Design of Rope Light Arches

[Richard]

This year I put together my first lighted sectional leaping arch.  If you haven't seen one, then I will describe it simply as a semicircular arch mounted on the ground.  Lights are placed in sections along the arch.  When turned on and off quickly is sequence, it gives the appearance of leaping out of the ground and into the other side.

I wanted these arches to last a long time, so I was nervous about using incandescent mini-bulbs as they break too easily and often have to be replaced.  LEDs are more rugged, but strings of them still look jagged.  I decided to use rope light because the bulbs are protected against the rain and they last a long time.  The look of the arch is also very smooth.  At first I thought these rope lights would be expensive, but when I was walking through Walmart, I saw some at $6.50 for an 18 foot long rope light.  When wound tightly around a 3/4 inch PVC pipe as shown in the photos, it covers a section almost exactly two feet long.  Thus a 20 foot arch could have about 9 or 10 sections.

To keep the rope tightly wound around the pipe, I use a 1 inch hose clamp at each end along with a cable tie to keep it firmly in place.  The photos below only show the center section, so what you can't see is that before winding the other sections, I tape the extension cords along the pipe so they will be hidden under the rope light as I wind it around the pipe later.  It provides for a very clean look.

[Pamela M]

These are soooooooo neat. We, mainly my husband, made arches the first year from little mini bulbs. It was a nighmare replacing them and having them break every time we put away the arch or set it up for the year. He tried your idea this month to use on our display this year. The result is fantastic. Thank you for sharing this idea.

[Zonker]

I want to try this with rope LEDs. I wonder if the LED ropes get as hot as the lights. (Do they have the same problems wrapping around small diameter pipes?)

It just dawned on me that I really SHOULD be trying to make my arches NOW, and do these initial hat-related tests during the cooler winter months, rather than on a warm summer evening. :/

     Thanks again for the clues!

                   -Z-

[Richard]

Zonk,

I think rope LED would be a great idea. No LED light is ever going to get as hot as a standard incandescant bulb.  Example, the rope lights I have are not LED.  When I made them, LED rope was not readily available or cheap.  I used the incandescant ones from Wal-Mart. Each rope light draws about 30 watts.  By contract, an LED version is only going to draw about 5 watts.  It's much less heat to dissipate.

Even with standard lights coiled into a tight space, don't worry about heat.  I think too many people are focused on heat as a possible problem.  It is not important at all.  It's because the lights are going to be operating at night in very cool weather in the open air, so heat dissipates rapidly.  Most importantly, the off/on chasing patterns of arches results in them being off most of the time so there is not time for heat to build.

Bottom line, forget about heat.  If you are going to LED, the reason should be to save energy and have longer life.  One other thing to keep in mind that is very important is to make sure that the rope lights you get are ones that can be coiled tightly without breaking the wires inside.  Get as small diameter rope as you can find.