Ok, so it’s Christmas and your busting to get the Christmas Lights out! right?
Well my son has just bought some musical lights with his own 20 bucks that he’s worked hard to earn. Luckily he wants to put them in his bedroom and not the lounge-room! (They are quite 80’s computer music sounding).
Well the lights are fun but only if they are safe.
We all remember those spiky dodecahedron type lights when we were kids. You know the ones? you snuck out to see if Santa had been yet and accidentally stepped on a stray spiky piece, desperately hoping as you collapsed your leg to escape the spike pain that there were no more on the floor.
Ok most things back then were not safe. But now we have “options”
Im not sure that You can buy those collector item lights anymore but even if you could then they always ran on 240 volts. So if you broke a globe it could be very dangerous as the filaments were alive and could kill you. ( not a good Christmas)
So these days if you see lights with just a plug (like I did today in a major chain store) and no transformer ( the box thing that plugs in the wall) don’t buy it!!!!
Make sure it extra low voltage such as 12 volt, 24 volt or 32 volt.
This way of you break a globe it’s still safe.
Better still buy extra low voltage LED lights (light emitting diode)
They use hardly any power, don’t have glass to cut you if they break, have a long lamp life typically 30,000 hours (about 108 Christmas’ ) and run on extra low voltage power supplies most of the time.
Now, all that is hard to beat!!
Only thing to remember now is only use the lights outdoors if rated for outdoor use and, most importantly if they are musical one put them in the kids bedroom, not the lounge room!!!
O.k. So we’ve got the lights out of the way, now there’s only the safety switch issue and overloading power points issue to worry about!
I think il write on that another time though!
Buchan ElectricalPhone 0439 688 999www.buchanelectrical.com
Registered Electrical Contractor 16499
Electrical License 36895
