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steve m


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christmas lights suck
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Spent saturday trying to fix last years lights, I picked up the lighted angel and smashed it on the floor after spending half hour trying to fix it, All my icicle lights got water in them and the sockets were rusted, All 5 sets were bad, Through them in trash, Went to menards and bought new lights to go acrossed the front of the house, Plugged them in a store and worked fine, Put them up and plugged them in and every third lighted was out, Grabbed end of cord and ripped them off the house and brought them back to night, Menards quality sucks, Lights are so cheap its a joke, I will not install lights next year or unless my wife tell me to, ha ha, ba humbug



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steve marier  maplewood, mn
bowtie


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Yeah, I just donated a couple light up yard things today. No lights this year for sure. Maybe next year, I'll go out and buy the LED type ones.

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Bryan-NW 'burbs
1972 Malibu
Vaguely stock appearing, and the opposite of restored.
1999 std bore 5.7, Vortec heads, Holley Stealth Ram, GM cam
700R4, Viking coilovers, 12 bolt 4.10 posi, and a whole bunch more
John D


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We did the LED conversion here about 3 years ago...

Pro's:
- Don't have to be "extra delicate/careful" with the strands. You can bang them around all you want - there's nothing to break.
- Dramatically lower power consumption

Cons:
- The mfg's still use THE SAME SOCKETS & HOLDERS as incandesent bulbs - and the brass plating is .005mils thick - they RUST!!!

In the end, you'll gain about 2 to 3 years of trouble free "wad 'em up, stuff 'em in the attic till next year" service, but then you'll be right back where incandecents are...

unless..

You take out each friggen LED bulb/holder, and put a squirt of dielectric grease into the socket. (To seal it and prevent rust).



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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
bowtie


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and how long did that take you.......

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Bryan-NW 'burbs
1972 Malibu
Vaguely stock appearing, and the opposite of restored.
1999 std bore 5.7, Vortec heads, Holley Stealth Ram, GM cam
700R4, Viking coilovers, 12 bolt 4.10 posi, and a whole bunch more
John D


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I'm guessing it would take the better part of a day... I've got about 300 linear feet of lights, with a bulb every 4".

I didn't do it to my strings - I also was "duped" by the LED phenomenon of durability. I wasn't kidding when you can wad them up, drop them on the cement, whatever. But we're at the stage (4th season) where there are random sections dropping out, and when you pull the bulbs the sockets are totally crudded up.

I'm probably going to buy replacements during the season end closeouts, and prep them this time.

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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
Lost in the 60s


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We just bought a 35' string of C-7 LED lights. I should check the bases and grease if necessary. The amazing thing is how many you can plug together. With incandescents, they recommend only 3 sets. With the LED's they state 29 STRINGS !!! That's a 1,000 feet. We could go around our house 7 times with just ONE PLUG...

We have 2 sets of net lights with the half dead syndrome. I'm thinking they are headed the same direction as Steve's...angry

I won't do icicle lights anymore. The wind tangles them all up on the front porch.



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS/RS 350 M20
Chris R


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I tried that a few seasons ago and posted the same thing pretty much. Spent what seemed like forever trying to fix strings of lights only to give up.

You have a better chance of re-assembling a butterfinger candybar out of a blizzard from Dairy Queen.cuckoo



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Chris - Ramsey, MN.

Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist.

While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water. I drank it!

Sincerly,

The opportunist.
Dave Seitz


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I told my wife she can put up all the lights she wants. I do not do lights and am not allowed on the roof either so I'm safe. Some of the neighbors do some impressive displays and they spend days on the ladder and in the yard.

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Dan Williams


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Dave Seitz wrote:

I I do not do lights and am not allowed on the roof either so I'm safe.

 Crazy sniper guy? aknana I'm not allowed on my roof either. Cathy goes a littlle nuts,  I'm sure the neighbors talk about us quite a bit.cuckoo



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Forest City, IA
John D


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Ladder work is a daily hazard in my occupation, so I can't get out of it. (It's wierd I only fall off of them at home though.... headscratch)

Dan, we could do a Club project/build-it and cross an ATV with a Genie lift so you could do lights if you really want to cool.



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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
Dave Seitz


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John D wrote:

Ladder work is a daily hazard in my occupation, so I can't get out of it. (It's wierd I only fall off of them at home though.... headscratch)

Dan, we could do a Club project/build-it and cross an ATV with a Genie lift so you could do lights if you really want to cool.

 Hey this could be the best Red Neck monster garage edition yet! Since the club does have some ties to Chuck maybe we could get it on TV! Just think something real fast lots of HP and it will raise up to like 50 ft with Dan in it!! I'll run over and see what there is for scrap metal around here! 



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Lost in the 60s


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Dave Seitz wrote:
John D wrote:

Ladder work is a daily hazard in my occupation, so I can't get out of it. (It's wierd I only fall off of them at home though.... headscratch)

Dan, we could do a Club project/build-it and cross an ATV with a Genie lift so you could do lights if you really want to cool.

 Hey this could be the best Red Neck monster garage edition yet! Since the club does have some ties to Chuck maybe we could get it on TV! Just think something real fast lots of HP and it will raise up to like 50 ft with Dan in it!! I'll run over and see what there is for scrap metal around here! 

You could put your small block in it for power too.....nana

 



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS/RS 350 M20
Dave Seitz


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No we need to go BBC I know where a fresh 427 is sitting in a crate on a shelf, come on think big and fast with this. Change the hyd pumps so the thing shoots up to full height in under 5 seconds.

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Lost in the 60s


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Dave Seitz wrote:

No we need to go BBC I know where a fresh 427 is sitting in a crate on a shelf, come on think big and fast with this. Change the hyd pumps so the thing shoots up to full height in under 5 seconds.

I'm thinking the 427 would have a high rpm torque range. I'll be generous here and offer to trade my GenV 454 truck engine for the 427 to use in the lift.

 



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS/RS 350 M20
Dan Williams


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And who would be piloting this creature as I am 50' in the air? I have most of a stroker 383 sitting around and also a 496. Maybe run them together and see if you guys learned anything from the tractor pull guy.angry



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Forest City, IA
bowtie


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like a scissor lift, done from up top!

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Bryan-NW 'burbs
1972 Malibu
Vaguely stock appearing, and the opposite of restored.
1999 std bore 5.7, Vortec heads, Holley Stealth Ram, GM cam
700R4, Viking coilovers, 12 bolt 4.10 posi, and a whole bunch more
SShink


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I watched the 'Punkin Chunkin' show on the Discovery Channel last week, and one of the spinning/recripocal throwers had a BBC powering it!  nana  it ran at a low rpm, but it was clearly a BBC.  The compressed air ones threw the punkin over 4000 feet!

Maybe we could 'toss' somebody with one of those things up onto the roof to layout the lights!  laughing

I think John D. has some experience in that area from his son's school trebuchet project.  headscratch



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Stan S.-Twin Cities 'South Metro'

1972 Malibu Convertible 2nd time around 

2001 Mustang GT Convertible 

Forum influenced terms: 'Link Paste', 'Stanitized', & 'Revolving garage door...' 

 
Lost in the 60s


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SShink wrote:

I watched the 'Punkin Chunkin' show on the Discovery Channel last week, and one of the spinning/recripocal throwers had a BBC powering it!  nana  it ran at a low rpm, but it was clearly a BBC.  The compressed air ones threw the punkin over 4000 feet!

Maybe we could 'toss' somebody with one of those things up onto the roof to layout the lights!  laughing

I think John D. has some experience in that area from his son's school trebuchet project.  headscratch

4000 FEET !!! That's 3/4 of a mile.... sure it wasn't 400 ?

 



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS/RS 350 M20
Dave Seitz


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1. Dan you will be the pilot/driver of this unit.
2. Dan the 496 will work better for us to use, I have also looked at a big engine/generator with high voltage/amperage to power electric motors on the lift. By changing from a
60volt 100amp DC to a 240volt 100amp it should give 4 times the speed on the assent and forward motion of an electric unit. John Delke can help on that portion of
calculation.
Ian has a idea where we can get a unit that should work long enough for Dan to get a few good attempts out of.
3.I did see the Punkin Chunkin and it was 4000ft. Some of the units exploded the pumpkins on launch creating what was called a pie. One of the units had a prop from a
plane spin up to spped then release the pumpkin.

Any other questions Guys this should be completed before XMAS for most exposure on the holiday.

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bowtie


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Saw it too. 4000 feet is approximate, but yes THAT FAR!

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Bryan-NW 'burbs
1972 Malibu
Vaguely stock appearing, and the opposite of restored.
1999 std bore 5.7, Vortec heads, Holley Stealth Ram, GM cam
700R4, Viking coilovers, 12 bolt 4.10 posi, and a whole bunch more
John D


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It was my daughter's physics project.
She bought a basswood scale model (about 12-inches tall) of a trebuchet, and scaled it up. The final rig was about 6' tall, and used 140lbs of barbell weights for energy. I was amazed at this thing!! After a few "dial-in" flings, and some test launches, I honestly believe you could put the projectile (a softball in her case) into a 5-gal bucket at 50 yards.

Trebuchet's were some bad-azz deadly seige weapons in their day.

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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
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