Request for any sales sightings on LED Solar string lights

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 05, 2011 8:23 am

Hey all,

I'm in the market for quite a few solar LED Christmas style string lights for this year.

I do know how to Google but I was hoping that if anyone knows of or sees any great sales on this style of lighting that they might post em up here.

Thanks in advance and I'm continuing to keep my eyes peeled as well!

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu May 05, 2011 9:25 am

Will battery powered work for you?

mudpuppy000 · Post by **mudpuppy000** » Thu May 05, 2011 9:37 am

I just bought some butterfly ones on amazon but haven't received them yet, so no idea if they're crap or not.

I think they're listed under: "Solar Powered Butterfly String Lights 20 LED Light String Butterfly"

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Thu May 05, 2011 9:57 am

Big Lots sometimes has them.

havoc · Post by **havoc** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:04 am

nice find, mudpuppy! :) i can't speak for the butterfly ones specifically but the brand (gudcraft) seems to be an acceptable one.

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:10 am

Thanks guys!!

Hey Gyre, I'd prefer solar powered ones, but battery power will work if I can't find good deals on solar. The less batteries I have to mess with the better I like it.

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 am

I'm not affiliated with any of the businesses I may post links to in this thread, just a fyi!

These are really pretty, IMO

http://www.mrlight.com/products/Solar/S ... burst.html

And these are awesome, too.

http://www.mrlight.com/products/Solar/S ... _Wire.html

havoc · Post by **havoc** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:41 am

i'm a big fan of save-on-crafts. they've got good stuff...lots of neat solar and battery powered stuff.

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/chrisligandl.html

including (recently, it seems) EL wire with an attached battery pack.

not too much in the way of solar string lights, but nice stuff. they generally offer bulk discounts as well.

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:44 am

Ooh, thanks, havoc. I've not seen this site before! I love El-wire, too.

Post by **AntiM** » Thu May 05, 2011 11:28 am

I got my various solar lights at Big Lots, Target (overpriced unless on sale), Lowe's, and from eBay (shop carefully).

The butterfly strands are wonderful, but mine fell apart when handled roughly. I am afraid I unknowingly left shiny butterfly MOOP on the open playa. Sorry!

mudpuppy000 · Post by **mudpuppy000** » Thu May 05, 2011 6:40 pm

AntiM wrote:I got my various solar lights at Big Lots, Target (overpriced unless on sale), Lowe's, and from eBay (shop carefully).

The butterfly strands are wonderful, but mine fell apart when handled roughly. I am afraid I unknowingly left shiny butterfly MOOP on the open playa. Sorry!

I just got the butterfly ones today. The butterflies are soft rubber and slide over normal LED's, so they seem like they could slide off fairly easy if you're not careful. I don't think they'd fall off in the wind though, so will hopefully not be moopy on the playa.

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 05, 2011 6:51 pm

Oh butterfly lights sound pretty for out there.

Too many ideas, not enough money...mmmph!

tamarakay · Post by **tamarakay** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:31 pm

Kendoll got led light rope from coolneon.com and is playing with batteries and the solar chargers from the deer feeders. We have a lot of things we are playing with so when he ever gets this project completed i'll let you know how it went.

Post by **Sham** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:32 pm

Well it's a few months late now, but right after Christmas I go really nuts buying all sorts of LED lights--battery, solar and 110VAC.
Nearly every big box chain are blowing these lights out the door to make room for the next holiday.

Target has all sorts of strings of solar garden lights in the stores now. These go on sale all the time, but they should be on clearance before Burning Man this year.

Post by **AntiM** » Fri May 06, 2011 6:20 am

mudpuppy000 wrote:
AntiM wrote:I got my various solar lights at Big Lots, Target (overpriced unless on sale), Lowe's, and from eBay (shop carefully).

The butterfly strands are wonderful, but mine fell apart when handled roughly. I am afraid I unknowingly left shiny butterfly MOOP on the open playa. Sorry!
I just got the butterfly ones today. The butterflies are soft rubber and slide over normal LED's, so they seem like they could slide off fairly easy if you're not careful. I don't think they'd fall off in the wind though, so will hopefully not be moopy on the playa.

Mine were hard plastic crystal, LEDs in them, soldered to the wire. It was not the wind, but jostling from jolting around on the bike, or being leaned on when the other string was strung as decoration, which snapped the solder joints and let them fall. Shake them vigorously, and that will let you know if the covers will fall off or not.

clerkkent · Post by **clerkkent** » Fri May 06, 2011 2:27 pm

@ Minxy:

Since you're located over the hill from me, check out Grocery Outlet. We got ours there last year. But each location has a different assortment, so you may want to call ahead.

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Fri May 06, 2011 3:37 pm

Woowoo another neighbor.

Thanks for the tip! I never thought to look there but it's about 5 minutes away!!

Rusted Iron · Post by **Rusted Iron** » Tue May 10, 2011 8:27 pm

I found some recently at k-mart. The sales price was pretty good and when I went back a few weeks later, different items were on sale. They had both solar and battery-operated.

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Tue May 10, 2011 8:40 pm

Thanks!!

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Tue May 10, 2011 10:30 pm

HF has 50 led solar rope lights for $11.99.

illy dilly · Post by **illy dilly** » Wed May 11, 2011 10:15 am

FIGJAM wrote:HF has 50 led solar rope lights for $11.99.

I was looking at these too! Defenitaly gonna get some!
Was also thinking about getting some of the other solar lights they have.
They have one that is called the Solar Shed Light http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-shed ... 95573.html
That I'm thinking of hanging in our kitchen area above the cooler. So that at night, you can just flip it on real quick and grab a beer, then flip it off.

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed May 11, 2011 10:58 am

Did you read the reviews?

Some people had problems.

ConnieH · Post by **ConnieH** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:26 pm

illy dilly wrote:
FIGJAM wrote:HF has 50 led solar rope lights for $11.99.
I was looking at these too! Defenitaly gonna get some!
Was also thinking about getting some of the other solar lights they have.
They have one that is called the Solar Shed Light http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-shed ... 95573.html
That I'm thinking of hanging in our kitchen area above the cooler. So that at night, you can just flip it on real quick and grab a beer, then flip it off.

For the same price, I'd buy this lantern: http://www.harborfreight.com/all-purpos ... 94740.html
I have one and can say it is so awesome I want another one. It comes with an a/c and d/c charger in addition to the solar panel charger. I charge it up at home before we leave, it'll last all night, then I set it in the sun the next day. Charges quick, always bright, the bottom twists off to create a "flood" light, too.

As for the rope light, that is an excellent price but don't expect it to be very bright. I have one about that same length, albeit a different brand, that only has 1 AA battery in the charger, I expect for this price it'll be similar. It definitely works and once you are accustomed to the darker nights at BM than home, it'll light your way to your tent, but don't expect it to light your theme camp

For those who like to tinker with electricity and are cheap like me, I found this link the other day: http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/dc- ... ights.html - I have a string of led christmas lights that I was tinkering with to no avail, now I know what I was doing wrong. For $8 you can get a string of 50 or so christmas lights, rig it to rechargable AA batteries and if you have a couple of these like I do (or a solar battery charger): http://www.harborfreight.com/two-pack-s ... 95745.html you can re-charge your batteries on the playa. My next project, lol...

Post by **AntiM** » Wed May 11, 2011 2:33 pm

I got one of these, but it was on sale when I found it. The prices go up and down at thinkgeek, you can keep an eye out for bargains. I picked up several lego headlamps for friends, little lego men with LEDs in their feet.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/3-7-years/e5ff/

Also carried at Target and BabesR us, cheaper.

illy dilly · Post by **illy dilly** » Wed May 11, 2011 4:04 pm

FigGam, no I didn't read the reviews... Makes me second guess that idea.

ConnieH wrote:
For the same price, I'd buy this lantern: http://www.harborfreight.com/all-purpos ... 94740.html
I have one and can say it is so awesome I want another one. It comes with an a/c and d/c charger in addition to the solar panel charger. I charge it up at home before we leave, it'll last all night, then I set it in the sun the next day. Charges quick, always bright, the bottom twists off to create a "flood" light, too.

Thanks Connie! Its always great to get a playa tested and approved review!

With regards to the info about running LED lights off of AA batteries. I considered buying one of these http://www.scientificsonline.com/multi- ... panel.html to power charge batteries for some LED xmas lights.
Have you ever fooled around with one of the motion sensores from one of these types of lights?
We were thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to wire our lights through one, so that while people were in the dome the lights would stay on- but turn off on their own when no one was there.

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:04 pm

Great idea!

Then if people sit still too long the lights will shut off and you can yell "GET UP AND DANCE YOU FUCKERS THE LIGHTS ARE OUT!"

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:21 pm

I just went and bought 2 of the LED rope lights that FIGJAM mentioned and one of the lanterns that ConnieH recommended.

Can't wait to try em tonight when it's dark!

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:28 pm

I too buy post xmas for great deal.

I'm looking for leds solar lites that I can string a Palm tree. It would have 5-8 separate runs of lites maybe 20-25 lites each. The HUB would hang right where the plam fronds start to branch out, then run the lite out each fronds... It would be easy to hide the charge station right in the cut of the old fronds... Thanks...

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 12, 2011 12:43 am

I've tested my http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-rope ... 68353.html solar rope lights and my http://www.harborfreight.com/interests/ ... 94740.html (which I love thanks ConnieH) and I'm VERY pleased.

I want to score at least one more lantern if not two and 4-5 more of the rope strings. Awesome find, Figjam, thankie!

ConnieH · Post by **ConnieH** » Thu May 12, 2011 8:53 am

Minxy wrote:I've tested my http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-rope ... 68353.html solar rope lights and my http://www.harborfreight.com/interests/ ... 94740.html (which I love thanks ConnieH) and I'm VERY pleased.

I want to score at least one more lantern if not two and 4-5 more of the rope strings. Awesome find, Figjam, thankie!

Sweet! Are the rope lights one color or do they change? The website wasn't very specific and showed 4 colors?

Request for any sales sightings on LED Solar string lights

Request for any sales sightings on LED Solar string lights

Because I'm kinda cheap