RE: Electric Rope Lights

[Foxyladies]

 Having a great friend that I have, who use to go camping with me and all our kids....has bought me a clear rope of lights. I think you all have seen it, you can get them in red, clear and blue. You ve probally seen them at campgrounds usually used by TT or seasonal people. Well, I went to read the directions and happened to read how much amps a 18 ft rope of lights were and it said 56. I was telling the owners of the campground who have been doing things for me and he said " what" ....thats alot of amps. Of course I didn t know so I said " maybe I read it wrong"  so when I was at Walmart I so the same ones and it said " 54 amps" . Sorry for being long but are they a problem to use?.....and why? Should she return them?

[popupcop]

 Foxyladies
My guess is that the boxes are mislabeled showing " Amps"  instead of " Watts."   Using the formula Volts times Amps equals Watts, 54 amps at 115 volts would equal 5980 watts.  That would be the equivalent to nearly 58-one hundred watt light bulbs and two 40 watt bulbs strung together.

[Gone-Camping]

 Foxyladies
Yeah, something is very wrong there. at 50+ amps, you d never be able to plug them into a wall outlet and light them up. Most household circuit breakers are rated at either 15 or 20 amps, and the big heavy cord on you PU is rated at 30 amps. Those rope lights you can string several of them up together and still not trip a 15 amp circuit, it s probably more like .58 (Point five eight) or something like that, they are very low power!!!

[Gone-Camping]

 Foxyladies
Ok, I just went out to the garage and looked at the label on a set that I have out there, mine are rated at 0.45 amps (zero point four five)!!!

[brainpause]

 Foxyladies
*snicker*
 
 We bought a Quik Shade that came with an X-shaped rope of lights to put up on the inside of it. They are pretty neat.
 
 Anyway, my first reaction was " Wow...guess I can t carry THAT to the campground!"  Then I came to my senses and realized how very much 56 amps would be! An average size home probably wouldn t have more than a 200 amp electrical box!
 
 Whew!
 
 Larry

[Gone-Camping]

 Foxyladies
brainpause, I like that idea on the quik shade.... We used our quik shade awning in Hatters Memorial Day Weekend, and never thought about putting any lighting underneath of it! Hmmmmm

[Starcraft Dad]

 Foxyladies
We got two stes of red, white and blue rope lights.  They plug end to end and we use both connected together.  They work fine with no problems.  They were $6 and some change at Walmart.

[Foxyladies]

 Foxyladies
So, are you all giving me the approval to use these rope lights?

[popupcop]

 Foxyladies
Yes, we are.  We use our rope lights all the time.

[Gone-Camping]

 Foxyladies
Yep.... At only half an amp per light set, you could run several of them together!!!

[Wayfarer]

 Foxyladies
Interesting.  I ve been looking for the lights you are talking about.  Mind telling me exactly where in Walmart you find them (i.e., what department)?
 
 Thanks!

[Starcraft Dad]

 Foxyladies
I actually found mine in a display by the check outs.  Other places they may have them is the seaonal garden area and where they have the flags displayed for the 4th of July.  They had them there also.  At least in our Walmart in Michigan.

[Foxyladies]

 Foxyladies
They had them in our seasonal/garden department too!

[wahoonc]

 Foxyladies
If you wait until the day after Christmas, then they are in the clearance section for $1.00 a string, and you can get GREEN ones[8D][]
 
 Aaron[]

[Trlrboy]

 Foxyladies
We have the green ones and clip them to the edge of our awning.  Very woodsy with no bug attraction.