Mains Powered Christmas Lights

Mains Powered Christmas Lights

Mains Christmas lights are the plug in sets, and they are what you want anywhere length and brightness matter more than convenience: a full tree, a staircase, a front facade, a hedge or a long outdoor run. A mains set gives you bulb counts a battery pack cannot sustain, never needs a cell changed halfway through December, and holds the same brightness from the first evening to the last, where a battery set dims gradually as the cells drain.

Lit Length, Lead Length and Reaching the Socket

The figure that catches people out is lead length, the run of plain cable from the plug to the first bulb. It can be two metres of the total on the box, and it is the part that has to reach the socket. Measure from the socket to where the lights actually start before you buy, especially for a tree in a bay window or a run up a staircase. A timer built into the plug means the set comes on and goes off on its own for the whole season.

Running Mains Lights Outdoors Safely

Outdoors, a mains set must be rated for exterior use and the connection must be in a weatherproof box, not an extension lead inside a bag or under a bucket. That joint is what fails in the first storm, not the lights. A weatherproof outdoor box or a garden spike with a sealed socket is a few euro and it is the difference between a display that survives December and one that does not. Keep the total load within the lead's rating when linking several sets.

Mains sets here are Premier Treebrights at 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 LEDs and Clusterbrights at 480, 960, 2,000 and 3,000, all multi action with timers in warm white, white and multi coloured, plus Festive Traditional Firefly fine wire sets. For the weatherproof boxes, timers and outdoor leads see Christmas electrics and setup, and for socket-free spots see battery operated Christmas lights.

Mains sets peak in November and December, and the higher counts go first. See what is reduced now in clearance.

Everything here is delivered nationwide across the Republic of Ireland, with click and collect at our Athlone store on Shannon Retail Park, Dublin Road.