Vampire Plugs and Custom Extension Cords - Do It Yourself Christmas Lights 2023
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- This is the third video in my "how to put up custom Christmas lights" series for 2023. In this video I tie everything together using custom cut extension cords and jump cords that plug into vampire (in-line female) plugs.
If you are using store bought Christmas lights, you can also create your own custom extension cords but due to the nature of the wire on store bought lights, the vampire plugs will not work.
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Those vampire PLUGS ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!
If you don't know what you are doing and you overload your custom extension cords, that "I have made fire" line could be more accurate than expected. The gauge wire you use needs to exceed the total power your lights will be using. Don't ever try to use these to make a normal extension cord for general use. You also need to make sure the "lamp cord" is rated for outdoor use.
I agree with everything you said and when we get into further videos I'll be using my meter to test the loads. The lamp cord is definitely rated for outdoor use. I am buying the exact same stuff that professionals use who do this for a living.
@@Thelawncarenut The lamp cord you are using is rated for outside use, but not all lamp cord is the same. I wasn't referring to the cord you use in the video, just lamp cord in general. Most lamp cord is designed to replace the cord on an indoor lamp and not suitable for outdoor use. There are a ton of rules and regulations on what wire can be used in different situations, such as in doors, outdoors, underground, above ground, in wall, etc.
I like to remind people that if you do your own wiring and it burns your house down, your insurance company can refuse to pay for any damages. So make sure you know what you are doing before messing with electricity.
@@MAGAMAN I can only represent the products I sell. I appreciate your additions and comments.
Did our entire property with your Christmas cords, lights, plugs, etc. We could not be happier. Looks so good and it was all so easy. And the quality of this is miles apart from the box store crap. Thank you so much for showing us all this and making it all easy to purchase.
that's great to hear!! If you are in my FaceBook groupl, I'm going to be asking folks to submit photos and videos of their displays to put in a video - hope you will send in yours (I'll be posting about it at the end of the week) facebook.com/groups/thelawncarenut
Love it! Given this is a custom set of lights, I'd do something to label these because I'd imagine unboxing/unwrapping them before the holidays start and being met with a bundle close to what Clark W. Griswold and Russ experienced. Maybe an additional vid for storage/labeling?
Yes for sure! I have colored tape that I will be using to keep it all organized. That will be a video towards the end for sure.
@Thelawncarenut lable makers are cheap and 1000% better. I was surprised not to see you using one for your landscape lights. Time to level up brother!
I cut the ext cords as I roll them out. I find it more accurate that way, then I label them when I put them away. That's just me though. This is the only way I will do lights for people.
Not sure if you went over this in the past but I do all my light stuff using spt2. Minimal cost difference and I like the extra insulation when leaving stuff in the elements 4 months at a time. (I do color changing rgb c9 for Halloween.)
Also, for anyone in cold weather the vampire plugs won’t always slide themselves on very easy. Just use a pair of channel locks or knipex for the last little bit. Im jealous how easy you warm weather people have it.
Also, have you ever done with zip tie trick to get your lights absolutely dead perfect straight, and never have them move. An absolute must for the OCD folk.
I really enjoy your non lawn care stuff, I would have never thought to use some dark green lamp cord but it makes perfect sense for LED lighting that at most is ever going to draw 1-200W.
Oh wow! I wish i discovered your videos sooner. I love the "custom look" just not the custom price that comes with it lol 😂 but nevertheless, im glad to now have a guide forbnext year. I will be purchasing ridge clips, light lines from your site. Thank you for making these holiday videos.
Very cool and simple too.
Your pricing is really really good on your Christmas stuff. I have an installer account at a big Christmas distributor store in the Dallas Fort Worth, Texas area and the price you are selling most your stuff for is the price I pay when I buy with my discount.
7:25 really innovative stuff!
Always wondered how to get the power to the ridge lights
First wanted to say I am a big fan. Really enjoy your content. A few years ago I got interested in making my lighting look professional and have since really gotten into adding new stuff every year like around the windows and garages. I went ahead and have been watching your videos on lighting cause I enjoy your content. I was always led to believe that when working with the lamp cord and vampire plugs that the ribbed side of the cord needs to be lined up on the right side of the vampire plug or on the large tooth piece. So I don’t know if it doesn’t actually matter or if you were consciously doing it on the video, but just not saying it. Again really enjoy your content. Keep it coming.
this is a really good topic and one of those that I sure will get people arguing lol. So first off, I am not an electrician in any sense of the word. I'm a DIYer who watches alot of videos to learn and I also have an expert in the industry who is guiding me. He has assured me that when using LED, the polarity is not a concern. It is with incandescent but not LED. What does matter is maximum load and line length so I will be making a video on that here very soon once I finish up my roofline.
@@Thelawncarenut appreciate it sir. I wasn’t sure myself and just watched UA-cam videos when I learned how to do mine several years and saw people doing it. Your content is always spot on so I figured there was a reason it wasn’t mentioned, but wanted to double check. Can’t wait for the max load and line length videos. I might be violating something cause I have a lot of lights, but all are LED.
I was thinking the same thing. It might be worth mentioning somehow so people don't use the vampire clips the wrong way on incandescents.
Are the male/female plugs polarized? Assuming they are, are you concerned with matching the wider blade/slot with the neutral wire?
this is an interesting topic and one I am sure would draw some criticism. And to be clear, I am not an electrician (you can probably tell lol). I have an expert in the industry who is guiding me through this and he assures me that when you are using LED, the polarity does not matter. It's only when using incandescent. What does matter though is maximum load and line length and I will be making a video showing how to measure that.
Can you use the vampire clips to connect a custom jumper to the custom extension cord instead of to the light cord?
Great video. But my dilemma is I’ve watched multiple videos on creating your own custom lights “ like your Video “. but no one has mentioned anything about the need for Fuses, are you using light strands that already have the fuses or are they not needed for the type of custom lighting you are doing? Also what gauge of wire should I use? I hope my question wasn’t too confusing. Thank you.
no fuses needed in anything I have showed here. The wire is 18 awg. You can get it here: thelawncarenut.com/collections/christmas-lights/products/spt1-wire-zip-wire-18awg-cord-only-no-sockets-no-plugs-250#
@@Thelawncarenut thank you very much for your help and support. Really appreciate it.
Do you have to do anything to protect the plugs from rain?
nothing special really - just don't let them sit in water or anything l like that.
Do the vampire plugs work with all wires.
only with the 18 gauge SPT1 wire.
Do you sell (or have links to) the wire and plugs used in this video?
they are in the description
I have the lowes store lights. It says to only plug 2 starnds at a time. We did more and all lights went out. Would these male and female vampire plugs work?
you must have purchased incandescent lights. These are LED and you can get up to 250F all on one single plug. However, they will not work with anything you purchased at Lowes. These are commercial lights that I am using in this video.
Very cool video. Those extension cords may be bulky. But they are also thicket AWG. Those are a lot of LED bulbs with those inline connections. Any concerns for the current running thru the first (home made) ext. cord?
there are maximum loads you have to watch for - covered in this video here ua-cam.com/video/MfhMamRRUI4/v-deo.htmlsi=MDUrp7tDRl8QafT7
@@Thelawncarenut Nice. Thanks...
Al had a Hard frost last night .....is Fertilizing still an option will be 60's this weekend NORTHERN GRASS.
Good idea to get down your winterizer now. Give it a final mow in the heat of the day and drop the winterizer. All done !
Thanks Brother!!!!! The frost snuck in!!!!
Will DO!!!!!!!
@@Thelawncarenut
Do you have a link of where to buy this stuff?
here you go: thelawncarenut.com/collections/christmas-lights
Can you show the colored lights? Are they the bright, florescent color or the traditional "old school" color?
I dont have any of the colored ones but I will see if I can secure some to show them off.
How are you going to remember what goes where next year? Or are you leaving them up year round?
Once they are all up I will use colored tape and mark my map. I'll do a video showing that process when the time comes for sure.
First from SWFL!
We got the Trimlights so i dont need to hang lights on the house anymore lol. (permanent LED lights)
Can you use jump cord for store bought Christmas lights or no?
I would not recommend it.
One roll of cable vs two bins of extension cords…much better.
Will this work with my Home Depot lights or only for these custom lights?
They won't work with HD lights because the cords are different - the ones from the store have 3-4 strands where as the professional ones I am using are just 2 and they are jacketed together.
@@Thelawncarenut thanks! I’m really wanting to move this direction but gotta approval from the boss (my wife) first :).
I'll be "one of those". Sorry.
1. Make sure even though its all LED add up the wattage, lamp cords are only 16 gauge and can catch fire easily if overloaded but you should be fine with LEDs, add em up..
2. If the thin cord ever gets nicked by the gutter via wind, squirrel, ect, the whole gutter/house will be energized
3. Those vampire connections come loose and rust over time if moisture/snow gets to them, they are really made for low voltage not high voltage. If connection is not solid (ie rust) then you'll get sparks, fire, and potentially energize something near it.
ua-cam.com/video/MfhMamRRUI4/v-deo.html
How long have you spent on your chirstmas lights this year, looks like you really enioy it 😂
Only a couple hours actually putting them up. Most of my time so far has been spent researching and learning. This weekend I'll be finishing everything on the roof (hopefully) and that will take about 3-4 hours. And yes I do enjoy it! Tis the season!