Outdoor LED garlands: frost and moisture resistant decorations

The ability to decorate a house with colored lights not only inside, but also outside has appeared relatively recently. For a long time, the use of bulbs on the street was impossible due to difficult weather conditions: frost, precipitation, etc. But progress does not stand still and today you can find street LED garlands on sale: frost-resistant, heat- and moisture-resistant. Consider what opportunities such outdoor decorations provide to their owners.

How did New Year's LED garlands for home appear?

For the first time, street Christmas lights appeared about 100 years ago in America. Of course, they did not become widespread immediately. But thanks to the fact that they were used to decorate the main Christmas tree of the country, it soon became much easier to buy a garland for the street. Shops were the first to support this fashion trend, and then by owners of private houses.

In Russia, street garlands appeared much later. This is primarily due to the harsher climate and severe frosts, which are characteristic of the cold season. But today this problem has been solved and LED garlands for the home give everyone the opportunity to decorate their home. In addition, such devices are often used to decorate shop windows, advertising signs, banners, etc.

Outdoor LED garlands: frost and moisture resistant. Device advantages

The use of LED lamps as decoration has a number of advantages that have made garlands so popular. The main ones are:

• compared to conventional incandescent lamps LEDs have a significantly longer service life (usually it is 4-5 times longer);
• LED bulbs boast a high level of brightness and purity of the glow;
• from the point of view of economy, they are more profitable than conventional ones, so there is no need to worry about excessive consumption of electricity;
• a special plastic case is able to protect them from any environmental factors and moisture ingress;
• parallel connection of bulbs allows the garland to continue to work, even if one of the elements is faulty, while for incandescent lamps only a series connection is used, which requires the inevitable serviceability of all components;
• There are many ways to decorate and diversify your LED string. To do this, use special plastic nozzles of various shapes.

Helpful advice! Thanks to different attachments, you can use the same garland over the years, while decorating your home and grounds differently each time. For example, one year you can use star-shaped attachments, another - hearts, etc.

How to choose a quality Christmas tree LED garland

Like any other product, a number of requirements are imposed on LED street garlands for trees (it is important to understand that only if your purchase matches all these parameters, you can count on its long and uninterrupted service):

• the first thing to pay attention to is the quality of the plastic that was used to make the case. It is quite simple to distinguish high-quality material from low-quality one. If a cheap alternative was used in the manufacturing process, the case will not be able to withstand severe frost and will crack. It is much better if the manufacturer used rubber or rubber instead of plastic. This will provide not only better functionality of the garland, but also a higher level of safety in its use;

Helpful advice! To make sure of the frost resistance of garlands for trees outside, pay attention to the markings when buying devices. This criterion is indicated by the letters G and R.

• when it comes to decorating a large Christmas tree or the facade of a house, the question of the required length of the garland arises. The standard sizes of devices range from 5-20 m. The most popular and convenient option is a street LED garland of 20 meters. With due diligence, you can find a device up to 50 m long. The easiest way to lengthen the garland if necessary is to use special connectors that allow you to connect several devices into a single circuit;
• the level of moisture protection is another important selection criterion. Everything is quite simple here: if the device does not have additional protection against directed water flow, it is indicated on the packaging with the letter N. For outdoor use, you should choose a garland that does not have this designation.

Another important point that you should definitely pay attention to is the stability of the voltage in the power grid. If it is not stable, even the most carefully selected string can be damaged by a sudden voltage drop. To completely eliminate the risk of bulb burnout, it is best to use a special stabilizer, which will require additional costs.

Varieties of LED garlands for the street

LED strings are divided into types according to two main parameters: power supply method and configuration.

By the type of power supply, devices are divided into:

• connected to the mains;
• autonomous power supplies - it can be a frost-resistant street LED garland on batteries or powered by solar panels.

The advantage of the second type is that there is no need to look for an outlet nearby. At the same time, the use of solar panels as a power source is considered more convenient and also environmentally friendly. Thus, a solar-powered street garland accumulates the energy received during daylight hours, and then gradually spends it on the operation of LEDs.

Helpful advice! Battery powered LED string lights are very handy when you want to decorate an object that is far from the outlet. But do not forget that the power consumption of such devices, as a rule, is not too high. Therefore, if you nevertheless decide to buy a battery-powered LED garland, make sure that you have several sets of batteries in stock.

What LED street garlands can be bought in shape and appearance

Another way of dividing street lights is their shape. Depending on the configuration, they can be used for different purposes and in different conditions:

• universal garlands - the simplest and most familiar option, which provides for the alternating arrangement of bulbs on a flexible wire. For all its seeming primitiveness, with the help of such a device, you can decorate almost anything, giving the garland any shape. You can purchase both a single-color and multi-color universal garland with one or several operating modes;
• LED garland-curtain on the window (or as it is also called LED garland-curtain) is a cable located horizontally, with hanging threads on which LED bulbs are fixed. Depending on the length of the threads, and it can range from 1.5 to 9 m, such curtains can be used both for decorating window openings and for entire facades. They can often be seen attached to eaves or canopies. These garlands got their name due to the ability to control the flow of electricity supplied to the LEDs, which allows you to create the effect of dripping or flowing water;

• devices in the form of icicles or fringes - it makes sense to buy a street garland of this type if you want to decorate the visor or cornice of the house in an original way. Its principle of operation is similar to the previous type of device, however, the number of bulbs in the fringe threads may vary. As a rule, the length of one thread does not exceed 1 m, but they all differ from each other in length. With the help of the controller, as well as grouping the LEDs into beams by color, the effect of a running light is created;
• LED garland-mesh is a more complex system, which is a set of wires, at the junction of which LEDs are fixed. This mesh is designed to decorate the entire facade, openings, and recreation areas. By using special connectors, the individual elements can be combined into a single piece of almost any size. The only difficulty that can arise and that must be taken into account is that the wires themselves are quite fragile and easily subject to mechanical damage. Therefore, such a mesh should not be used when it comes to decorating trees.

Is it worth buying a duralight? LED garlands in tubes

Duralight is a special kind of garlands, which are a tube with LEDs inside. Depending on the type of garland, the distance between the luminous elements can be from 12 to 27 mm. At the same time, you can buy a multi-colored duralight street garland or pick up a monochrome model.

Strings can be round or flat, depending on the type of cord used to connect the LEDs. With the help of duralight, it is convenient to create various glowing figures, inscriptions, as well as decorate facades, showcases or advertising signs with their help.

Garlands that resemble melting icicles in appearance can be distinguished into a separate category. They are made on the basis of the same duralight, but thanks to the controller, the LEDs located in the hanging threads gradually go out. This gives the impression that the surface is gradually decreasing. Depending on the model, one garland can have from 5 to 10 such icicles, the distance between which is from 10 to 50 cm.

Due to the unusual effects that duralight can create, this type of garlands is gaining wide popularity when it comes to the design of areas intended for recreation, verandas, as well as house facades and cornices.

Modes of operation of street LED garlands at home and other objects

Each of us has seen that the flickering of the lights of LED garlands located both on the street and in houses can be very diverse. Each mode has specific names, and all models of garlands are pre-programmed for one or another combination.

The main names and descriptions of the modes:

• fixing (fixing) - the mode of static glow of diodes without any additional effects;
• chasing (chasing) - gradual ignition, alternating with slow decay of the LEDs. Due to the smoothness of this process, it is used to create effects such as overflows, as well as light waterfalls;

• flash (blinking) - in this mode, every 5th or 7th LED in the garland blinks;
• chameleon (chameleon) - constant intensive change of LED colors;
• multi-chasing that requires a controller. It includes combinations of several different modes at once.

Models that can provide all of the above variety of effects are certainly more expensive than those that are limited to one or two modes. In any case, it is worth checking the serviceability of each mode in the store before you pay for your purchase.

How to repair an LED garland with your own hands

Quite often, a situation arises that even last winter the device was perfectly functional, but now it does not work as it should, for example, the LED garland dimly burns or does not turn on at all. Also, there are cases when one color of the LED garland from several does not light up. It is quite possible to repair and bring the device to working order on its own. To successfully solve the problem, you need to have an idea of ​​what kind of breakdowns occur most often, as well as possible ways of how to repair an LED garland in one case or another.

Related article:

Diagram of connecting a 220V LED strip to the network: correct installation of the backlight. Properties of LED strips, their use in the interior. Self-adhesive 220V models. The price of tapes and their installation by hand.

How to fix an LED garland: a separate area does not light up

The most common breakdown is when one or two colors of the garland are not lit. It happens that an entire section does not work. In this case, it is worth starting the repair of the LED Christmas tree garland by disassembling the control unit in order to make sure that all contacts are securely attached to the board and a wire breakage did not cause a malfunction. If you find that the problem is hiding precisely in this place, the detached contact must be fixed.You can learn more about this procedure from the video on how to repair an LED string below.

If the cause of the breakdown was not found in the control unit, this indicates that it is hidden in the common wire. The fact is that for LED garlands, unlike conventional ones, a parallel connection is used, which eliminates the possibility of a garland malfunction due to burnout of one element. Therefore, your task is to check the common wire for damage, bites, etc.

Helpful advice! Often the cause of the malfunction is pets that gnaw the wires. Take care in advance that your pets do not have access to the garlands, as this is unsafe, first of all, for themselves.

How to repair an LED string if it is completely faulty

If the LED string does not light up when the power is connected, the problem can also be fixed by hand. The LED string requires routine inspection for damage to the power cord and power supply. Make sure all pins are securely connected to the chip and to the board. If all connections are in order, most likely the board itself has burned out.

At this stage, you need to make a decision: is it worth it to fix the garland or whether it will be easier to buy a new one. Of course, if we are talking about an inexpensive Chinese garland, it will be easier to replace it. If you decide in favor of fixing the old one, use the advice provided.

The control unit can be replaced with a starter from a fluorescent lamp. Depending on how powerful it is (127 or 220 volts), the LEDs will flash at different speeds.

It is worth starting by checking how exactly the LEDs are connected in this garland. Here you should be interested in how the extreme elements of the groups are interconnected. If the connection is made using anodes, you will have to search the Internet for the scheme of the New Year's garland on LEDs and make some changes to connect the extreme elements with cathodes. This is due to the fact that for normal operation of the garland through the starter, a 5-watt resistor is required, which will supply voltage to the anode with the required resistance. In addition, you need to include diodes in the circuit so that they can pass the reverse current from the network through them.

It is quite troublesome to independently figure out the LED garland circuit and fix it. Therefore, it will often be much easier to buy a new one.

Replacing individual elements of the LED string

If it is necessary to replace a separate LED that has failed, this can be done quite simply. You just need to disconnect the garland from the power supply in order to avoid electric shock, evaporate the burnt-out element and install a new one in its place. The main thing in this is to observe the polarity.

It is especially worth noting how to repair such garlands as duralight. Sometimes you have to deal with such a phenomenon as a malfunction of its individual section. But here the solution is simple: you need to find the problem area (you can do this visually or with the help of a tester), and then simply cut it out, using special marks made by the manufacturer as a guide. The non-working part can be thrown away, and the serviceable ones can be combined using a special connector.

How to make a garland of LEDs with your own hands

It is quite possible to make a garland yourself if you use the scheme of a Chinese garland on LEDs as a guide. Consider three algorithms that differ from each other in the complexity of manufacturing and, accordingly, in the sophistication of the final result.

Simple LED Christmas tree garland

In order to make the simplest version of the LED string, you will need the following components:

• LEDs (best at 20mA);
• wire with a cross section of 0.25 or 0.5 mm;
• resistor with a resistance of 100 ohms;
• 6V power supply;
• knife;
• silicone sealant (transparent) and a gun for it;
• soldering iron, rosin and solder.

The simplest scheme of a Christmas tree garland on LEDs involves a series connection of all elements. This is very easy to implement. It is necessary to decide what distance you want to maintain between the luminous elements, after which, using a marker, the appropriate designations are made on the wire. The standard distance between LEDs is 20-25 cm.

Then, using a sharp knife, in the places where the LEDs will be attached, the top layer of insulation is cut off. In this case, the cut length should be 1-2 cm. Rosin and a little solder are applied to this area, which will allow the LED to be more securely and easily fixed. After that, the legs of the LED are soldered.

The soldered LED itself is not very reliable, therefore, in order to provide the garland with greater strength, it is necessary to create additional protection, which, at the same time, will allow insulating the exposed part of the wire. To do this, you need thin tape. Each LED is wrapped in such a way that it is "in a pocket". Then, using silicone sealant, the upper part of the pocket is fixed.

After the procedure for creating a "pocket" from the tape is completed, you can attach a resistor to the wire and Power Supply, and then start testing the system.

Multicolor LED garland: diagram (China)

Making a multicolor garland is not that difficult. After reviewing the diagram, you will see that the principle of its operation is quite simple due to the fact that each color is connected to a separate generator. Therefore, understanding the general structure of the system for one color will allow you to use several identical channels in the same way, allowing the garland to glow in many different colors.
Due to the fact that each color channel is connected to a separate generator, they are independent from each other and can continue to work even when one of them fails.

But if the channels themselves are arranged according to the principle that was considered in the process of creating the simplest garland, the controller should be given special attention. Such a device is inexpensive, but it greatly expands the possibilities of the garland. The wires are soldered to the microcircuit, which is responsible for the operating modes of the device, and the control button allows you to freely switch from one mode to another.

Thus, by spending very little money, you can create a much more interesting and perfect multicolor device that will fully work in several modes.

Complex garland on LEDs: diagram and step-by-step instructions

More complex in design, but at the same time more effective is a garland on lithium batteries. The principle of its device is somewhat different from the Chinese LED garland, the diagram of which is given above, and assumes that a bright colored plume will remain behind the garland. This effect is great for creating patterns in the air.

It is quite problematic to buy such an LED garland for the street, mainly due to the high cost. But if you pick up all the necessary parts and devote some time to the assembly, you can save a lot, while achieving the desired result. The list of required materials includes the following materials:

• 10mm diodes capable of scattering light;
• narrow tape;
• magnets, the diameter of which is not more than 1.3 mm, and the thickness is 3 cm;
• epoxy adhesive;
• lithium batteries CR2032 3V.

After all the necessary components are selected, adhere to the following algorithm of actions:

1. Each diode must be tested by attaching it with a long leg to the positive pole of the lithium battery, and the short one, respectively, to the negative.
2. After making sure that the LED glows brightly enough, wrap the battery and diode in this position with tape.
3. Then a magnet is attached to the battery from the positive pole, which is also fixed with adhesive tape.
4. Each element obtained in this way is fixed on a thin wire, which serves as the basis of the garland.

The main difficulty in creating such a garland is that the same operation must be repeated accurately and carefully many times. But, in addition to the proposed options, on the Internet you can find a lot of other ideas on how to make a garland of LEDs with your own hands. You just need to set a goal and you can bring to life almost any idea.

How to choose and buy LED garlands: for home, outdoor, fringe garland, etc.

If the idea of ​​making an LED garland on your own does not seem attractive to you, you can buy a new one. Let's consider several of the most popular options: their cost and some defining characteristics. This will help you make the right choice and find the most suitable model.

It should be understood that you can buy New Year's LED garlands at very different prices. Much depends on the country and the company that manufactures, as well as the length of the garland and lighting effects.

Let's give as an example the average prices for popular models of New Year's garlands:

• LED curtain garland "Rain" is a very popular model that is available in a huge range of sizes and prices. For example, a high-quality one-color LED garland with parameters of 1.5x2 m and a transparent wire can be purchased for 2900 rubles, while a multi-color garland will cost you 3700 rubles. At the same time, you can buy a Chinese-made LED garland "Rain". The analogue will cost much cheaper (about 1000 rubles), but in quality it will be noticeably inferior to the original;

• LED garland curtain on the window. You can buy such a piece of jewelry from a Chinese manufacturer for 800 rubles. But really high quality LED window lights will cost you at least 2 times more. Naturally, a lot depends on the area covered by such a curtain, as well as the availability of additional functions and color management capabilities;
• you can also buy LED icicle garlands at very different prices. Basically, the range can be outlined as follows: small Chinese garlands will cost 560 rubles. and more. The upper limit of prices is around 3000 rubles. For this price, it is quite possible to purchase a high-quality device with the appropriate effect, for example, the Melting Icicles LED garland;
• an outdoor frost-resistant LED fringe garland costs about 3,000 rubles. and higher depending on configuration.

Helpful advice! FROMIt should be noted that, speaking of cheap garlands of Chinese production, options costing 100, 200, 300 rubles are not taken into account. Such products rarely meet expectations, so the purchase of these garlands can hardly be called expedient.

As you can see, the prices of LED garlands have a fairly wide range, which makes it possible to purchase jewelry by absolutely all segments of the population. The only question is that its service life directly depends on the cost of the garland. Once purchased, a quality product will pay off in a couple of years, unlike cheap garlands, which will constantly fail.

Street lights spend most of their time in the closet, however, they are irreplaceable during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Therefore, when it comes to buying them or making them yourself, it is best to take it with due attention. Then the house and the territory of the site will shine with multi-colored lights, giving a good mood and creating a cozy festive atmosphere.