Balling your lights - 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
Am I understanding this right? I just wrap the lights around my hand oer and over starting with the female end? Then when I reach the end I just stick the male end into the ball?
You need to make it like you would a ball of yarn. Wrap it about 4-5 times around you hand and then you will need to start rotating the ball as you continue to wrap it.
Looks like I need to start practicing that method. I used to just wrap it over my arm and stick it in a plastic grocery sack. As I get more lights that will take up alot of room, so this sounds like the way to condense the amount of space needed to store the lights.
keepCHRISTinchristmas wrote: how bad, if at all, do they tangle this way? It seems to me the ball would just unwind easily with just a gentle tug without many tangles.
They do not tangle one little bit. They work great when wrapping around a column or tree. The only set back it checking bulbs, but not much. Just re-wrap the lights again. I think they take up a little more space in a storage container. I ball up about half my lights.
The other half I put in a plastic bag like a Target or Walmart one. This method is faster and works almost as well. Checking bulbs go faster with this method.
"I ball them all" and have never had a problem. Always had problems with the hand-to-elbow method and with the loops...but I came across the hand-ball method and have never looked back.
I went ahead and balled the lights I had already taken down and liked the way they turned out, they really saved the space. Now I get to wait until late Oct to see how it worked.
I have balled mine up for 2 yrs now and it really does work great. Never ever had a tangle yet. They do take more room in the totes though. I never had problems with wrapping them around my arm either though.
I have always wrapped the lights around my arm then put the 1 strand in a plastic grocery sack. I then would repeat with each strand and by doing it that way I have never had tangle problems, but am always up for new ideas and ways.
Balling the light strings worked great this last season. No tangles at all. I used to do the ziploc bag but it didn't work any better and they aren't cheap.
Icicle lights don't "ball" very well though. Those I still put between layers of newspaper in a plastic tub.
JonB256 wrote: Icicle lights don't "ball" very well though. Those I still put between layers of newspaper in a plastic tub.
For icicle lights, what I found to work well is a row of really large nails (almost spikes) nailed across the wall of my storage shed. I run the iciles lights across the nails with the hanging parts haning down. This is not super fast, but it stores them neatly and out of the way. Plus the hanging parts stay nice.
____________________ People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. -- George Orwell
I tried the method on Logan's site, but the next year, the lights in balls were all half, or all out. It could just be the weather we have here, but the balls just don't work for me. The hand-elbow method works great if done correctly, no tangles and more storage space. (and the lights work)
I used to wrap lights around my arm and found the string would either untwist or tighten and the circle would tist into figure eights that didn't lay flat. The ball method has been working for two years now; no more twisting. They're easier to carry around and wrapping tree trucks are much easier.
____________________ No really... Just one more light and I'll be finished....
Disclaimer: If you take any of what I say as non-constructive, it's not how I intended it.
I use the ball method as well. It works extremely well...It is a little time consuming to wind all your lights up - but the end result is worth it!! I did make the mistake of wrapping them, starting with the male end though..made it difficult! But it does work well.
I tried the ball method and did not care for it. I do the hand / elbow method. I will make sure that the strand of lights is stretched out / straight line then I use my method. This keeps them from twisting or doing a figure 8 on you when you roll them up. Good Luck on either method.
I tried the ball method and it worked well, but I found the balls take up too much space in the totes and its more time consuming. I basically use the elbow hand method, and like Scott, I stretch the strands out straight and do my thing. I've never had problems with twisting or untwisting and no figure eights.
I've found that by wrapping about 90% of the string around my hand then taking it off my hand and wrapping the last 10% in a cross direction I get the best of both methods. It is fairly fast to wrap and very compact. By doing this way instead of the traditional ball you get a flatter ball that is more easily packed into totes and takes up less room. It is still easy to unwind when you go to put it up, and they don't get tangled. I actually fit more strings into the totes this way than by the hand-elbow method.
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of AC and 
of DC from D-Light
I'm just happy my winder works as well as it does!
