?
@mattupp Good luck adding a 120VAC power source to your costume!
@n8guy One year I went dressed as a compact fluorescent light bulb. I put a 120 VAC rope light (this was long ago, so incandescent) into a translucent white drier vent (plastic drier vents, not safe for driers, okay for costumes). The drier vent was connected to a hat made of cardboard and foam with an aluminum foil coating, so it looked like a light socket. The drier vent went next to my face, then wrapped around my torso, between the legs, wrapped a few more times and up to the socket on my head.
I had a 12 volt, 7 amp hour gel cell battery hooked to a belt, as well as an inverter to make 120 VAC. I had spare batteries.
It was plenty bright, and lit up the street pretty well as we escorted the kids as they trick or treated. I couldn't see so well, because I stupidly had lights shining on my face.
These LED strips won't use nearly as much power.
offensive-frightening-rosemary. My second wife! How could Meh have known. You know my personal information was just stolen...again. This time including my fingerprints and probably DNA. It is a bit comforting to imagine it has been Meh behind the identity thefts the whole time and not China! Wait a minute...most of this Meh crap is probably from China! What's going on here? I'm not paranoid, I'm not paranoid.
I kinda want to get these to light up my bike but it sounds like a bad idea, somebody tell me it's a bad idea pls
@Lotsofgoats It's a bad idea, how would you power them? If you want to light up your bike, look into El wire. It can run off of battery packs and looks pretty nice. it can break easily if you pinch the wire, but the prices have dropped a lot on them in the last couple years, so it's not as much of a costly mistake as it used to be.
@Lotsofgoats I had some EL wire on my bike at one point, looked kinda dumb in the end. I vote bad idea.
@Lotsofgoats
@Bogie @Reaverbeaver I actually just bought some EL wire and will notify you about how derp it looks. It probably won't last very long, either, since I ride a Brompton and will be constantly creasing and uncreasing the poor defenseless little wires :(
@Lotsofgoats There are plenty of other more colorful options if you really want to light up your ride.
http://www.gearbest.com/cycling-gear/pp_196995.html
KuoH
@kuoh problem is that my bike has itty bitty wheels so nobody makes accessories for them, and if they do they charge all the monies D:
California is going to be the dopest.
Why do I buy these things? Fuck. I hope they come in handy to light the kitchen.
@j8erg Cheap under cabinet kitchen and garage lighting were the reasons I decided to try these out. If they don't work out, at least the niece and nephews will have some nice decorative lighting for their rooms.
KuoH
@hollboll @moose I feel like we are gonna need to have a forum contest with these lights to see what kinds of things people can do with them.
@MEHcus OH MY GOD, YES! I was totally gonna create that thread, but a Meh sponsored contest makes it that much better!
And with the added benefit of potential "eventual" prizes!
@studerc Mehventually!
@studerc You mean for everyone but you, right?
@MEHcus I already have what I'm going to use it for. I should have gotten the next side up but oh well. What is the power usage on the new version of these? I had been using a string of Christmas lights for their low power usage.
edit* I guess I'm just fucking lazy as that was posted also. I wish the accessories were on sale too so we could string 2 strands together.
@MEHcus But of course!
@MEHcus I would just like to know who bought the most - someone stated above they bought ~850 feet....
@Pufferfishy "First person to buy 1mile of rope lighting: "
I wish the product breakdown was by warm white vs. crazy people instead.
@brhfl I prefer bright to warm everyday
@sohmageek I'm just teasing… I honestly am not fond of cooler temp lighting, but I do understand why people are drawn to it.
Not teasing that color temp is the breakdown that would be far more interesting to me, though.
@sohmageek - I'm with you 100%... Whole house is lit at 4500K for general lighting, with a few lamps that vary, depending on the needs. For example, the home theatre backlighting (bias lighting) is at about 6000K (give or take a couple hundred, since there was variance in the ropes), and my workbench runs at 5500K.
Call me crazy if you'd like, but none of the waxy, yellow light for me! I will reserve that for creepy, poorly lit street lamps, and classic cars' headlights.
Yet another idea for using these, especially since @RedOak very kindly found the connectors , clear plastic mounting strips etc. My library will finally be lit, so we won't have to wander around with candles and lanterns. My hospitable-soaked-goat looks very nice, doesn't she, @jaremelz? I'm always suspicious when the order generator actually gives me something pleasant.
@OldCatLady Library... or the kids' tree fort?
KuoH
@OldCatLady Awww, I love it!
I was planning on skipping this sale, then I started thinking how great an overhead light this would make for my workbench.
So, 2 3.3' and 1 6.6' for me.
yielding-voidable-burrito
Taking bets on what time sales will reach 10,000. I say before 11:00 am Pacific.
@KDemo - 10150 at 11:00 am. Can't help wondering if @JonT would have given some of these away? 13' plus 3' to be specific?
Not as cheap as this I found about two seconds after buying on Meh.
$9 for 18 ft http://www.dealgenius.com/led-18-white-rope-light-indoor-or-outdoor-accent-lighting.html
@bruno187- Are those the inferior ones mentioned in the write-up?
@bruno187 The pictures and length suggest that dealgenius is selling one of American Lighting's incandescent light ropes.
@mwarren It says LED
@KDemo Looks like the same ones.
so i see there's an AC plug but, does anyone know if there's an on / off switch or is it more of a plug / unplug situation going on?
@Terrence, that's what she said!
@terrence - Generally, this will be a plug/unplug situation. The exception is if you have a few outlets wired to a regular light switch (or some other switch). I installed a light switch in my kitchen to control the under-cabinet lighting, since it runs off the outlet up above the ventilation hood over the stovetop. Depending on your house's age and wiring, this could be an easy job if you know some relatively basic electrician things. HOWEVER, be careful before even thinking about tinkering if you do not know about how your house is wired. It may be pretty, but not worth dying over ;) There are a few other ways to make it work - see the link below.
A similar setup in my house is in the living room, where the house was pre-installed with two outlets, presumably for standing lamps, wired to a switch right next to the main chandelier switch. Instead of that, I use the first switch to power two small LED lamps for end tables, and about 75' of LED rope (probably more of the "inferior stuff" mentioned by others). The extended run creates a halo around and behind my entertainment center, including a bunch directly behind the TV. To the AV uninitiated, this is called 'bias lighting', which looks cool, is much healthier for your eyes than staring at a glaringly bright screen in complete darkness, and actually improves your perceived image quality SIGNIFICANTLY. It has to be bright white for this usage (between 5000-6500K minimum) for this to work well and not cause distraction. So now my living room has one switch for main lighting, and one for home theatre lighting. Worth the time, if you can make it work, IMHO. I do custom home theatre installations and calibration here and there, so I've done this for a few folks. Some, who did not have switches wired for this, we were able to make work by using other outlet remotes (like http://amzn.com/B00DQ2KGNK), and those can be tied to universal remotes, like Logitech Harmony remotes.
Hope that helps - Cheers!
@terrence - Hope I'm not pestering.
Here is a picture that I quickly took of the home theatre lighting. The camera on the iPad was hardly ideal, but it's what I had on hand. I ran LED rope from the bottom left corner, up, across, down, then all the way back along the same route. From there, it is enclosed in nylon sheathing to prevent tons of light leaking as it runs from the bottom left corner to the TV stand and up - Then it wraps around the TV's VESA mount to create a stronger central bias light.
All of this, and the end table lamps (you can see the reflection of one on the blank TV screen) are hooked to a light switch right next to the main room lighting switch. For 3D we turn off the lamps by hand to prevent glare.
http://imgur.com/l1nqZjy
@arosiriak just a heads up that might be useful in the future, if you link using the .jpg link the picture shows up in the thread. Like this: (just replace comma with a period) http://i.imgur.com/l1nqZjy,jpg
@arosiriak def not pestering - i sincerely appreciate the level of effort and detail.
i don't want to mess with any electrical stuffs and really just wanted to know if i got this and hooked it up if it'd need to be a thing where it was always on because of course its kind of silly to always have that rope light on in many scenarios and the unplugging is just as annoying as having to plug something in every time.
the remote link you provided gives me something to think about.
thanks for your responses!
@arosiriak I've drastically reworked my planned use of the lights I bought, based on your suggestions. Now I wish I'd bought more, but these will keep me occupied for awhile. Thanks so much for sharing your expertise.
@arosiriak Yes, thank you so much for your info! I've shown my husband and he's excited to try this.
Too late... All the lengths above 13' in the bright white are gone. Would have been all over these had I seen them earlier, but now it's officially fallen to meh.
Just ordered some for a friend. Little weary of the order phrase: frightening-daunting-part
No purple. No sale.
@Barney - Occasionally Wallyworld will have some that allow colour choices (or in my case, bright white ended up being more purple one time - That required an immediate return). They are going to be of a completely different grade though; Much closer to 8-10 LEDs/foot, but similarly priced.
@arosiriak You... You... You returned purple?
@Barney - Umm... Yes...? Not that I don't like purple; It's just that white should not be purple, and vice versa. I reserve purple for other rooms ;)
@arosiriak You make it sound like the black/blue/white/gold dress. Now I can't wait to see what color I think my warm and bright whites look like.
@Barney You could just wear purple tinted glasses..
@caffeineguy Ha! Who says I don't?
Can these be trimmed to size?
@neveraging - These are of a fixed size. Typically the more tape-style ropes can be trimmed at specific points, but these cannot. These are a more heavy-duty grade, so their wiring does not allow for cutting, but they do have the ability to be spaced with jumpers, which you can find pictured/mentioned above.
@neveraging Nope.
@arosiriak I realize that cutting them voids the warranty, but I also realize that the 'what could possibly go wrong' crowd is going to snip and crimp or wrap the ends. Follow up ought to be fun.
@OldCatLady Yup and we will need pics
@Kidsandliz @arosiriak So far, all of my light strands have been good end to end. If someone sends me a broken one, I would be willing to cut one open, take some pictures, and show whats inside.
The wires inside pulse up to an unhealthy 177 volts DC. I don't think I would want to use it after the autopsy.
Why oh why won't you ship to Canada! I have a dire need for these lights......
@Raymien
I am kidding!!!!!!!
@mfladd Blame Canada for whatever you'd like, I still want delivery, not digiorno.
@Raymien do you have any friends just south (or north if you're in Windsor) of the border? Could be handy.
@RedOak Friends and relatives, but not close enough, and far too infrequent visitors. :(
@RedOak I should do that... Figure out how much to ship it would be... then get them to order through me as a forwarder... and drive it over to Montreal and ship it out... too much work... and would depend on the roa... I think I need to run the numbers, and check laws on it...
@sohmageek Yah. Lots of work. Could do the same Here via Sarnia or Windsor. And used to frequently drive to Toronto and thru Canada as a shortcut to Ithaca NY.
But the big reason I'd never try that? Ball busting Canadian border agents. Or should I say, "Ministry of Labour" agents. If I were on the fence about locating a business in Canada, their over-protective labor policing at the border would tip the scale to 'no thank you'.
I need help getting my order through...we are a cash strapped non-profit main Stret program and are geeked at the chance to light downtown (and save energy) in beautiful warm LED lights this Holiday season, but I cant get it to validate our billing address...Help please.
@NilesMainStreet Try submitting a request via: https://meh.com/support They're pretty quick at getting back to people.
Also @MEHcus @hollboll @moose @thumperchick @Ihavenoideawhohandlesthisstuff No idea if any of you can help, but figured one of you might be able to assist.
@NilesMainStreet I did submit via support---no answer back yet
@NilesMainStreet You have two street address lines? If so try swapping them. Maybe even if not, I'm not sure when that validation error does/doesn't rear its head. But I would guess line 1 is mandatory. Anyway try swapping those, seem to remember that being a thing that caused a problem before.
@NilesMainStreet Someone earlier in this thread mentioned something about Google swapping the address lines. Not sure if that has anything to do with the issue you are experiencing, but figured I would mention it. Good luck - hope you get your order in! :)
@kathyl I tried...no luck
@brhfl tried...failed :(
@NilesMainStreet we got a few more messages than normal today, hang tight and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. :)
@NilesMainStreet I GOT IT...they use our PO Box in the billing address :) Thanks everyone for the help!
@NilesMainStreet Yay!
@NilesMainStreet Glad to hear. Thanks for the update.
Remember that movie Crumb, that scene where his even weirder brother is doing yoga and he swallows the really long string and says that in a day or so, he'll be able to grab both ends and give his innards a good swabbing? Using some of these will really help you track its progress on the way down and out. Think of the cosplay opportunities!
Let's get on the metric train! Those weird lengths are inaccurate and confusing, so here's a decoder sheet:
IKEA does the same stupid conversions in their USA stores. Note to marketers: metric measurements are not scary, give use the real, metric dimensions instead of your crude approximations. (Alternatively, do a proper conversion to the nearest 1/32"; e.g. 10 m = 19' 8-7/32" )
@mwarren Didn't the government try that back in the 70s or 80s and were pretty much met with apathy by the general public? Until they start giving the dimensions of your house in meters as the primary units, we will likely continue to see feet and inches in daily life.
KuoH
@mwarren Alright-- Then they should post a statistic for: "First Mehrican to buy 1km of rope lights" and bestow a special honor
I bought these. Hope to construct a Dickbutt.
Meh, you suck. I had to think all day for reasons I had to have these. Then, you really, really suck, a lot because you let me buy as much as I wanted!. I really hate you for making me buy this crap.
One long chain for my study, 2 shorter ones for the bathrooms, one smallest for, eh, maybe somewhere in the kitchen? I'm not sure yet. But yeah. My apartment appreciates the side lighting. I was having trouble figuring out where, with limited floor space (and not wanting to fuss with trying to attach large wall light fixtures), I could add more lights. For a lot less than I'd spend on real lamps, this will work for the reasonable future.
I have no idea why the hell I just ordered almost 70 feet of this. Oh well at least yappy-omnipotent-guide
thorough-incidental-doll
Decided to order. But the front page would not load on two different devices. Blank stare. No error message. Timeout. Other sites and the meh forum pages work fine. @shawn?
@RedOak we're having some trouble loading a couple stats so we disabled them temporarily. try your impulse rope light purchase again.
@shawn working late or on-call or got a page it was down? Good response time whatever the case! :)
@shawn thanks! Still hanging up on this iPad. Will try a windows desktop.
@sohmageek I/T never sleeps! At least not uninterrupted. ;-) But agreed, that was a fast response time.
@shawn, do you have a script running alerting you of pings or is it simply smartphone notifications turned on for the email account associated with meh?
@RedOak No we don't... the other week I had to deal with outages at midnight...
@shawn OK, the front page loaded on Windows box. (And order worked) Thanks.
Stats only a bit thin: But wow $185,000! Are you folks worried about running out of digits?
@RedOak ha! that's a bug i'd love to have to fix
@shawn I'm sure if you had enough of some products you
maywould get there...Same problem. Can't order. Finally there's something I'm interested in. Bummed.
@RedOak @taroblaro If you're having trouble with the homepage you can workaround by going straight to the checkout page. Here's a super secret link:
https://meh.com/deals/american-lighting-led-rope-lights/checkout
@shawn thanks. Order worked from the slightly stat-neutered front page on a Windows box.
Although the order number generator seems to be more out of whack than normal: wiggly-tight-earwig (Makes me want to cancel and reorder simply so I don't have to look at that phrase again on my orders page!)
@shawn note to self... soon to be middle-age-brain-forgotten: add "/checkout" to front page path. But only after the plain path has been updated with the product of the day portion.
@shawn thinking this thru... might this trick work to order items from "canceled" inventory after a deal has officially sold out? ;-)
@shawn perhaps don't make it so obvious with fukus as then people can bypass everything to get to the checkout page and have an unfair advantage. Name the url for fukus something totally unguessable.
@Kidsandliz What's the URL for the next Fukubukuro going to be?
@shawn https://meh.com/deals/something-totally-unguessable-fukubukuro
@shawn
https://meh.com/deals/only-will-work-for-kidsandliz-as-we-are-saving-her-a-really-good-fuku-at-this-url
That will be my special one. Who cares what it will be for everyone else because there will be one just for me even if I miss the regular one because meh thinks I am a robot like last time. : )
Deal?
@Thumperchick snort
@RedOak I dunno. Looks like you can still buy rope lights.
@G1 Hah! It did appear that way. Clicking on the above link opened the order popup. But I tried and alas, @shawn put a deal status check at the "...buy it already" button-click stage: "OOPS, SORRY. YOU'RE TOO LATE."
@shawn so why didn't you set my special url for the fuku LOL
@Kidsandliz did you get one?
@shawn No. Despite the green check where it agreed I was not a robot, the green bar kept giving the error that I can't be a robot to buy this (got this several times after re-hitting the buy it already button) and then finally got the message indicating that it was too late and sold out.
As an aside, this is the second fuku in a row that this has been a problem with my attempts to buy. I am on time and trying to buy before it sold out. I am not a robot and get the green check, I can't buy despite the green check because it won't sell to robots. I'd appreciate it if there is a way to fix that.
In for a 4m bright and a 2m warm. I have no idea why. Passing time till the meh-off I guess. :P
I have no need for this. In for 2.
3rd useless impulse buy in the last week.. Oh meh how you dragged me back in...
smokey-skilled-platinum
@ceagee Ahem...
@Barney uh oh. i know i know I'll get right on it soon.
Congratulations, meh, on a really successful day.
I think you guys are going to be somebody!
@KDemo and good gravy, look at the map... every state??? gasp
What the Heck!!!! You get me all excited and then in a move that is somewhat reminiscent of the past. It's over!!!
After a couple of attempts to order I finally clicked the button to order and it tells me I am too late it's over. Well, I have that excuse too many from my ex. At least he pays me alimony. What are you going to do to satisfy me!!!!
@iammakarios welcome to meh, they change over at 11 central, perhaps you want some crappy chargers instead?
@iammakarios deals here are only available for 24 hours or until they sell out. Changeover is Midnight EST.
@iammakarios and if the email they sent out is correct.... then don't worry, the led string lights will be up for sale again... and again... and again...
@thismyusername I'd be interested to know how many miles of their 138 they managed to sell today.
@Thumperchick me too, I tried doing some calculations but its all guesses since we don't know the quantity sold of each length, and eyballing a pie chart,well that will take more time that I am willing, I decided in a random guess that they might have sold 100 miles worth.. heh
@thismyusername $195,000 sales. So close to breaking $200K!
Can you put these back up for sale soon?
@iammakarios I spot a shameless attempt to get your username in the write up. :)
In some free time I did a 'bit' more scientific calculation... I think they sold 59.6 miles of this lighting... what do I win?
@thismyusername Did you math out the percentages based on the SVG paths? I thought about it, but I think my brain is still hangin' out in Monday.
@thismyusername Squat
@mfladd They really should think about patching those cracks in their driveway/parking lot.
@brhfl bascially yea I approximated percentages based on their pie, then calculated total feet per size then added it all up... I might be off a percent or two in a couple segments. :)
@mfladd oh... my... god... becky...
@thismyusername HaHa..I have posted it so many times I can't do it again. It's....sooo....round - It's just out there.
hey @MEHcus am I right? Do I win anything? :) I'm feeling pretty bad no fuku and no pepsi perfect, I'm zero for two here.
I came up with 62 miles 377 feet. Bonus prediction of 2097 people that ordered were not VMPs.
@thismyusername Hey @shawn, think you can figure out exactly how many feet of rope lights we sold? Could make for a fun forum game.
@thismyusername @mfladd Let me do the honors this time. ...
http://imgur.com/GNRxTes
Wow Meh. NEVER thought these would get here in time for my merch booth this weekend. Thanks. These suckers are bright. One section of the rope flickers once in a while though. I just call it special effects.
I guess images dont display when posting from phone. :(
Pagination sucks.
@phatmass they do it you include the full URL, you were missing the .jpg from the end.
@Ignorant thanks!
@hollboll I think I got your order number... :) moody-fictional-cider . It's mine, but the whole cider thing...)
I got one set in today the rest next week. Damn they are bright!!
@StrangerDanger Yeah - I got my soft whites in and they are bright - can't wait to see how the "bright white" are.
Will DEFINITELY be getting a dimmer for outside use. Was happy to see the statement "will work with almost any incandescent dimmer".
These are WAAAAAAY nicer than the cheap Chinese crap on eBay. Like 400X more nicer.
Packaging was really well done - they "rolled" them nice and flat - so they "lay down" without a billion kinks and twists. Put my 2M cable right on the floor behind my entertainment center for mood lighting - no issues getting it to stay nice and flat.
Just have to get that dimmer.
Warm white is a WHOLE lot brighter than I thought. @Pufferfishy and @StrangerDanger do not exaggerate. Apparently I've only ever seen the cheap crap. Fortunately my installer person is out of town this weekend, giving me time to play with them. Already know that we're getting some of the things @RedOak suggested. And dimmers, with remote controls. Definitely dimmers. Installation may be next weekend, though.
@OldCatLady I am finally happy that I got a bunch of those cheap "remote outlets" from meh a while back.
:)
@Pufferfishy I didn't get them, and I'm still pouting, but they're available on AMZN. If Meh doesn't offer them again this week OR IF MY FUKU ISN'T FULL OF THEM, I'll buy them.
@OldCatLady cool. However you install them, I'd recommend installing them in as product-ambivalent a manner as possible. In other words, I laugh at the 50,000 hour life claims made by LED purveyors. They will fail in some way prior to most of us dieing. @phatmass's flickering strip illustrates this (above).
I'll be replacing some painfully failure-prone (halogen) hockey puck and (incandescent) aluminum light strips in our entertainment wall. In the case of the hockey pucks their 12-volt transformers are hard-wired so I'll be installing standard 120 volt recepticles. Luckily our existing light strips are already plugged into 120 volt recepticles. I wired all the lighting back to a central bank of wall switches when I built the wall.
PS: normally we receive meh stuff early on. Not this time. Bummed. Perhaps reflects the hundred miles of this stuff @Dstanley and crew have to ship. Or simply our sucky local USPS.
@RedOak If 'product-ambivalent' means tucked out of sight, they will be. After seeing them, I think the bright white strips will be mounted dead center atop the 24" wide 'plant shelf' which runs through my open plan kitchen, living, dining, and hall space. They'll have just enough clips in place to make sure the cats can't displace them. If one strip dies, I'll plug a new one in. The cord will run down beside a door frame and over to a convenient outlet. We have 10' ceilings and the uplight will be very welcome.
@OldCatLady that's the idea - simple to replace with a completely different brand without a lot effort. Accessible too. And I'm generally not a fan of these light strips ever being directly visible.
Our existing light strips simply lie on the floor behind opaque glass in the toe kick area.
@RedOak Now I'm afire to get them up, but a) some are still in the mail and b) my installer won't be available for a week. And c) the 'Warm White' are too bright for the undercabinet locations I had planned. That's a LOT of candlepower. Putting them behind a frosted toe kick would just highlight the drifts of cat hair.
@OldCatLady a rare challenge - too much candle power!
I'm not a fan of dimmers for permanently matching single level light needs. Added expense/complexity and typically energy wasters in the form of heat burned off instead of that portion of the light being output.
Ideally the correct light output would be matched to the use. But if the strips are not visible, a somewhat jury-rigged solution might be to cover every other LED chip with electrical tape. Still an energy waster, but without added expense/complexity of dimmers.
@RedOak I'm clearly going to have to get remote controlled plug-in dimmers. These will all be indoors, mostly mounted on plant shelves; do you have any recommendations? I don't want to say cost is no object, but after saving so much on the lights... I had no idea how dark and spooky my 10' ceiling area was. First world problems, I know.
@OldCatLady You didn't fully describe how you'll use the strips but... The problem with dimmers is they waste energy themselves. Perhaps as much or more waste as simply blocking every other LED in the strip. Or blocking them with a diffuser lens like opaque plastic panels.
However, if there are scenarios when you want the lights dim and other times, bright, OK, then dimmer. I believe the specs said a standard (not-LED specific) dimmer would work with these.
There are lots of (respectable) remote options starting with a basic dimmer switch on the wall that comes with a remote:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Maestro-IR-600-Watt-Single-Pole-Digital-Dimmer-White-MIR-600THW-WH/100399015
To getting fancy with home automation solutions (avoid "X-10" - it is not reliable) This solution requires a control hub but opens up a lot of other cool stuff:
http://www.smarthome.com/switchlinc-dimmer-insteon-2477d-remote-control-dimmer-dual-band-white.html
That second site is dangerous for geeks. If you really want home automation, research carefully.
I am not a fan of the cheapo aftermarket solutions for permanent installations.
@RedOak I bow to your expertise, I really do, and thanks for sharing. The lights are destined for the top of @ 50' of plant shelf, which runs around my 'open living' area. It gets pretty dark up there now, but I bought the house in a hurry and had't really thought about it much. Maybe to begin with I'll just put in something like these, and live with them awhile. The problem is that I can't visualize worth a hoot, so it's going to be trial and error. https://meh.com/deals/ivation-remote-control-outlets
@OldCatLady trying it out before installation makes great sense - even if it requires an extension cord to reach power. Ideally you'd have a 120volt recepticle installed up there where one end of the strip/strips are. And that recepticle would be controlled by a wall switch/dimmer. Any decent electrician can run a wire like that pretty reasonably assuming there are no surprises. I'm not an electrician but it seems like a $150-300 install if nearby power with capacity is available. These things don't need much.
The tacky solution to wiring - not recommended, especially for 120 volts:
http://www.amazon.com/Wiremold-CMK50-Cord-Mate-Kit/dp/B0015EDVVU
I made a thing with this thing. Wireless Meh lights connected to a WiFi outlet
Got mine today 32ft has cracks in the white pvc spacer but not in the clear cover , 3sets of 3ft also have random cracks in the spacer . They are bright but can't leave them exposed with the visible cracks
@martycawley Write in to meh.com/support for help with your crackpot lights.
@martycawley Thanks for posting; I got my three long ropes in; I'll have to give them a once-over.
@martycawley oh no, I hope they have some left to replace them with... /s
@thismyusername the event did not sell out - but it appeared all the longer lengths were sold out.
@martycawley bummer. Our three sets appear at a glance to be fine.
Lesson for those with good sets: do not overtighten the connectors. (Not implying you did this @martycawley!)
I noticed they made a finger-flip-in-mouth pop when pulling them apart, implying a pretty good near-vacuum connection even without the screw cap.
@RedOak I thought the only one that sold out was the 3.3foot soft white.
@thismyusername yah, the warm whites sold out fairly early and then the longer lengths also sold out. (Not sure about the warm versions of the longer lengths tho.)
I got mine,and replaced the old, failing ropelights on my deck with them. All I can say is "wow, these are Bright". I'm glad they are supposed to be dimmable, because I'm pretty sure the neighbors are gonna be cranky if I dont dim them somehow. They light up the deck like daylight.
There were questions above about the voltage of these. Just measured it - 108.2 volts DC.
That is measured on the light-strip end (the output) of the power cord. So it appears that bulge in the power cord is simply an inverter to covert AC to DC, with some corresponding voltage loss from 120 volts AC.
Thereby for folks hoping to wire these directly into existing 12 volt DC power supplies - do not do it!
@RedOak But what could possibly go wrong?
@OldCatLady Hah! It might not be a good idea to do the 9-volt battery lick test on this cord to make sure it is working!
On the other hand, connecting the LED strip itself to a 12 volt DC power supply probably won't cause any harm - the strip won't likely put out much light if it expects 108 volts DC!
Looks like my lights haven't shipped yet according to my order status page. My first Meh purchase is living up to its name! :P
@nickschwab If you don't get them by Thur, you should report it (from your orders page).
@thismyusername Thanks for the tip! I got an email from Meh shortly after my post saying that they oversold the bright white 32' strings and had to confirm what I wanted to do with my order. Hope nobody else was [un]lucky enough to have the same issue!
@nickschwab I'm in the same pickle, alas. For me it was the Warm White 3.3 ft. Next time they buy a job lot of these, I hope they get more.
Dang I wish I ordered more now. I plugged in a 1m of bright white just to see and its much brighter and more awesome then expected especially with the low wattage use.
Getting them ran and plugged into sockets controlled via a switch or dimmer is another issue and story entirely but when I get a new house soon they will be fun to place in random spots.
So I got them last night, and they are WAY brighter than expected which is great! However one of the three is "Warm White" (yellow) and another one flickers and strobes about a foot at each end. The third one has not been connected yet but I'm scared...
Emails have been sent...
@maleman876 and support is sending new ones, hooray!
Just got these bad boys installed last night! In the second pic, they're dimmed to about 50%. They're nice and bright, and very even. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
@VeeDubTDI Are those bright or warm? Because wow.
@OldCatLady those are the warm white. I have a set of bright white that I haven't tried yet.
@VeeDubTDI Dang, that's some curb appeal. Nice work!
@VeeDubTDI Looks fantastic.
Sorry to be contrarian, but too bright. Needs dimming. Looks too commercial to my eye. Landscaping with its own lighting would give some depth and dimension. ...ducking now...
@RedOak totally agree, but I have very little landscaping (we rent). One thing I do like about this install, as opposed to up-lights, is that it is night sky friendly. As for brightness, the iPhone does what it wants to do. That picture isn't totally representative of what it looks like to the eye.
Mine arrived. And I don't remember everything I was going to use them for. I did it in 2 orders. So the one box I have down. But the other box is a bit of a mystery.
I think they are all for Holiday lights, but I was thinking of some for under the counter.
Where oh where is the little scrap of paper I used to do my calculations on ? I don't want to go back outside and remeasure the railings in the rain.
Does anyone know where I can find it or what was on it ?
@ceagee I ate your paper.
@jaremelz Thank you goat. I appreciate your honesty. I would give you 2 stars if I could. Here have some more paper instead. Oh dear, are those bills ? oh well.
@ceagee Those were..mmmf...delicious...chomp chomp...thank you..nom nom..did you know that if a goat eats your bills, you don't ever have to pay them?
OMG SOOOOOO Bright.
Like, way too bright.
From the picture I expected the warm white to be useful to light my lounge up with some soft lighting.
No way. This shit is insanely bright. I have no idea what I will use these for...
@homelesswarrior to welcome Santa ?
@homelesswarrior get a dimmer, and be careful, the insert says the plastic contains lead and to wash your hands after touching them. Or wear disposable, latex type gloves. Skin absorbs toxins.
Got mine today. Look great along my living room ceiling, but one has a defective section that flickers on and off. Emailed support, so hopefully they'll replace that one.
Reverse engineering the lump in the power cable.
It is a full wave bridge rectifier.
AC goes in, pulsing DC comes out the other side. Here is my high tech testing apparatus:
For safety reasons, I am using 3 partially discharged AAA batteries and a low voltage LED array for these tests. You do not need to risk bodily harm by using a meter on a live 110 volt circuit. I did not do these tests at 110 volts.
My 4.2 volt power supply and LED array are from my DOA flashlight, as seen in my tear down https://meh.com/forum/topics/tear-down---ideaworks-multi-use-led-area-lights I soldered on red wires to the positive terminals and black wires to the negative terminals. Red to Red and Black to Black, the light lights brightly (despite the batteries not being fully charged).
I did my experimenting on a raised stool, which makes it easy to verify, that nothing was plugged into the wall.
In the picture, you can see I stripped the ends of the red and black wires. I connected the power to the plug. I plugged the LED array into the DC connector. Trying red in the left side, and black in the right side, and vice versa. One way it lit (but not as brightly as before), one way it didn't light at all. LED lights are like that, if you get the polarity wrong, they don't light.
Then I swapped the red and black leads at the other end of the cord, and the light was lit both ways. That is what full wave bridge rectifiers do.
The light was dimmer, because there was only 2.8 volts at the LED array. The meter in the photo shows the voltage drop on half of the rectifier was 708 millivolts, which is 0.7 volts. I also measured the other half, and it was about the same. (At one point it showed 666 millivolts, but I was too slow with the camera.) 4.2 volts minus about 0.7 volts twice is 2.8 volts, which gives the dim light in the picture.
When used as intended, a 1.4 volt voltage drop will not be significant. 110 volts minus 1.4 volts is 108.6 volts, which is not a significant change in brightness. It is just as correct to refer to standard AC voltage as 117 volts or 125 volts, or any other value in that general area. I chose 110 volts so it would match what @RedOak measured.
Stop reading now, unless you like diode trivia. A voltage drop of 0.7 volts tells us they used a generic silicon power diode. Diode voltage drop varies with current and temperature. There is also a voltage drop across the contacts made between my bent wires jammed into the connectors. Those aspects combined with the lack of quality of my meter, means that the measured voltage drop varies significantly over time.
@hamjudo The simplicity of the circuit means that standard light dimmers should be able to dim these lights. The fancier dimmers will also work.
@hamjudo I bow to your much more sophisticated test procedures. Surely much safer than my plug-it-into-the-wall rig:
Interesting - that reading is a bit down vs. previously - aha, the 120 VAC line is down a bit: (Honey, did we just start a load of laundry?)
BTW, we normally have a full 120 VAC on both sides of the 240 VAC feed from the utility. As the utility guys were replacing several of the lines in our neighborhood I innocently asked them "should I be reading 120 VAC on both sides - I'm off by 2 volts on one side?" They made it happen.
120 VAC doesn't really hurt that much as long as you are not locked into it like standing in a tub of water.
@hamjudo I couldn't help myself. I didn't understand a thing you wrote and yet I didn't stop when you said "stop". I read about diodes anyways. I'm a crazy rebel sometimes.
Congratulations on your experiment, whatever it may mean.
@RedOak as an electrical engineer, I hope people don't listen to a word you say. 120 VAC can KILL YOU with enough current.
@jzmacdaddy Of course it can with enough current and no exit for you. Perhaps you took the in passing comment a bit too seriously. One wonders whether you've accidentally touched a live 120 volt circuit yourself.
BTW, many electricians don't even bother to shut off a 120 volt circuit to change out a receptacle.
@RedOak people being lazy isn't a good thing to recommend, though. Especially in a place where a novice may be taking your advice to heart.
@Thumperchick 'not sure where I "advised" touching 120 volts. To be clear: I do not recommend touching 120 volts. Not a good thing.
Bought a bunch, sadly two (46' and 6.6') were defective :( The 46' had multiple sections flickering off, the 6.6' was just flickering dimmer a bit. Sent a support request. Besides those, I really like the others! Hopefully they will hold up!
I bought some of these hoping to set up a fake sunrise kind of thing where the lights gradually un-dim for about 30 minutes to gently wake me up. I haven't found an off the shelf timer+dimmer, so maybe I need to learn arduino. Anybody have ideas? I don't know if it's better to put that at the ac level, or DC after the inverter.
@ComputerGames Dim the AC, most AC dimmers will just work. In normal operation, the peak voltage on the pulsed DC side is the square root of 2 times the incoming AC voltage. For 125 volts, the routine peak voltage will be 177 volts. The voltage rectifier doesn't do anything to suppress line noise, so your electronics should be prepared for the occasional 200 volt or higher spike.
Google computer controlled light dimmer to see a variety of AC options.
I'm all in favor of people learning how to use an Arduino, so this could be your learning project. The Arduino won't be the cheapest, smallest, or most convenient option, but it will be a great learning experience. There are a lot of Arduino controlled AC dimmer examples on the web. For an even more complex approach, you can use a Raspberry Pi.
@hamjudo thanks for the reply. I've been looking for an excuse to get my hands dirty with microcontrollers. Looks like this is a good opportunity.
@ComputerGames If you have a Microcenter nearby, they carry a pretty good supply of Arduino kits and accessories at reasonable prices. Just started goofing around with them with my son who has been using them on his robotics competition team.
Certainly far from expert, but you might find using those cheap eBay Chinese-sourced (choose a well-rated seller) LED strips a better match since they are available in both USB (5VDC) and 12 VDC.
@ComputerGames I already do that with my SmartThings home automation setup. So if you don't want to get your hands dirty, you'll need a hub ($99), a dimmer switch ($35), and smartphone, iOS or Android. I put a 19' rope light under my bed, and every morning, I have it undim in about 30 minutes. Works great.
Here's a dimmer with a remote that will work with these lights: The Lutron - PD-3PCL (here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Lutron-PD-3PCL-WH-Wireless-300-watt-Plug-In/dp/B00KHSXB60) From talking with a professional electrician, the reference to ELV dimmers is a red herring. You don't need an ELV dimmer in this case.
@gymbrall that looks really nice, but have you tested this theory for sure? :-)
@eblade Yes. I have this set up and working. This particular unit has been tested with both a 19' strand and a 49' strand of lights.
Just FYI, you do have to program the unit to the high/low power levels you want it to go between.
My 5 sets arrived, but one did not have the mounting clips or screws :-( Wrote to customer service, so we'll see what happens. I have never had to before, and heard good things.
OK -- So, I ordered a LOT of these lights. So far, every single one > 6 ft has had at least one full section that blinks on and off. I think there's a serious QC issue at play here.
Do we contact manufacturer? Where do we contact manufacturer? I'm moving into a new house this weekend, and am currently using the defective lights to light up rooms that don't have built-in overhead lighting :|
@eblade Looks like the warranty on these is through mediocre itself. Send a message to meh.com/support and let them know that you have the worst luck of anyone in this thread. It'll take a business day or two to hear back, so please be patient.
For future reference, the warranty info is always included in the first post on any product thread, with all of the product specs and information.
@Thumperchick cool deal. I've never had to look for meh warranty information before, so .. this is a first. I don't know about worst luck, other people are complaining about the lights being pretty poor QC also.
.. total aside, you aren't from Michigan, are you? I knew a lady that went by the name "thumperchick" a LOT of years ago.
@eblade Sorry, different thumperchick.
@Thumperchick
FIFY
@thismyusername
Please be careful. The insert says the plastic contains lead and to wash your hands after handling them. Please keep them away from children and animals that chew wires.
Weird. I bought a bunch of these. It seems that the shipping guys decided that my color choices were just "suggestions". Number of packages, and sizes were accurate, but Warm White and White are random. Off to write a very polite, but mildly irritated email to meh.com/support .
Note: "Weird" because Mediocre Labs usually over-achieves with shipping. Except for the exploding mugs debacle. And the time it takes. And the lack of tape. And dunnage.
@G1 That would annoy me, too. Sorry G1!
South Philly here.
The lights are very bright, not much difference between the warm white and bright white.
Put these along the driveway and walk for the Trick-or-treat kids. Had 32 kids and a turbot prop from Charleston that thought we were the airport.
So far I've only mounted a 20' strand under my cabinets and it has 2 sections that blink on and off sporadically. I'll have to get the 50' ones rolled out somewhere and see if they're any better. The overall brightness is impressive, but it is a bit tempered by the reliability factor. The individual LEDs might last 35,000 hours, but the power delivery circuits might not be up to it.
KuoH
@kuoh if you look closely (I have 2 6 foots that did this) I think you will see the ribbon is broken inside there, contact support (from your orders page) they will fix it for you.
What about the smell? Wow...they smell bad. I have these installed in a trey ceiling in my bedroom. After 2 days I still smell them. Plus I emailed meh too... I have flickering sections. Ugh...otherwise...these really are awesome!!!!! My bedroom looks really high end now at night...and these are much better than turning on a lamp when the dog has to go out in the middle of the night. I have these connected to a Belkin wemo and my echo so I just say the magic words and these puppies light up the night!
@ken987 the smell is pretty bad, I have them laying out in the garage to air out.
The good news is most of mine will end up outside (step lighting)... but yea.. smells like a plastics factory in the garage...
I purchased 5 45ft sections of these lights. I have one of these on my front porch, and it is so bright, it is like Jesus comes down form heaven and stands on my porch at night.
I think if I put up the rest, the neighbors will complain. I am officially Clark W. Grizwald, and I love it. Sorry neighbors.
I need a dimmer.
aerial photo of @mloughry74's place
@thismyusername It totally is.
Same problem with one that, after a week of being plugged in, suddenly started flickering half the yard strand. I'm going to try plugging in all the other ones I got and check for defects too, and emailed support just now, but I have a feeling that's going to limit what I end up doing with these. I actually REALLY like the brightness on the bright white, it makes me feel like it's sunny and summery on grey fall days.
In for 3
abandoned-jerky-leek
Needed a switch to turn these off/on when I walk into my laundryroom with my hands full.
I bought this from Amazon, hopefully it will do the job.
Utilitech White Motion Sensor/Dusk-to-Dawn Light Control - 0432531
So, after maybe 10 nights of having these turned on on our lake house deck, they died last night. How did everyone else do with requests to customer service? We were so in love with these lights. Totally bummed now.
@winegeek They replaced my defective ones, but at this price they only had a 90 day meh warranty (no mfg warranty). I fear you are out of that 90 day window (unless you bought them in the Jan offering and are replying to the wrong product thread).
Since they all died it makes me wonder if the power cord thinger has popped a fuse, or failed... if you have another set try the power cord thinger from the working set on the failed set and see if they light up... then you know you just need to get a new comparable power cord thinger (or replace the fuse).