Car display '07 underway - Lights, Lights, Lights! Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
Rough around the edges still, more to be added. Later today I'm straightening up the lights around the headliner, mounting the exterior inverter and 200 lights are going to go around the top/rear of the car. I'm debating on just putting 20 lights around the grille or doing a wreath or garland/bows up front - it'll be lit either way, though. More pics to come. Stay tuned...
Next up is the apartment, of course
Hope y'all like it!
(Edited for more info/spelling errors)
Last edited on Tuesday November 20th, 2007 10:54 am by LT1Caprice57L
The inside lights are being run by a generic brand 75W Cig. lighter inverter. The exterior inverter is a 400W ACDelco that hooks directly to the battery.
Just a word of warning that it might be illegal in your area to drive around with those lights on. Members here on PC in the past have been pulled over because of this.
It might be a good idea to have it all hooked to a switch that can switch from the inside. This way when you are in areas that you might think the police are around you can have it off, or if you see a cop coming your way.
Around here, they let people drive with their high beams on all the time, have all their taillights burned out, you'll see a few cars driving around w/ no plates...heck...I drove around on an expired NH Temporary plate when I moved here for about 2-1/2 months. Expiration was clearly visible...they didn't care. There's a guy who drives around in a worn-out S10 who has stuff unsafely piled so high in the back of it that he can't see out the back. They drive right by him like he's not even there
If I did get pulled, I'd be sure to mention all that. (EXCEPT that I drove on an expired temp...hee-hee)
edit: oh, yeah...don't get me started about all the cars that drive around wrecked, missing headlights, taillights...hood(!) held closed by bungee cords...doors held closed in the same fashion, etc...
...OK, so they aren't that common, but when you do see one and a cop right near each other, nothing ever happens.
So yeah...pretty much the only things they care about here are 15+ over and real crime.
Last edited on Tuesday November 20th, 2007 04:55 pm by LT1Caprice57L
Looks cool, but inverters have an efficiency penalty (~85%) and with 200+ lights your current draw is starting to become significant. Have you considered rewiring the lights for 14V and dispensing with the inverters?
LT1Caprice57L wrote: If they pulled me over, I'll be damned.
Around here, they let people drive with their high beams on all the time, have all their taillights burned out, you'll see a few cars driving around w/ no plates...heck...I drove around on an expired NH Temporary plate when I moved here for about 2-1/2 months. Expiration was clearly visible...they didn't care. There's a guy who drives around in a worn-out S10 who has stuff unsafely piled so high in the back of it that he can't see out the back. They drive right by him like he's not even there
If I did get pulled, I'd be sure to mention all that. (EXCEPT that I drove on an expired temp...hee-hee)
edit: oh, yeah...don't get me started about all the cars that drive around wrecked, missing headlights, taillights...hood(!) held closed by bungee cords...doors held closed in the same fashion, etc...
...OK, so they aren't that common, but when you do see one and a cop right near each other, nothing ever happens.
So yeah...pretty much the only things they care about here are 15+ over and real crime.
he's correct. the cops here in florence don't do much when it comes too all of that stuff.
If the fuzz gives you a ticket, be sure that he writes something like "Illegal Christmas Lights Displayed" on the ticket so that you can frame it. That would be cool to have.
____________________ Officially designated one of "Those People". Cashier at Fremont CA Wal*Mart, 12/1/07.
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." Attributed to Dave Barry
Inverter is mounted:
Lousy spot...I won't be able to run it when it's raining. Unfortunately this is the only place I can mount it without it overheating and shutting itself down. V8 engine bays get hot.
Converting a string of minilights for low voltage to get around your inverter problem is not that difficult. A 100 light set consists of 2 sets of 50 bulbs in series, giving each bulb 2.4V when the string is plugged into a 120V power supply. For a car (14V) you want to reduce this to 6 bulbs in series (14V/6 = 2.3V) by connecting the wire that runs from bulb to bulb to one of the other wires in 6 lamp intervals. Just make sure that the each end of each set of 6 bulbs are connected to different wires. Of course, 50 is not divisible by 6 so you will either need a couple of sets of 7 (which would get less voltage per bulb and be a little dimmer) or you could remove 2 bulbs.
I used the conversion method. Every 5 bulbs are in series rather than 50. This allows the string to run on 12V rather than 120V. I did not take into account the fact that the car voltage is more like 14V, so my lights are brighter and a few burn out every week. The first year I did it (2000), I used an inverter. Every time I hit the brakes, the voltage at the cigarette lighter dipped below the minimum voltage the inverter wants and it shut down. It might have been okay if I ran the inverter with heavy guage wire directly from the battery. The other benefit of circuits of 5 or 6 lamps is that when salty water corrodes the wires, you only lose a small chunk.
As far as the Police go, I have been pulled over one time. At that time, I had red lights on the back and a blue neon license plate frame (unrelated to the Christmas lights). The cop said that I could not add red lights to my car and that I could not emit blue light from my car. I asked if the rest were okay and he said, "I guess, trucks do it all the time." I did this for three years after that and did not have a problem.
LT1Caprice: You asked for a bigger picture... this is they only one I have handy
Cool deal. I'll probably go the rewire route next year. I'm currently working on a splash shroud to put in front of the inverter so I can still run it in the rain... and the big one is wired directly to the battery. The small one inside is only realistically seeing about 20-25W, and it's rated 60W constant/75W surge...so it's not even breaking a sweat. The lights around the roof inside are a 60ct LED set.
I like how you did yours, with lights around the door edges too - again, next year...
RichardH wrote: Just a word of warning that it might be illegal in your area to drive around with those lights on. Members here on PC in the past have been pulled over because of this.
It might be a good idea to have it all hooked to a switch that can switch from the inside. This way when you are in areas that you might think the police are around you can have it off, or if you see a cop coming your way.
The only thing they dont like in Florida or the south really is any lights that are blue because that is a color nationally recognized for identifying police cars.
In December we have become a "stop" for several lighted parades. We are going to get 3 arrivals of a senior citizen's motorcycle gang who assemble about 40 motorcycles that are covered in christmas lights and about 20 of them tow little motorcycle trailers all lit and made up like parade floats... one is Chuck's helicoptor with a walmart dancing santa in it, one guy drives his motorcycle in a santa suit (a good one I might add) and his tow behind feature several moving reindeer and they got a generator rigged to power all the lights and motion on the reindeer, others also include dolphins etc... Essentially they stop here along the way when they parade around 10 cities and 3 counties including Clearwater, Tampa and St Pete and they drive in parade formation honking very load horns that play jinglebells and other christmas caroles and all the lights on all the way... I can only imagine what it looks like to see them driving by you on US Hwy 19 in Clearwater! They've done this for several years and many cops wave at them and never given them any trouble for their lights.
Another parade we get that does similar to the motorcycle club is a club including 30 jeeps and again all jeeps are loaded with lights, one boasted 4000 lights covering the jeep and some tow trailers made up like parade floats and they too parade all over driving around several cities but these guys are younger blasting christmas music out of super thumper car stereo systems.
The cops in the south get along quite well with people showing extraordinary christmas spirit, even if its on the roadways! The cops actually like my display so much, on slow crime nights, they park in front of my house all night keeping vandals away or at least give me twice an hour drive bys.
