I Finally Did It!

Wifey was cooking at around 7PM and a breaker tripped. We’ve been living here since 2006 and never tripped a breaker.

Part of the living room and kitchen went out. They really shouldn’t be grouped together but whatever.

You know what did it? My Clark Griswald like Christmas decoration display outside. LOL

Every year I add something. We’ve apparently reached our limit.

Here’s the sucky part. That outside outlet (GFCI) is supposed to be on the PLP meter (public lighting panel). It’s a multi-family house thing around these parts. The clown that built this place should be shot…

That outlet is in a brick wall. Impossible to rewire. The PLP panel is in the basement and the reg panel is first floor. They aren’t on the same wall AND the basement has a hard lid ceiling so that’s that. We live with it.

Next year, I will plug into the garage which has it’s own circuit on the PLP. LOL

I have to add more!

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The before view…

christmas-decorations-christmas-house

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It’s impossible these days to find lights that last from year to year. I’ve trashed so many sets in the last 10 years. I’ve given up except for a couple strings that have kept working more than one year. I hate the color temperature of most of the newer LEDs. Bah humbug!

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I was exploring “falling icicle” lights over Thanksgiving and was surprised at all the options for LEDs, at least in that type.

And by surprised I mean overwhelmed. Cool white, warm white, cool warm white, soft white, bright white, white glow, off white, snow white, lightly falling snow white, blizzard white, white out, white lightning, soft white lightning, star white, dim white, expensive c0caine white, etc etc.

…so my new plan is to see what’s on sale in January :smiley:

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I spend an incredible amount of time rewiring / relighting the the things we have that eventually break.

Really nice stuff like animated rudolph / snoopy mailbox / polar bear seesaw, etc…

Everything that’s made the last 10 years is crap IMO or hundreds of dollars so I put the time in to take these things all apart and rewire them.

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We try to do the same thing but no matter how many times we try to rewire the wife … she keeps turning out the same …

... the proof you ask?

I know this cause I am always still in trouble …
:smirk:

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I’ve found that off-season storage is the most-important aspect; we have several organizers similar to this one:

https://www.menards.com/main/p-4364363663595588.htm


I also have one of these, and it’s greatly reduced the amount of time spent making repairs:

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Storage - we store all our stuff in the attic of our garage which I built out when we moved in (was just collar ties). Now it’s platformed with floor joists. The garage roof has 2 vents and an attic fan (put in specifically to make conditions better for the decorations and my old Mustang that lives in the garage. Haha…

Feels like age or water that shorts these things out although I always use a good amount of electrical tape at every connection. There are a lot of connections. Lol

I always thought that light saver thing was a gimmick. I should try it I guess

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It works sometimes. It’s not 100% but better then testing each bulb!

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