With such a wide range of Christmas lights and bulbs now available, everyone can rest assured that no matter what their decorative preferences are, there will always be a lighting solution on hand to accommodate them over the festive period.
C7 & C9 Lights
These 5 to 10 watt bulbs are a good option for outdoor Christmas lights as they are relatively large and robust. Furthermore, the high amount of heat that these bulbs produce makes them unsuitable for typical indoor use. One of the key benefits of these old-fashioned C7 & C9 bulbs is that they are wired-up parallel to each other, therefore, not all of the lights are affected whenever one individual bulb decides to give up the ghost.
Mini-lights
Although they first came in to being way back in the 1970’s, mini-lights still remain the most popular type of bulbs for decorative Xmas lights. Mini-lights use much smaller bulbs than C7’s and C9’s and therefore they are not only much cheaper to operate, they are also more environmentally friendly as well. Sadly, the original mini-lights were wire-up sequentially, so when one bulb blew (or came loose), all of the lights went out. Thankfully, more technologically advanced versions of mini-lights use something called an ‘internal shunt’ to make sure this is no longer an issue.
Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s for short) are the most modern way to light up a home at Christmas. Even though they are really quite small, LED lights are very strong and powerful and can last in excess of 20 years. In addition, they are also more energy efficient than mini-lights so therefore they are the most environmentally and economically friendly Christmas lighting option available.
When it comes to brightening up a home over Christmas, nothing beats the festive ambience of beautiful Xmas lights.