Christmas Lights and Safety

During the festive season, almost every home and many businesses in South Australia put up a tree and string about decorations of tinsel, baubles and Christmas lights.

Many people also light up the outside of their homes and businesses with decorative lighting to add to the Christmas spirit. In fact there are entire streets and communities such as Lobethal and Loxton where the lighting up of the area takes on such proportions that visitors flock to see the spectacle.

But in our zeal and enthusiasm to add a bright spark to the festive season, how can we make sure that we 'light up' safely?

Select the Right Christmas Lights

Basically there are two types of decorative Christmas lights—those you use inside and those you use outside. The most important thing is to always use the right type of lighting for your particular application. If you are shopping for new lights, make sure you read the package about their suitability for your purposes.

Inside the Home or Business

Indoor Christmas lights are only safe to use inside the home. Never use this type of lighting outside as the globe holders are not 'encapsulated' and their single insulation does not provide sufficient protection from the physical damage or wet weather that could occur with outdoor use. However, lights designed for outside use can be used safely indoors. Outdoor lights must always come with a transformer or switched mode power supply to convert from 240 volts to the safer extra low voltage.

Lights for use indoors are comprised of small globes (no more than 5 watts each) connected on a thin 'single insulated' wire. You can buy lights that you plug directly into the standard Australian power supply (240 volts) as well as those with a transformer.

When you first bring out your Christmas tree lights from storage, make sure that you check them completely before use. Take the light set out of its box and string it along the floor to check it. Never turn the light on while they are in the box as they may over heat possibly causing a fire.

Check each bulb 'husk' or 'collar' holder, making sure that the bulbs are not loose, damaged or missing. Plug in the light set to see if all the bulbs are working, and then unplug it and immediately replace those that are faulty or missing. Most tree light sets will continue to operate even if there are faulty bulbs, providing the defective bulb is undamaged and remains firmly in the bulb holder.

Once the light set is on the tree and operating, we recommend that you regularly check for burnt out bulbs and replace them immediately. Remember to:

• Always replace failed, burnt out, defective or damaged bulbs with new bulbs of the same type and wattage—you will avoid the risk of having the lighter set overheat and will also improve the operating life of other bulbs.
• Never remove or insert bulbs while the set is turned on—turn it off and unplug it at the wall socket first.
• Never use lights on or near metal foil parts from Christmas trees or tree decorations.
• Always keep combustible (paper or cardboard) or meltable (plastic) tree decorations away from the bulbs.
• Never mount or support sets of lights in a manner that can cut or damage the wire insulation. Simply string them around the tree or other objects and if needed use tape, string, cable ties, cup hooks or similar to avoid damaging the insulation—no pins, drawing pins, nails or the like.
• Never connect one light string to another, unless the set is designed for this. Avoid connecting sets of lights in series to avoid overloading the transformer.
• Never modify or cut a lighting set, the plug or fuse elements.

It is safe to leave lights turned on overnight, as many people do by putting Christmas trees in their front windows—just make sure that curtains or other combustible materials are not near the lights. If you want to save energy, put the lights on a timer.

Outside the Home or Business

There are four main types of decorative lighting that you might safely use for Christmas decorations outside the home or business or in the garden: Rope Lighting; Fairy Lighting; Festoon Lighting; and Light Sculptures/Novelty Items.

Rope Lighting
Rope lighting is comprised of tiny globes on a single insulated wire encased in a flexible plastic tube. While the lights and wire might look similar to indoor tree lighting, the plastic tube itself is acting as an additional electrical insulator. Most rope lighting sets will also come with a transformer which converts the 240 volt supply to a safer extra low voltage. These two factors make this form of Christmas lighting suitable for safe use outdoors.

• Always check the tubing for signs of cracking—it may not be resistant to long term UV exposure and may become brittle and crack.
• Always handle with care—this form of lighting is quite fragile

Fairy Lighting
Fairy lighting is made up of strands of tiny globe holders (sometimes encapsulated), with wiring that is made of rugged, high impact plastic that is UV stabilised for weather resistance. These lights look similar to inside Christmas lights, but are supplied with a transformer to convert from 240 volts to the safer extra low voltage. Fairy lights are inexpensive to run, easy to install and are safe to operate outdoors for decorating garden trees, pergolas and other exterior displays.

• Always handle with care—this form of lighting is quite fragile.
• Never prune or trim shrubs or trees while they are decorated with fairy lights—the green cables are hard to see and could be cut.

Festoon Lighting
Festoon lighting, also called party lighting, is made up of normal, coloured globes of 15 to 40 watts, connected on normal thickness 'double insulated' wiring. This form of lighting is much more robust and operates directly from the 240 volt supply.

Always have these lights installed by a licensed electrical contractor if they are a permanent exterior lighting fixture.

Light Sculptures
Light sculptures or novelty items are similar to fairy lights or rope lighting, but they are sold in pre-formed shapes such as stars, reindeer, sleighs and bells. There are some on the market that are designed to be put INSIDE a window—they should not be used outside because they are not adequately insulated. It is possible to create your own shape by twisting wire and then taping fairy lights to the shape you have created.

• Always ensure that the sculpture is designed for outside use—it should have a transformer to convert 240 volts to extra low voltage.

All outdoor Christmas lighting can be used safely indoors.

These general safety hints apply to all outside Christmas lighting:

• Always have transformers and light chasing controllers indoors where they will not be exposed to weather, unless they are designed and marked as suitable for outdoor use.
• Never use nails or other methods of attaching lights that could damage the insulation/wiring—use tape or string, or suspend with cup hooks or cable ties.
• Always replace broken globes/bulbs immediately—turn off and unplug the lights first. Never use lights on or near metal foil parts from Christmas trees or tree decorations.

Extension Cords, Double Adaptors and power Boards

There are several important safety points to remember when you start stringing Christmas lights around the home or office, using extension cords, double adaptors or power boards to provide power to 'not so usual' locations.

• Always fully unwind extension cords to avoid overheating.
• Always use cords long enough for the job so you don't have to join them together, but make sure you don't exceed the maximum safe length—if the cord needs to be longer than 25 metres, check with a licensed electrical contractor. You may need to have a general purpose outlet installed.
• Never use extension cords where they could be splashed or fall into water or during wet weather—if one does get wet, switch it off at the power point, unplug it, dry it out and have it checked for any permanent damage.
• Never lay extension cords on the ground where they can be walked on or driven over by a vehicle. There is the hazard of tripping over them and also the possibility of crushing or damaging the insulation. Preferably cords should be suspended 2.5 metres (about 8 foot) above the ground, attached to other fixtures by taping or cable ties or similar.
• Always look for situations where physical damage to the cord could occur, such as sliding doors, which could damage the insulation and expose live conductors.
• Never use twin flex (two wires) as an extension cord—always use a cord which has earth, active and neutral wires and a 3-pin plug and socket.
• Never improvise or interfere with electrical wiring or equipment and never do your own electrical work—always use a licensed electrical contractor for fixed installations and repairs.
• Never overload an extension cord—a 7.5 amp extension cord can supply a maximum of only 45, 40 watt globes.
• Never overload an individual power point which is generally designed for 2400 watts i.e. 10 amps. To work this out for yourself, divide the total wattage (2400 watts) by the wattage of each individual globe to tell you how many globes you can operate off the power point. For example, 2400 watts is equivalent to about only 95, 25 watt globes (most typically festoon lighting). A set of fairy lights with only 0.25 watt globes is equivalent to only 45 watts.

Safety Switches

Safety Switches are also known as Residual Current Devices, RCDs. Safety Switches provide extra protection against electrocution and fire. Safety switches save lives in most situations; however they may not in some cases.

It is strongly recommended that Christmas lights are plugged into a power point protected by a Safety Switch. If your home is not protected by a Safety Switch, look at buying a portable Safety Switch which will protect portable electrical appliances and extension cords plugged into the Safety Switch.

It is strongly recommended that electrical equipment used outside is connected to an earthed power point protected by a Safety Switch. Do not take chances—there is no substitute for the wise and safe use of electricity.