How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
1–10 of 82 posts
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#2Genius!
There is a product idea there, both full on magnetic light sets. But also simpler magnetic clips for use on any lights.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#3Genius! There is a product idea there, both full on magnetic light sets. But also simpler magnetic clips for use on any lights.
These may exist. For example, search for magnetic C9 light clips on Amazon.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#4"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.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#5Genius! There is a product idea there, both full on magnetic light sets. But also simpler magnetic clips for use on any lights.
These may exist. For example, search for magnetic C9 light clips on Amazon.
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.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#6"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.
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.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#7"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.
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.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#8"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.
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.
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#9"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.
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...
Re: How I hang Christmas lights without a ladder
#10Nice 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/