christmas lights question

know1 wrote:

There are battery powered lights:

http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/categorydetail.asp?CategoryID=1&source=g&camp=battery&gclid=CIaD5LP5-o8CFQGRPAodNEXXMg

yeah but I don't know if you can use those outside.
and they only have an 8-hour burn life.

decides2dream wrote:

there are, but in my experience, they suck. batteries lose massive amounts of efficiency in the cold. outdoors i doubt they'd last even a night. even indoors, battery powered lights, while they last a bit loonger....just not very long.


as an environmentallly-minded individual, i would think you'd not want em. you would go through a prohibitive amount of batteries to run your lights for the holiday season.


is there not an outdoor outlet SOMEwhere? i think it would be far more cost effective/efficient to simply buy an outdoor extension cord, even a really long one, and use that to power your lights.

yeah well that is sort of what I was getting at- like are there any *efficient* battery-powered lights out there, like rechargeable or something. My dad tells me there are solar powered xmas lights, but I think he is full of it. I wouldn't use those little indoor-like battery powered lights.

I really don't think there is an outlet! it's hard to see around the whole house because there is a lot of overgrown shrubbery, but so far I haven't found one.

actually, there are solar xmas lights! (they look kinda crappy though)
http://www.solarsanta.com/home.php

failedpersephone wrote:

can you NOT light lights?? they are such a waste of energy!!

or if you put up lights, maybe just light them for a few hours each night...PLEASE don't leave them burning all night!! *faints with concern*

oh god no, I wouldn't run them all night.

I've never done it before, but my house is very BLAH and the corner is very dark. I thought it might spruce things up a bit. I'm not a big energy consumer in general, I conserve as much as I can, so I thought maybe I'd ease up a bit on this one. If there were good solar lights or something, that would perfect. I just wanted to do something to help with all the darkness, especially this time of year. I read some about solar lights, and I don't think they would well on my porch, unless I could set the photovoltaic panel out somewhere where there is more sunshine. they work best near windows because the light reflects off the glass.

jamainiac wrote:

I didn't read all through the replies ... so someone may have already suggested this?

If you have a patio or porch light... you can buy a light socket with an outlet on the side of it. http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/productdetail.htm?productid=18184&CategoryID=106 You'll find these in any hardware store... maybe even your grocery store...

All you do is take off the light covering... screw in the new adaptor socket... put your light bulb back in and ... Voila! you have an outlet to use! Only problem is that you generally can't put the covering (globe) back over the light and that both decorative and functional lights are on the same switch. If you don't 'need' the functional light out there... Just leave it out.

hmm I was really excited about this solution, except that, my porch light hangs down from the top of the porch. Plus I share it with the upstairs neighbors.

SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:

call an electrician and have an outlet installed???

now there is an idea...

hehehehehehehehehehehehehe....................

no way! I don't own the house, I'm not paying for that.