Please help me understand if I am reading post #11 correctly that you can now pull all the bulbs out of the multi-colored strands and replace them back and make solid colored strands with the Walmart LEDS? Is this able to be done with out adding anything else into the strings and the string still work? I tried this several years ago with the Walmart C6 multicolor strands and did not work
YES, they can be made solid color with virtually no other modifications.
First, the strings are actually two 25ct segments. You can cut them where there are two wires and add plugs as needed. Further length modification comments relate to each of the 25ct segments.
You can easily re-bulb the multi strings to solid colors (it just gets a bit tedious, that’s all). You do have to watch out for the bigger (3-wired) sockets at the ends of each segment. Sometimes you have to experiment with a particular string. Note that these special sockets/plugs are almost always yellow or red – so you will have to trade the actual LED and plastic cover to convert them to green and blue for the green and blue strings. The light inserts there are also wider and SEEM to have the polarity of the LEDs changed compared to the other bulbs.
When converting to solid colors, you should change the resistors or you might have some failures (LEDs burning out). I had one string burn out 8 LEDs before I realized this.
I have converted the multi's to solids EXTENSIVELY with the 50 ct WalMart LEDs (nearly 200!). The green and blue strings can leave the resistor unchanged, but it could be reduced a little to increase the brightness safely (or else remove 3-4 LEDs) from each segment. The red and yellow either need a larger resistor, or add more LEDs (4-5) to the string segment.
If you have these lights:
Then I can tell you exactly how to mod them.
The original resistor is 2.5K (sometimes 2.6K; in larger blob; pull off 'cap', push middle plastic 'tab' up from the bottom. I have a trick if you can’t figure it out.). For 50 ct red or yellow, change to 3.0K 1W or larger. For blue or green, change to 1.5K 1W.
One other comment: The picture on the box implies that there are 5 different colors. There are only 4: Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow. Furthermore, there are twice as many red and yellow LEDs as there are green and blue. So in a 50 count string, you will often see 17 reds, 17 yellows, and about 8 greens and 8 blues. Take than into account when you figure out how many strings you need to convert. If you convert 6 such strings, you will get about 2 red strings, 2 yellow strings, about 1 green string, and about 1 blue sting. (I say 'about' because there are variations in the bulb count per string, and variations in the actual color mix. Plus, you can use the spare bulbs but they are usually one red and one yellow, but sometimes that varies.)
I also made a little tool from a metal putty spatula that helps pull the lights of the sockets. Sorry - I can't find the photo I have of it.
Also, in post #4 and #5, when you cut the strings to length, do you have to add rectifiers or anything to the strings?
You can lengthen or shorten the strings, but note that they may dim differently for different LED counts. For shorter, you must also increase the size (wattage) of the resistor (or use multiple) as more of the voltage is dropped across the resistor and not the LEDs. I try to be conservative here as the dimming difference and power concerns start to grow.
You do NOT have to change them to full-wave to shorten them. In general, you could convert them to full-wave by the typical method, and maybe increase the resistances slightly, but I myself don't bother with the full-wave conversion. The half-wave flicker is visible, but frankly for me, I still see the full-wave flicker (in peripheral vision) so I don’t see that it’s worth the effort to change them.
If you are not using those particular lights, you would likely make similar changes.
If anybody can advise, I would appreciate. I am trying to understand how to do things without spending a ton of money. Any diagrams would help as well as a list of parts I would need and where to obtain.
If my description above is not adequate, PM me and I will help you - as I said, I've used a LOT of these strings and am constantly modifying them for color and length.
Jimboha
