[HN Gopher] How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
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How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
Author : mtgentry
Score : 143 points
Date : 2022-11-27 16:17 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (imgur.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (imgur.com)
| senthil_rajasek wrote:
| "The carefully split the wire part" in many places has me
| concerned about electric shock.
|
| Is this wiring upto code in the U.S?
|
| Also, the comment at the end to use "hooks" beats the whole point
| of using magnets.
| martyvis wrote:
| Surely that cable is single insulated, so low voltage
| application (less than 32V)?
| deelowe wrote:
| Looks like pretty standard "lamp wire" to me. Single
| insulated and rated for 120v ac.
| mtgentry wrote:
| Splitting the wire is safe if you're careful but no it's not
| code lol. And it's just one hook at the peak of the roof but it
| might be possible w/o it. I didn't need any hooks.
| jffry wrote:
| The two conductors in the wire are insulated separately and
| sort of lightly attached so it's probably OK if done carefully.
|
| If this was me, I would've threaded the lights through the big
| triangle piece directly and attached with zip ties, instead of
| modifying the cord.
|
| > Also, the comment at the end to use "hooks" beats the whole
| point of using magnets.
|
| Installing a nondescript hook up there would be a one-time use
| of a ladder which could just be borrowed or rented from
| somewhere. Future decorations can be done with just the
| extending pole and magnetic attachment.
| mindslight wrote:
| Haha, code. IIRC, Christmas lights have their own exception in
| the NEC, as the things are wildly unsafe by general NEC
| standards. For example, nothing stops you from plugging a space
| heater into the outlet at the end of a string. But relax, it's
| Christmas!
|
| Having said that, OP's lights are built a bit more solid
| because they look like the 120V parallel-wired style, rather
| than the series wired tiny lights. I'd be completely
| comfortable splitting the two conductors down the middle like
| that. That's exactly what you do to terminate a wire, although
| doing it in the middle of a cable is trickier because you need
| to be more accurate. Start the split with a sharp knife at one
| point, then you should be able to just pull the conductors
| apart.
|
| For the general idea, I love it and it has me wondering if my
| gutters are steel. Although part of me wants to permanently
| hang WS2812 strips and be decorated for every holiday.
| c22 wrote:
| _> nothing stops you from plugging a space heater into the
| outlet at the end of a string._
|
| I think a lot of christmas lights come with unpolarized plugs
| to make this more challenging. Also the tiny (3amp?) built-in
| fuses give you an extra level of protection beyond what you'd
| get with a simple extension cord of similar specs.
| ProblemFactory wrote:
| Despite the electrical risks, it's crazy how much Christmas
| safety has improved.
|
| I remember https://i.imgur.com/vKbfzEs.jpg from my childhood.
| Small metal clips to attach real candles to the Christmas
| tree. 20-50 open flame candles on a dried out Spruce, one of
| the best fire starters possible.
| tannhaeuser wrote:
| Could be worse: use last-year's spruce/fir preserved using
| glycerine and/or formaldehyde. Try eco-friendly or self-
| made decoration from real hay, paper, and wood instead of
| metal or plastic. Use combustible adhesive to bend into
| form. Also, use candles from bee's wax instead of parrafin
| or stearin for extra temperature, flame height, and CO. No
| risk, no fun ;)
| fbdab103 wrote:
| It somehow never occurred to me that - obviously the
| traditional Christmas lights were candles. Unless the
| original method was to cut at tree, decorate a still wet
| one for a day, and then toss it - how did anyone ever
| consider that a good idea?
| nemo44x wrote:
| You would be present when they were burning which I
| assume was on Christmas Eve in most places. Tree was
| probably cut down the same day too.
|
| But yeah it's an awful idea. People YOLOd more back in
| the day.
| Xylakant wrote:
| I still use those.
| fbdab103 wrote:
| Why? That looks like a guaranteed way to result in an
| accident for a pretty minor novelty. If nothing else,
| using leds that look like candles would be less
| maintenance with the huge upside that they are incredibly
| unlikely to be able to start a fire.
| Symbiote wrote:
| Some people in Central Europe still use real candles on
| the Christmas tree. Of course, you place the candles
| carefully and don't leave them unattended.
|
| (I have no idea how common it is, but I've seen the
| candles and brackets for sale.)
| Xylakant wrote:
| It is fairly common in Germany. There's a special size of
| candles that fits those holders (Christbaumkerzen) and
| they're a thing you'll find everywhere in shops around
| Christmas time. I've never had a tree with LED in my
| entire life.
|
| You must observe some safety rules, have a bucket of
| water or an extinguisher at hand (not under the tree) and
| never leave the candles unattended. And yes, be careful
| where you place the candles. Can't have a branch that's
| hanging over them.
| alpaca128 wrote:
| If it was a guaranteed accident like you suggest people
| wouldn't have done it for decades. Not the safest thing,
| but judging by the news it seems not even close to all
| the injuries weeks later from fireworks.
| Scoundreller wrote:
| Pro-tip to keep your tree longer: spray water on the tree
| itself!
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| >Although part of me wants to permanently hang WS2812 strips
| and be decorated for every holiday.
|
| I have a bunch of ESP-01 LED controllers, I'm totally gonna
| do that now. Just gotta figure out how to weatherproof it.
| masklinn wrote:
| > For example, nothing stops you from plugging a space heater
| into the outlet at the end of a string. But relax, it's
| Christmas!
|
| IIRC because they're designed to chain but not for high power
| applications, Christmas cords are one of the few extensions
| which routinely include a fuse[0], usually 2.5 to 5 amps.
|
| So you can plug a space heater at the end of the string, not
| much should happen.
|
| As opposed to using a 15A extension to plug a 20A device into
| a 20A circuit, which you can absolutely do, and which will
| burn your house down.
|
| [0] in the US, as opposed to the UK where everything includes
| a fuse because ring circuit baby
| mindslight wrote:
| Hm, I'm reviewing my copy of the 2011 NEC and can't find
| the part I remember. I swore I recall reading something
| that basically carved out exceptions for thin wires for
| long strings of lights, but maybe I'm misremembering.
|
| Of course, manufactured items aren't actually regulated
| under the NEC, but rather UL/ETL or another NRTL. Which is
| why you run your nice 10gauge wire for a dryer, then at the
| junction panel inside it switches over to 14 ga stranded or
| whatever. They've done the math with power dissipation,
| higher temp insulation, etc etc. And if it burns down your
| house you get to sue the manufacturer.
|
| As an aside, it's a travesty that public.resource.org no
| longer has the building codes available. If the codes are
| not available for all to read, they cannot be considered
| binding law.
| brudgers wrote:
| _wondering if my gutters are steel._
|
| Are they rusting?
|
| If not, probably not. [1]
|
| [1] To coma, stainless steel is not magnetic.
| mindslight wrote:
| Well, they're painted. And you'd think that would still
| mean rust where they were scratched, cut, etc. But OP's
| magnets stuck to a drip edge, which I wouldn't think would
| be made out of plain steel either. I'm assuming my gutters
| aren't ferromagnetic, but I could be pleasantly surprised!
| brudgers wrote:
| On US homes, drips are typically galvanized steel because
| they are a commoditized roofing product.
|
| Gutters are usually aluminum because gutters and
| downspouts are a specialized trade and those businesses
| fabricate components on-site from aluminum roll stock to
| correctly fit the building.
| AnotherGoodName wrote:
| Yeah why not use the eyelet and a 1cent cable tie?
|
| I really don't get the lack of calling this out. I'm ok with a
| little fudging with outdoor lights but this here doesn't make
| sense.
| mtgentry wrote:
| Yeah this was the next best option. But I didn't want to
| spend any time on the roof and my ladder doesn't go high
| enough so went with magnets. Also I wasn't crazy about having
| hooks up there all year round, even though I would be the
| only person to notice them.
| pulvinar wrote:
| Seems you could use a second pole (and a helper) in place of
| the hook, for 100% ladder-free.
|
| Of course this all will increase pole-related accidents...
| chrisbrandow wrote:
| This is so smart. Even if it requires an initial reinstall action
| of magnetizable spots along the roof.
| bombcar wrote:
| You can get led strips of lights designed for outdoors that when
| off are just a clearish rope.
|
| Install those permanently and when they're not on they're
| basically invisible.
| kiawe_fire wrote:
| As an added bonus, many have an array of color options, which
| makes it easy to change the lights to suit Halloween, Easter,
| Independence Day, or any other holiday you want your house to
| observe.
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| Individually addressable, waterproof LEDs are super cheap. Most
| expensive part is the power supply.
| pifm_guy wrote:
| They also don't last outside long...
|
| Eaten by squirrels... Tube gets full of water... As soon as
| one LED dies, all the rest start flickering like crazy....
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| You can get ones fully incased in silicone but that might
| not stop the squirrels...
| factsarelolz wrote:
| The clear plastic in which they are housed (think rope light)
| will turn yellow and brittle after a season of sun. Places like
| Florida, might have to replace due to sun degradation.
| bombcar wrote:
| You can get more expensive ones designed to last - but
| they're nowhere near as cheap as the simple spools you find
| at Walmart etc.
| silisili wrote:
| Agreed. My wife's been buying these. We have two plugin type,
| and I think 4 solar type.
|
| The solar type seem to only last a year or two, but really nice
| for wrapping far away bushes and such.
| Zircom wrote:
| We tried that with some lights we in our bushes thinking it'd
| be fine to just keep them off, they're not even visible unless
| you were on our porch with your nose against the bushes looking
| for them. HOA ended up fining us anyways, nosy fucks.
| samwillis wrote:
| Genius!
|
| There is a product idea there, both full on magnetic light sets.
| But also simpler magnetic clips for use on any lights.
| dskhatri wrote:
| These may exist. For example, search for magnetic C9 light
| clips on Amazon.
| mtgentry wrote:
| My issue with those is you probably still need a ladder to
| place them. My family has a history with ladder accidents so
| I wanted to avoid that haha.
| mh- wrote:
| My family doesn't have a history of ladder accidents, but
| I'm not looking to be the one who starts that legacy
| either.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| It's making me wonder if permanent ornamental LED lights aren't
| an option. Checking that...
|
| Well, looks like both permanent and seasonal professional
| installs are happening.
|
| https://tulsaworld.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/merry-and-...
| brudgers wrote:
| _Magnet attaches to the roof edge flashing which is metal._
|
| In the US, there is a substantial probability the flashing is
| non-magnetic aluminum.
|
| So test first.
| PragmaticPulp wrote:
| Most places in the world with metal flashing, metal gutters, or
| other metal on an exterior will have aluminum.
|
| It's old houses that might have steel.
|
| If you have a new house, I guarantee this won't work. If you
| have an old house it's worth checking, though.
| grey-area wrote:
| Or lead flashing, which is still popular.
| markdown wrote:
| I wonder which places still use any metal at all. I haven't
| seen those in decades. It's all plastic here.
| LgWoodenBadger wrote:
| Aluminum is popular because it can be formed into seamless
| gutters of any length on the job site.
| brudgers wrote:
| I qualified my comment with "in the US" because that is the
| limit of my informed opinion.
| pifm_guy wrote:
| And very old houses will have lead. Also non-magnetic.
| ian-g wrote:
| And you can tell from the style that OP's house is old. It
| could easily predate the great depression
| [deleted]
| nemo44x wrote:
| Yeah it looks like an early 20th century 1920s Craftsman
| style home. (1905-1929) It's likely made of extremely high
| quality old growth wood and a rather lovely home to live in
| if well maintained.
| Maursault wrote:
| > it looks like an early 20th century 1920s Craftsman
| style home
|
| As you're likely aware, American Craftsman is an
| architectural style inspired by the Arts and Crafts
| Movement.[1] In an historical double entendre,
| "Craftsman" can mean something else entirely, and yet can
| still be American Craftsman, as this home is. These
| particular style American Craftsman home in particular,
| among the many types of American Craftsman, with the
| front covered porch on the short end of the rectangular
| shape, were sold out of the Sears Catalog.[2] Sears
| _Craftsman_... get it? Sears sold various architectural
| styles, such as Cape Cod, but I think far and away the
| most popular was their American Craftsman home kits,
| which the OP 's home appears to be. Not all Sears kit
| homes were American Craftsman, and not all American
| Craftsman homes are Sears kit homes. But a lot of them
| are both.
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_movement
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Modern_Homes
| mtgentry wrote:
| Neat info! Yes I believe it was a kit. Would love to find
| the original catalog where it's from.
| mtgentry wrote:
| Confirmed, 1908 craftsman :) The roof is 20 years old,
| maybe that's when the switch to aluminum started?
| nemo44x wrote:
| It's probably galvanized steel which people still use.
| Copper is common where I live as is aluminum but it
| wouldn't be weird to see galvanized steel either.
|
| Most likely the roofing people replaced with like
| material where possible. That's a fairly common choice on
| old homes, unless the old material is unsafe, not good,
| or impossible to source.
| cardamomo wrote:
| I love homes from this era! The quality of the materials,
| at least among the homes still standing, is often
| excellent. This is anecdotal, but I find that they also
| tend to have a lot of natural light and stay cooler in
| the summer.
| nemo44x wrote:
| Yeah they're great if maintained. They do tend to have a
| lot of windows (and larger windows) than typical modern
| homes. I suspect it's because windows are expensive and
| the homes still standing were generally the higher
| quality homes of the era. Also - no AC back then so
| windows were very much functional appliances.
|
| Double hung sash windows are especially popular in this
| era because they are designed to maximize airflow. You'd
| open the bottom sash's on the cool side of the house to
| let cooler air in and open the top sash's on the other
| side to let hot air out. This also creates an airflow
| across the home.
| willcipriano wrote:
| I never knew that about the double sash windows but it
| makes sense.
| mtgentry wrote:
| Yeah I've done extensive work on the house and anywhere
| that's original is in great shape. All the wood is old
| growth. It had termite damage at one point but the
| termites only ate areas where newer (lesser quality) wood
| was used.
|
| Heck, even the mirror in the bathroom opens and closes
| perfectly and it's 110 yrs old.
|
| The downsides are there was zero insulation in the walls
| when we bought it and the leaded glass windows are single
| pane. I've mostly fixed the insulation problem but the
| windows will always be pretty to look at but inefficient.
| saalweachter wrote:
| > The downsides are there was zero insulation in the
| walls when we bought it
|
| To be fair, "nothing" is like, the best thing you'll find
| when you look at the insulation in old houses.
| rufus_foreman wrote:
| I'm saddened by the fact that a gun wasn't involved.
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| I love the hook handle tool. This technique seems like it'd do
| well in places without snow and ice.
| dskhatri wrote:
| Nice work! We are putting up our lights too. I like the bulbs on
| the string lights to be regularly spaced and oriented. One can
| buy plastic clips that latch onto roof gutters or shingles to
| hold the cone bulbs in a fixed orientation and spacing
|
| Unfortunately, I can only hang my lights around the facade made
| of plaster (stipple), brick and wood. I don't want to tarnish the
| facade with hooks or nails and want a solution that can be
| reattached each holiday season without effort. I tried
| positioning the bulbs with removable clay/putty, hot glue but
| none of these temporary adhesives worked well.
|
| The solution I settled on involves driving (permanent but
| relatively inconspicuous) threaded inserts into the facade at
| wide spanned intervals - tee-nut inserts [1] for wood and molly
| bolts for stipple/plaster surfaces [2]. I ordered aluminum bars
| ($1 per foot on Grainger) that will screw into these inserts
| during the season. These bars will let me use shingle clips to
| hold the light bulbs in the desired fixed span and orientation.
| For Halloween, I can attach led light strips to the bars to give
| more custom lighting effects.
|
| [1] https://www.mcmaster.com/tee-nut-inserts/ [2]
| https://www.mcmaster.com/molly-bolts/
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(page generated 2022-11-27 23:01 UTC)