| In the past couple of years, there has been a bit of | | | | have a lifespan of up to 39 times their cousins too. |
| a shift in lit Christmas decorations. More and more | | | | But are they worth it? As pricing drop, they are |
| you'll find Christmas light strings based upon LED lights | | | | becoming worth it. In my experience, if you can get |
| and less with standard incandescent bulbs. But what's | | | | them on sale, they are more than worth it. But they |
| the difference? From a technological point of view, | | | | do have a few disadvantages as well. First and |
| light is being generated by two different ways. In the | | | | foremost, they are not as bright and their colors are |
| standard incandescent bulbs, which covers pretty | | | | not as rich looking. You can tell when someone is |
| much everything before LED lights when it comes to | | | | using Christmas LED lights or not. But to give credit |
| Christmas lights, heat up a filament in the bulb which | | | | to the manufacturers, they are getting better looking |
| will glow bright when electricity goes through it. Now, | | | | and brighter every year. Next, is the actual life span. |
| they would be efficient, but this type of bulb also | | | | I'm not agreeing with manufacturer claims. I have |
| generates a lot of heat energy too. This heat energy | | | | some strings of LED lights that are about two years |
| is pretty much wasted energy. The smaller | | | | old and they have about four or five bulbs burnt out |
| incandescent bulbs will normally burn around 120 to | | | | in a string of about 50. So, these lights are burning |
| 130 watts per string of 300. | | | | out at a rate of about 5% per year. Plus you cannot |
| When looking at LED lights, they are based upon the | | | | replacement them. Once they go, their gone. |
| same technology used in early watches and | | | | The question though is do I use LED Christmas lights |
| calculators. Remember those glowing red numbers? | | | | over incandescent lights? Yes is the answer. I've |
| Same technology, but brought to the next level. | | | | been very frugal and sought out sales on these |
| What is happening at the technical level is energy is | | | | Christmas LED lighting strings and added to my |
| passed through a special type of diode that emits | | | | collection every year. I find that you can get a pretty |
| light when subjected to electricity. Now, a majority | | | | good effect if you string multiple strings. Maybe I'm |
| of the energy used is used to create light and very | | | | negating the electricity savings, but since moving to |
| little creates heat. The difference is that these bulbs | | | | the LED, I haven't noticed a big jump in my |
| use about 1/5th the energy of their incandescent | | | | electricity. In the end, the decision is really yours. Are |
| cousins. | | | | you a Christmas LED lighting advocate? |
| Another said advantage of the LED lights is they | | | | |