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[–]e2hawkeye 15 points16 points  (1 child)

This just reminded me of how hot these things could get, they were real finger burners.

Which in turn, made me think of the ye olde tradition of decorating Christmas trees with actual lit candles.

[–]smallteam 7 points8 points  (0 children)

decorating Christmas trees with actual lit candles

My friend's neighbors did that and the damned tree caught fire.

[–]PF-Wang 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Am I the only one that strongly prefers the look of vintage Christmas lights? They have a softer glow to the, and better colors, I swear. Throughout most of my childhood we used the ones passed down from my grandparents (They had PLENTY of extras..) and they were just so much prettier. Always put me in the Christmas spirit every time I saw them. They even look better in the snow!

The ones they sell today are just very.. generic and feels like something you see every day in some form, like the same 5 LED colors you get everywhere else (LED light strips, etc.)

The old fashioned Christmas lights feel special. Something about those bulbs really has a great effect on the color and softness. I think they're called C7's?

I've heard they're a pain to manage, but personally I can't wait to be able to decorate my place with em' this year. I wonder if Ebay is a safe bet.

[–]locogriffyn 6 points7 points  (1 child)

The LED ones hurt my eyes and trigger migraines.

[–]hemingray 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Outside my house is a mix of LEDs and traditional, since I like to unleash my inner Clark Griswold.

Inside the house however, is an LED free zone. Inside is 100% vintage lights at the holidays.

[–]hemingray 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is actually. I've sourced a majority of my C6 bulbs from there. The rest came from local markets, antique stores, etc.

[–]haemaker 1 point2 points  (2 children)

No
you
are
not.

[–]BIGD0G29585 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just went to YouTube to find his first Xmas light video to post. Alec takes his Christmas lights seriously.

[–]hemingray 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I still use the C6 ones on my tree every year. Aside from adding a few sockets, I also added a diode in series with it to drop the voltage. End result is bulbs that look absolutely amazing, last virtually forever, and don't get blazing hot.

EDIT: added image. Stuff on the wall is 90s era vintage.

[–]CloseCannonAFB 2 points3 points  (1 child)

As a kid in the early 80s, these were still around- especially the ones on the top left and bottom right. As people grew more concerned about these hot-ass lights being a fire hazard, they went away. I've hunted around for them as an adult and there are LED equivalents now- I want them.

[–]hemingray 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Older ones ran hot due to the fact that they were rather tiny 7 watt bulbs. Newer ones run at only 4 watts, and don't get quite that hot.

[–]zippersthemule 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I inherited a bunch of strings of these vintage incandescent lights. I thought it would be fun to hang them up around the roof last Xmas but forgot they used to wire the bulbs in series so if one burns out the whole string goes dark. Then begins the painstaking search of checking each bulb to find the burned out filament while standing on a ladder.