LED Christmas lights use light emitting diodes to create light. These bulbs do not create heat, like other types of Christmas lights, and use far less electricity. Consumers have many choices for using LED lights since the variety, shapes and colors are wide. The LED bulbs last considerably longer than incandescent bulbs used for Christmas lights and rather than burning out suddenly, a LED bulb dims before needing replacement.
Length
Strands of LED Christmas lights vary in length, and the kinds used on Christmas trees typically use end-to-end plugs so that strands can be added to cover the tree or decorate a room. Most strings of lights for the tree are 25 feet long. Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) reports that it is safe to run 220 watts on a 15-amp circuit. Since LED lights use so little electricity, about .05 watts per bulb, it is possible to connect many strings together.
Power Supply
Christmas LED bulbs use electricity to run in the form of a direct wall connection, batteries or solar-power. Since LEDs draw so little current, solar is an option for outdoor Christmas lights hung in trees or in bushes. Solar LED lights do have wires connecting to a small solar panel that charges a battery large enough to supply power once the sun sets. Battery-run LED lights also help decorate places where access to power is limited, or where cords provide a decorating or safety hazard, like front doors with lighted wreaths.
Bulbs
LED bulbs come in all kinds of colors, shapes and sizes. The bulbs use plastic instead of glass, since LED bulbs throw off little, if any, heat. Besides all the options for bulb design, LED lights are manufactured as rectified or full-wave, a process that brightens the bulb and eliminates flickering. All LED bulbs flicker on and off constantly when using AC current. Rectified lights use a transformer placed somewhere in the string to change the current from AC to DC, which eliminates the flickering.
Safety
Even though the wattage of LED lights is low, the UL requires manufacturers to state whether the lights are safe to use outdoors. The outside packages must indicate whether the lights are solely for interior use or can be used outdoors as well. The tags that manufacturers place on LED Christmas strings of lights also indicate whether the product is safe outdoors. This tag also informs users of the maximum wattage or voltage for replacement bulbs.
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