Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy
We bit the bullet this year and got rid of all of the old micro bulb lights we'd both collected over the years - the old ones are unsafe from wear & tear and the new ones are so cheaply made (thin wire / insulation) that they're a hazard right out of the box.
We bought a bunch of the 300 light / 100 foot LED ones from Amazon (from some random Chinese manufacturer). Unfortunately, they either don't understand "twinkle" or it is devious plot to trigger seizures in epileptics, but neither of us like any of the flashing modes. But it does have variable brightness levels which is nice - we can have it very bright during the day and then turn it down as it gets dark. It has an infrared remote control for this and the effects.
What would be really nice would be if each of the bulbs could go on and off randomly - it is the cycling of each half of the lights that makes the effects look like Las Vegas. But that would require individual blinky bulbs and therefore no central control, or would require something too complicated / expensive like I2C signalling from a master controller. You can buy rolls of inexpensive "LED tape" that do that, but that's because the tiny control chips are mounted next to a group of LEDs on the flex tape.
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I am increasingly dubious of Amazon’s “inventory,” and all the no-name products on offer. Even the AmazonBasics are worthy of scrutiny.
Increasingly, I prefer to stick with the transparency of real companies and real vendors I can deal with, if needed.
I’ve even been dodging Zappos lately, in favor of the shoemakers’ own purchasing portals.