Leaping Arches

If you’ve watched enough videos you have no doubt seen a Leaping Arch. They are the lights that chase each other over an arc like a fish jumping. A very cool effect, and one I thought would be time consuming and more advanced for later. After watching Jeremy’s CrazyChristmasCrew video blog I decided I’d give it a whirl.

Making an arch involves endless wrapping of about 800 lights around a PVC pipe. Fun right? Most videos I’d seen involved wrapping the wires around a single, very long, piece of pipe. 

Ugh. 

Jeremy’s solution is much better. Wrap one strand around ~12” of ¾” pipe, do that eight times, then slide those pipes onto a smaller ½” pipe. Presto! Leaping Arch. Or in my case, chasing eve.

The multi-pipe solution is better in several ways. You can swap out a dead section easily, storage is easier, and you can re-use sections in different ways if you want. It’s also easier to wrap one strand at a time than to invent ways to spin a 10 foot pipe.

Cost: <$50 complete, if you use $3 incandescents instead of LEDs. So much for low power...

Time: from decision to completion was about six hours, including the trip to the hardware store and many TV breaks while I wrapped on my couch. It is still somewhat tedious, but you should only have to do it once, and the effect is very cool. Conveniently it turns out that a 10 foot pipe will fit inside most small cars diagonally.

Materials (all findable in 10 minutes at Lowes or Home Depot):

• 10’ of ¾” PVC (they only come in this length at Lowes)
• 10’ of ½” PVC (make sure the ¾” can slide over the ½” inch)
• 8 strands of 100 lights. I used multi-color, your choice though.
  I used 22 foot strands (2.7” spacing) which wraps ~10 feet of pipe perfectly.
• 8” zip ties
• 2 nuts and bolts to keep the pipes from sliding off (anything will work here, cotter pins, nails, bolts are easiest) I used 10-24 2” bolts with locking nuts.
• I got three screw hooks to attach it to my eves too.

Did I say I would get that SPT extension cord next year? I lied. Right now I have my one non-leaping pipe hooked up to one channel since I don’t have enough cords. It will be at least 300’ of extension cord to wire this baby up. That will soon be remedied...

Extension Cords, Extension Cords, Extension Cords

With the Light-o-rama order placed I knew I needed lots more extension cords. Even with the mere six channels I had planned to start with, that meant I needed at least 5 more extension cords than I presently owned.

Some deft googling and presto: christmasdesigners.com had $4 8 ft green cords. At last! No more orange cord stretched across my grass! I bought a dozen and they served quite well. Nicely insulated and weather resistant, but I used them all up immediately. Eight feet is not very long. If I was to get up to my 16 channel max that meant hundreds of dollars for extension cords alone. Ridiculous.

Some more googling and all roads led to SPT-1 and SPT-2 "zip cord". Otherwise known as lamp cord. That stuff dangling around behind your couch.

Really?

Enough "professionals" swore by it (though electrocuted people can't post on the internet). I will have to give it a try. SPT-1 and SPT-2 are the same thing: 18 gauge wire good enough to carry enough electricity to power a few lights without melting. That is, about 7 amps or <800 watts. Connect it to your hair dryer, and it'll probably melt. SPT-2 just has a thicker coating on it, meaning it'll survive the weather better over time. SPT-2 does not carry more electricity. Most people posting said they used SPT-1, but I'd like to use these cords for more than a few years. My orange extension cord has turned yellow/white in only few years of use in Seattle. I'll be trying SPT-2 and spending the extra $20 per 1000 feet.

It's now December so everyone is sold out of the stuff in quantities less than 1,000 feet. I don't know if I'm that dedicated yet, so I'll check back in March maybe. I suspect I'll be eating my words next year.  [2015 update: yep! Save time and buy the 1000' spool]

Either way, plug your cords into a GFCI outlet. You've seen them in your bathroom. It is the thing that trips the circuit breaker before you get electrocuted when you drop your hair dryer in the sink (hopefully). It is not a surge protector. It does not save your electronics, it saves your life. If your GFCI keeps tripping, don't blame the outlet, fix the short circuit in your lights before your dog gets fried lapping up the puddle of water your exposed wires are running through.

The last thing you'll need are vampire plugs. These are simple devices you clip on the ends of the wire. No tools required beyond wire cutters.

Here's a couple sites I've found that sell wire and plugs to give you an idea. Prices vary widely, there is always a better deal to be had somewhere on the internet.

christmaslightshow.com

christmasdesigners.com

amazon.com

noveltylights.com

Glossary:

SPT: Stranded Parallel Thermoplastic wire. i.e., good old fashioned lamp cord, but with slightly better insulation for outdoor use.

GFCI: Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt electrical outlet. Keeps you from getting electrocuted when a loose wire ends up in a puddle.

Vampire Plugs: Extension cord plugs (male and female) the snap onto the end of SPT wire. They have “fangs” to bite into the wire so you don’t need tools.