How to Shorten and Solder LED Christmas Lights (Part 1 of 3)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ธ.ค. 2020
- Part 1 of my custom Christmas lights for your house.
This video is for beginners and anyone who usually don’t do these kind of things, but wants to.
I go into extra detail and try to cover all aspects to make this as complete a video as possible so anyone can do this.
In this video I will show you how customize LED Christmas lights to your desired length.
I also cover how to make a solid solder connection with basic soldering techniques.
THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH. This worked perfectly. Luckily I got the right wires first shot. I had already blown the plug fuse previously before I watched the video. Thumbs up on an easy way to make my wife happy.
Happy to hear that it worked. Happy wife happy life 🤣😎
This exacting what I need !! Big thanks !! I like to wrap lights around branches in my front yard tree and this is a big help for all the different lengths and bringing it all together at the tree base.
@Mitchell Bath Glad the video helped💥😎 This should work well for wrapping around a tree 🌲
Last year I installed two sets of lights on my patio. During the winter a squirrel came and ate the wires in a few places and also completely cut off the connections at both ends. I was in a lot of trouble doing the repair, not knowing which wire to connect . I have used your method and it is very effective. Also it works for both male and female connectors,
at the beginning of the lamp series as at the end.
Thank you !!!
@Maurice bélanger Darn squirrels and rabbits always chewing wires. Glad you got everything working.
Thanks for this video. I especially like the idea of marking each strand with a marker.
@Lloyd Edmonds Yeah, those little marks definitely makes it easier to keep everything organized 💥😎
Good video, easy to follow and to the point.
Many thanks for the tip.
Very helpful...thank you! Shortened mine and they work.
This video answers many questions that I had... Thank you so much for this video!!!
Glad the video helped 💥😎
Thank you! that was very helpful. I learned how to join the wires together and how solder them. I like using the heat shrink over the solder joints. I have done that before thanks again Enjoy your Christmas Holidays..
Glad the video was helpful 😎🎄
Thanks a ton, I applied this to the C-9 lights which have 3 then 4 then back to 3, got it right first try!
The “resistors” are rectifiers. They convert ac power to dc and eliminate flickering. These lights are fully (full wave) rectified. These are the only LEDs Christmas lights worth buying.
@DrummerGirl423 Thank you for providing this information 💥 I had no idea what those were 🙃
Actually those are resistors. They often look very similar. If they were rectifiers then there would be 2 wires going in and out of them, but his lights only have one wire.
very good thanks a lot.
Good stuff man. I noticed the Acworth sign in the background, I live in kennesaw. Happy holidays
@Ben Sexton Good eye! It’s a small world lol Hope the video helped. 😎
Thank u so much!!
Thanks. I needed this. I was wiring the lights on the roof and my wife wanted a section with no lights and I just didnt see how these lights were wired. It looked like a series but that third wire got me. Thanks again. Great video.
@pipi7731 Glad the video helped. Stay safe
nice job thank you
You are good:-) I have some strings without resistors inside the line. I will give it a try to cut the string. I asume that you do not need a femal plug at the end.
You do not need a female end, but you’ll have secure the ends of the wires so you don’t cause a short. I would cut off the female end of a set of lights that don’t work anymore and use that.
Good Video... Thanks! Wondering if I can splice/an incandecent 4W blub connection to a regular string LED string lights.
To be honest, I don’t know. If you have some spare lights you don’t mind possibly ruining, I would just go ahead and try it. That’s basically what I did when I first tried doing this. Good luck.
as long as you splice it in parallel with the LEDs, and not in series
Great video. The LED (blinking/multicolor) strands that I purchased have 4 wires. How do shorten those? Thanks.
@MAS I haven’t tried this with one that has 4 wires. Depending on your comfort level with soldering (and comfort level of destroying one strand of lights) I would just label each wire on both sides of the cut, use some wing nut wire connectors and go through a trail and error method. That’s honestly what I did. In my experience, connecting the wires in the wrong order and plugging in the lights did not ruin anything, but your experience may be different with that 4th wire. As always, be safe and attempt at your own risk 😜😎
Nice. How do I can put extra lights between two lights gaps ur hands like that.
If will put less gaps more light’s extra put more nicer
Like every 2 inches after after lights show.
Thanks for your video. I was wondering if its possible and would it be relatively simple to mod the mode control box? In 9/10 cases when you buy xmas lights they have 8+ modes or programs and the "steady on" mode is always right at the end meaning they are useless if you want to use them on a timer. Have you ever done something like this before? I would imaging just bypass the controller and solder the wires but Id really like to not blow myself up if i can help it. The idea is i will hoist them up my sailboats masts and up the forestay over the triatic stay and down the back stays. also all around the grab railings too. Id really like to use a timer though i cant be going to the marina everyday to press the damn controller button.
@ThyHarkness I’ve never messed with the lights that have the controller box. Only the cheap simple lights. They sell simple timers that you can plug your lights into, not sure if something like that would work for you want. Sorry, not sure I’m going to be much help with the controller module.
Where do you buy your lights from? Also, can I do this with a control box lights meaning the box that controls the blink pattern?
@AJ W I got these lights from Walmart when they were on sale 🤑 I haven’t tried this with lights that have a control box to control the blink pattern. If it was me, I would use the marking system I showed in the video and go for it. If it works great (it may take some trail and error like I showed in the video), if it doesn’t work then you can solder everything back the way it was. I’m only telling you what I would do, but in the end it’s up to you. As I have said before, use lights you are willing to sacrifice or be willing to go buy another set if something happens. Good luck and let me know how this ends up working out with the control box and blinking pattern, I’m curious and I’m sure others are as well 💥😎👍🏼
This is exactly what I’m doin . Where do you get those lights??? Thanks
@Gutxi Arenarez I got these LED lights from Walmart. Nothing fancy, but they work well and look great.
Can i use this method to connect 3 separate christmas lights? I'm trying to get their blinks to sync. I know i can just connect their plugs, but every time i unplug them from the outlet they go back to random.
@Daryl Estrada Florin I haven’t worked with any of the blinking lights so I’m not sure. Depending on your comfort level with soldering, you could try and if it doesn’t work then solder everything back to normal. If you choose to try it, plug it in and verify that wires aren’t getting too warm and make sure you don’t have any voltage drop. Be safe and good luck 😎
Great video. Followed your method and cut my line. Plugged everything back in and it looked great for a couple minutes before it flickered and went out. Now only half of my 66 ft lines went out. Guessing you can’t just cut the lines shorter since the voltage is coming through the lines is matched up to a certain number of led lights. Too few lights, you get a burnout? Run into this?
Correct. There is a length at which it becomes too short and you’ll start to experience problems. Unfortunately I don’t have a formula or trick to know what that point is. Might worth trying to see if it’s just a bulb that randomly stopped working and that’s why half of them went out 🤞🏼🤷🏽♂️. You can use the ‘LED Keeper’ tool to determine if that’s the case. Sorry to hear that happened. Good luck and stay safe.
Will this method work for the incandescent mini bulbs? I need to shorten a length to only about 5 bulbs. Thanks!
@Joe Whistler This should work with incandescent bulbs, full size or mini. If you’re concerned then you may want to try with a set you’re ok with messing up, but this process should work just fine you. Let me know how this works out for you. I’m sure others would like to hear as well. Good luck 👍🏼😎
No it will not work with mini incandescent bulbs. The bulbs will pop instantly.
Incandescent mini bulbs have many different ratings. 2.5v is the most common, but there are also 3.5v, 5v, 6v, 10v and 12v. You need to have enough bulbs to total 120v. So you need roughly 50 of the 2.5v bulbs, or 35 of the 3.5v bulbs, or 24 of the 5v bulbs, or 20 6v bulbs, or 12 of the 10v bulbs, or 10 of the 12v bulbs.
You can shorten the string but you need to change the bulbs also.
I think you should leave a little more wire on the end. Don't cut so close to the bulb socket in case as you said you need to reattach the removed length.
what if I decide not to add the plug at the end? how do I finish the connection? thanks
@Nicholas j. Mastrocovo Hey there, I would recommend keeping the plug to keep the wires safe and in case you ever need to plug something into that set of lights in the future. If you aren’t going to keep the plug, you need to make sure the wires are covered and protected the elements. Maybe some shrink tubing or something along those lines. Be safe and good luck 😎
What temperature do you have your soldering iron at?
@Joe Paoletti Well this may or may not be the right thing to to, but I had mine turned all the way up 🤷🏽♂️😎
When you say not super short, how short do you mean??? I’m making an archway with led Xmas lights and I want to be able to take it apart in sections for storage so I want to cut the lights in the detachable parts of the arch and add make and female plugs kinda like the pre lit Xmas trees. Will this method work for that do you think?? It’s a 3 wired string of lights like the video.
@edgelordlive1801 I honestly don’t know the shortest length possible before it won’t work. I would assume you would need at least one rectifier or what I called a resistor in line in order for them to work, but I don’t know that for sure. I would just label everything so that if it doesn’t work at the length you want, you can just solder everything back together and try a different length. Good luck and be safe.
@@projectputunder6025 lol I really wasn’t sure if you would reply so fast. Thanks a lot I appreciate advice
How can I use just 20 bulbs from a set of 100, lighting it with 240v/50Hz ac please?
@gatlino2004 Unfortunately I will not be able to help you out. I do know that there is a point at which too few lights is problematic, but I don’t have an exact number and I definitely can’t help you with led lights on 240v. Good luck and be safe 👍🏼😎
Hello beautiful. I am looking like this. Can possibly show something. Mean Christmas icecle light is very nice. I seen 3,4 inches gaps each light. But I like to do filler between gaps more light. Like ever two inches length I like to put extra light. How do I can do.
Like example shop seen I meter length 20 lights. But I like to put 40 lights. Do understand what I am saying.
Do u know any shop will do London. I live N9, close to Tottenham new football stadium.
Or can possibly do for me
Only I like to do my front window 6 fits around wider
Just like to do each wire length bit bigger and more light extra put every two inches after after with U.K. plug or usb operation system.
Please kindly advise please
so i have a standard 5 color (red,blue,orange,yellow,green) 70 LEDs string with 2 rectifiers. i want to add 2 more colors (white, purple) in the set. my set is 3 wires also.
i bought a 70led white set and 70led purple, now i just need to cut and add.
if anyone knows some tricks let me know please
-> are these LEDs one direction?
-> and the 2 wires bypassing the LED, does they matter how i connect them? or they random (of course the LED wires i will connect to the next LED)
-> and also, do i have to add the rectifiers every 35 lights? or doesn't matter
@Gabriel alacubalena Unfortunately I won’t be able to help you out. Good luck. 👍🏼
"are these LEDs one direction?" - YES, LED's are unidirectional. If you have a string of lights that are uncertified then it doesn't matter. If the string is rectified then it does matter which way the LEDs are installed.
"and the 2 wires bypassing the LED, does they matter how I connect them?" Yes. Those 2 wires bypassing the LEDs are the HOT and neutral wires from the plug. If you connect them together you've created an instant short circuit. The wire from the LEDs needs to go to the proper wire.
How many white and purple LEDs are you adding? If you add too many they will just turn off completely. Each colour LED has a certain forward voltage bias associated with it ranging from about 1.7v (red) to about 3.5v (white). They need that amount of voltage to turn on. Purple and blue are close to 3.0v. So your 70 LED string is comprised of 2 sections of 35 each. If you add too many white and purple LEDs it will slowly dim until it doesn't work at all.
@@tchevrierthank you!
I noticed this too; they got dimmer as i was adding until the added ones were off completely while the the rest of the string was on. i think the white ones needing more power than any other color is messing up everything.
im thinking how to add power somehow without burning them; like section them further (every 20-25) and powering up each section, if it makes sense
@@alacubalena78 It's not really about needing more power. Its about needing more voltage. An LED needs a certain amount of voltage to turn on (forward bias) and that depends on the colour. Red is usually the lowest (1.7v) and Blue is the highest (3-3.5v). In most cases white is just a blue LED. Most multicoloured 35 bulb LED strings typically have an even mix of 4 or 5 different colours. Assuming that's 7 each of red, orange, yellow, green and blue, that would be roughly 80v. That's the minimum voltage you need to apply to turn the LEDs on. But if you just connect 35 LEDs to an outlet you will instantly blow them all because there is nothing limiting the current. That's why the resistor is required. The resistor is required to limit the current to 15-20ma. Now for each purple and white LED that you add, you are increasing that 80v figure by roughly 3v each time. And with each LED that you add you are reducing the current. So lets say you add 5 purple and 5 white LEDS. Now the total voltage drop from the LEDs is 110v. It's still enough to turn on but the current will be considerably less and thus the LEDs will be quite dim. Add a couple of more LEDs and eventually there isn't enough voltage to turn them on. It really doesn't matter where you position them, there just isn't enough voltage to turn them all on.
@@tchevrier let's see if i got it correctly..
so my project is :
i have a 70 LED string with 2 halves at 80v; Each half is rectified by a resistor; i want to add 7 White and 7 Purple per half, that would be 14⚪ and 14🟣 total; With about 3v each that would be 84v extra. So i need to supply more voltage (around 160v?) and keep the current at 15/20 ma?
My LEDs have three wires all the way to the female plug at the end. I trimmed them several lights after the resistor/rectifier pack in the middle. But now, no matter which way I splice them, the lights after the resistors don't work. Humm.
Sorry to hear that. None of my LED lights have the 3 wires like you described, mine all look like the ones in my video, so I can’t help you out. Hope you’re able to figure it out, or at least wire it back like it was originally. Good luck 🤞🏼
Perhaps I missed something but if you shorten by quite a few lights then the other LED's might get too much voltage and burn out faster correct?
@Sgtmajorsir There is of course that possibility, however, I’ve been running mine for over 4 years with no problems and not a single burn out.
I saw another video where the lady talked about getting too much voltage because the resistance had been reduced. She solved the problem by wiring in a properly sized resistor. Have not tried that but it worked for her.
What if you put a resister in a super short line?
@Brandon Stephenson I’m not qualified to answer that question, sorry. Also, I’m not sure how short you could go before a resistor would be needed 🤷🏽♂️ Be safe and good luck 😎
Papasteph, try it and let us know. Its only a few $ and will help us all
Can I do this if it has a battery pack?
I have never tried this with a battery pack, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I know this is obvious, but just make sure the batteries are out 😂 As I stated in the video, if you’re going to try, be willing to throw the lights away if it doesn’t work. Good luck and please come back in here and let me know if it was successful.
Battery powered LED strings are different then AC strings. AC strings install all the LEDs in series with one another. Battery powered LEDs install the LEDs in parallel with one another. That means it is much simpler to shorten the string. Just cut off what you don't want. But DON'T join the ends together. That will create a short circuit.
I have c9 led. I only need to cut 7 off the end. Do/should I reconnect the female end if I don’t need it? Mine also do not have a resister do you think/know if this will work??
Adam, this will work even if your LED strings don’t have any resistors. If you have any concerns, then mark each line as directed so you can solder everything back together if needed. I would recommend just using the female plug that is already at the cut off end bc you never know when you might want/need power for something else. Also, it’s an easy way to keep your new connections as water resistant as possible.
All LED strings have resistors. They might be located on the wire like in this video, or they might be soldered directly to the LED inside the housing where you can't see them.
It’s not a resistor, it’s an ac/dc step converter. LEDs draw very little voltage.
LEDs draw very little current
Wish me luck!
Hope everything went well for you 👍🏼
Can you connect like two different colored lights? Let's say I wanna cut a red christmas light in half and a blue one in half, and I wanna connect those two. Would it be fine?? Or it needs to be a same brand or voltage etc?
That is an interesting idea. I have not tried tried that yet, but now I’m going to lol. I would think that was long as you maintain to same or less number of lights, this shouldn’t be a problem, however, proceed at your own risk should you attempt it. Please keep me updated if you try. Be safe 😎
That's a good question. Different coloured LEDs have different forward voltage drops. If you replace a red LED with any other colour you will shouldn't have a problem, however if you replace a blue LED with a red then you will need to be careful how many you replace as you will increase the current for each LED you replace.
Less than ten minutes out of the thirty plus given to the actual soldering.
I did like for the last ten minutes. The first twenty could have really been chopped to about five.
Thanks man. Hope the video helped. I try to tailor my videos to complete beginners, but I know I can get long winded lol 🤦🏽♂️🤪
I don't sweat or risk. I'm a person with no time or much patience. I quit at the marking wires... which one it was? Dump it.
I would not advise that anyone follow your advice.
LED lights don't work the same as incandescent bulbs. You got lucky that it worked.
@tchevrier Not sure why you don’t think it works with LEDs when the video clearly shows that it does. I have done this same thing on 12+ different LED strings and all of them have held up just fine for 4+ years.
@@projectputunder6025 I didn't say that it does not work, I said that you got lucky it worked.
LEDs have a unique characteristic that is different than incandescent bulbs. LEDs have something called a forward voltage bias that is different depending on the colour. Essentially they have a voltage drop, but no resistance. They are also unidirectional so current only flows in one direction. And the typical operating range is 15-20 milliamps.
A string of LED Christmas lights is constructed with a number of LEDs in series and current limiting resister. (that's the big green thing on the wire). The resistor is essential because there is little to no resistance through the LEDs. The resistor is sized according to the line voltage less the total voltage drop through all the LEDs. It is sized to keep the current between 15 and 20 milliamps.
If you start removing LEDs from the circuit you are reducing the total LED voltage drop. This means that the voltage through the resistor increases. If the voltage through the resistor increases 2 negative things happen. First, it increases the power being dissipated through the resistor which means that it will get hot and either fail or start to melt the wire and plastic. And it really doesn't take much to do that. The power being dissipated in that resistor is the square of the current. Second, it increases the current through the LEDs. If it increases beyond its normal operating range then the LEDs can be damaged and/or their lifespan significantly reduced. Increase it too much and they will instantly blow. If the light string has been designed to operate at the low end of its operating range then you have more room to cutout LEDs, but if its designed at the high end already then you don't have much wiggle room. Half the string is a lot to be removing. That could be increasing the current by as much as 50-100% and the power in that resistor by as much as 200-400%.
It might have worked but it is definitely not a good thing for people to be doing if they don't understand how it works.
Geeeez this was hard to watch.
Constructive criticism. You "Um-And" too much. "Um" stops a listener's thoughts. Too many strung together "And" clauses causes a listener to loose the logic of what you are going to say.
First make an outline of points in the order you want to video. Practice your 'delivery' and change your outline as needed to produce a smooth flow of logic. Practice, practice, practice before you video.
@tmeyer2022 I couldn’t agree with you more. This was one of my first videos, so still got a lot to work on. Thanks for the comment.