About Battery-Operated Christmas Lights
If you're like most people, the hardest part about decorating for the holidays with indoor and outdoor Christmas lights is finding the closest electrical outlet and getting all of those cords connected in the most convenient way. You must also consider the dangers of long extension cords lying about and the combination of electricity with rain and snow. If you want a convenient, easy and safe solution, then battery-operated Christmas lights are a good choice.
Why Battery-Operated?
It's true that battery-operated Christmas lights are convenient and easy to use without the hassle of using extension cords and finding available electrical outlets. One concern, however, with using battery-operated Christmas lights is the cost of batteries and the hassle of recycling used batteries. Many of the battery-operated string lights available will last for 8 hours with 2-C batteries. Over the length of the holiday season that could get quite expensive, depending on how often you turn your Christmas lights on and the length of time you leave them on.
Getting the Most out of Battery-Operated Christmas Lights
The first recommendation, if you haven't already done this, is to purchase a decent battery charger and some rechargeable batteries. Your initial investment will be worth it over the course of several holiday seasons. And, you'll have less stress over worrying about what to do with all of those dead batteries.
LED Christmas Lights
Another consideration when purchasing battery-operated Christmas lights is the growing popularity of LED lights. Many Christmas lights are now made using LED lights, or light-emitting diode lights, which are being used in an ever-increasing variety of ways. LED lights require less electricity to power them, making them a good choice for holiday decorating. Your batteries will last longer, and since you don't need the lights to be super bright, the dimness of LED lights won't be an issue either.
Convenient Options
In addition, take note of the growing variety of battery-operated LED Christmas lights, from strings of lights to lighted tabletop and window decorations. It seems that every imaginable Christmas light decoration has now been made using LED lights. No longer do you have to give up creative control or buy the same LED setup as everyone else in order to reap the benefits of battery-operated LED lights. So, the choice is really up to you. From an environmental standpoint, LED lights combined with rechargeable batteries are the way to go.
Choosing the right Christmas lights for your holiday decor takes a significant amount of strategy and planning. With the advent of battery-operated Christmas lights, the challenge just got easier. So, by using battery-operated LED Christmas lights to decorate your home this holiday season, you can avoid the extension cord dilemma, decorate your house and yard the way you want, and help preserve the environment all at the same time. Genius!
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![Mary Potts]()
Mary is a contributing writer for DoItYourself.com. She has experience researching and creating a wide range of home improvement and garden projects, and especially enjoys learning about household electronics.![H.R. Helm]()
H.R. Helm is an accomplished DIY craftsman. He has been DIY since childhood and is now a septuagenarian. He is experienced in wood and metal construction, having designed and built several houses and metal buildings. He built every permanent building on his current homestead and did all the plumbing and electrical work. He has several years experience as a professional cabinet builder, and he is an accomplished auto repairman, having operated an auto repair business for many years. He currently has a home shop where he sharpens and rebuilds saws, repairs lawn mowers, mobility scooters, hydraulic jacks, and anything else that comes along. He also builds custom tools for metal working. Invention prototypes are another of his many accomplishments. He owned and operated a manufacturing business building Compact Utility Vehicles for homeowner use. H.R. enjoys making jams and jellies during fruit season along with cooking meals. He is committed to outdoor cooking in a Bar-B-Q pit he welded together several years ago. He maintains fruit and nut trees along with helping his wife with a vegetable garden. He farmed commercial garden produce for several years. It helps to have over 50 years of farming and ranching experience. Employment/Education Highlights ASE Certified Master Auto Technician Certified Welder Cross country truck driver -- over dimensional freight Design Engineer/Project Manager for injection molded plastic company Bus Driver/Substitute Teacher Inventor with two patents (weight training – anti-rollback for manual wheelchair) BS in Industrial Technology
