Can someone give me a good method to secure rope light (Hampton Bay brand purchased at Home Depot) to the lip of my riser? The riser has a 1.5" overhang that is carpeted. The package of rope light has 9 clips with 1/2" screws to secure them, and I know that won't work for 18' of rope light! :rolleyes:

Also, can the cord for the rope light plug be shortened. I believe the cord is 6' long (and it's white) and it looks terrible bundled up next to the dedicated switched outlet by my riser step. As you can gather, I didn't plan for this when I built the riser! :)

Thanks in advance!

John

Hi Jon. I think most people use heavy duty staples to attach their rope lighting under the lip of the riser.

Be forewarned if you're planning on using a dimmer on the lighting - Home Depot rope lighting doesn't dim worth a darn. It flickers terribly as it dims and in some cases buzzes as well.

If you *are* going to use a dimmer you're much better off with lighting from 1000bulbs.com. It dims well and doesn't flicker or buzz.

As for the wiring, you can shorten it by cutting and splicing if you're handy enough to be comfortable doing it.

-drin

Thanks for the response, Drin.

Heavy duty staples, as in the type I used to put up my GOM on the walls? I think my Porter Cable gun would shoot the staple right through the plastic rope! Could you clarify? I was thinking about using the nail-in clamps that are used to secure electrical wires on the wall studs.

The lights won't be on a dimmer, just an on/off switch. I had heard that the rope light doesn't dim well. Maybe I will check out 1000bulbs.com to see what they have.

I'll have my brother look at shortening the wiring for the plug, too.

--John

P.S. Hey, I hit 100 posts! Only been here for 4 years, too! :)

I did use the Home Depot rope lighting under the lip of my stage, and around my crown molding. Both of them are tied together as a single zone through my Grafik Eye. I have never once heard any buzz or whine from these lights (and since they surround my room, I would think that I would have heard something). I wonder if the noise issue you mention is a function of the dimmer instead of the actual lights. I'm not an electrical expert by any means, but I know enough to have wired my whole room (including the Grafik Eye) myself. I have one G.Eye zone wired to two different hidden outlets--one at the edge of the stage, and one up in the crown/soffit. When that zone dims, the outlets/rope lights dim. I don't doubt that there are better rope lights out there, but this is the second theater in which I've used the HD lights, and I've never had a problem. In my last theater, I just had them plugged into a Lutron remote control lamp dimmer module, and they worked silently then, also. The dimming effect is uniform with my lights, without any flicker at all.

In any case, I attached mine to the lip of my stage using the clips that HD sells. For a while, I used the straight track that you can buy at HD, which I secured to the lip using double-sided tape. However, over time, the tape started to give way, and the tracks wouldn't hold to the stage any longer (I even bought special super-sticky tape to hold it up, but it didn't do the trick. I eventually switched to the clips and, while they were a pain to install, they have kept the lighting in place without any issues. The track kept the light looking neater and more uniform (when it actually held in place), but the clips don't have a risk of falling down over time.

jj

At the bottom of this page are channels and clips

http://www.1000bulbs.com/products.php?cat=High-Definition-Rope-Light

I wonder if the noise issue you mention is a function of the dimmer instead of the actual lights.

Could be. I don't have rope lights myself - I was reporting what has been reported by others on here.

I have seen the flickering effect of the dimmers in HD lights, however, in other people's theaters. It's nasty. Good on ya if your theater doesn't have it.

-drin

I used 200 ft of inexpensive rope lighting in my theater (over crown molding and for step lighting).

I, too, use a Grafik Eye.

No flickering and it dims without issue to the lowest of levels.

Then again, with a $600 dimmer, it'd better be right.

I checked out 1000bulbs.com.....Nice site! I saw the clips available (Thanks, Woolly!), but the site brought up another question for me.

What is the difference/benefit of LED rope light over regular rope light? Should I bring back the Home Depot light set and get the sets from 1000bulbs.com?

--John

Don't know the difference overall, but I bought LED lights from Costco and they gave off a bright white light with almost a purplish hue it seemed like. That didn't bode well for my dark brown paint, so I switched to the Home Depot Hampton Bay clear lights. They gave off more of a yellowish hue like normal light bulbs. They worked much better for my situation.

Definitely don't want a purple glow in the theater! Anybody else have experience with LED lights?

--John

LED rope lighting has two main advantages. 1) Heat 2) Power consumption.

Just don't ball up the extra that you don't use in a tight location and heat shouldn't be an issue.

I have LED in my dining room crown molding. It is on a dimmer, and I only have dimming capabilities in the top 10% of the slider. at 90% power, I get almost 0 light output. But other dimmers caused bad flickering.

Be forewarned if you're planning on using a dimmer on the lighting - Home Depot rope lighting doesn't dim worth a darn. It flickers terribly as it dims and in some cases buzzes as well.

It dims just fine. Does not flicker or buzz. Forget the LED ones, they are way overpriced for the application.

At the bottom of this page are channels and clips

http://www.1000bulbs.com/products.p...tion-Rope-Light

These clips look rather inexpensive and breakable, just like the Home Depot brand ones.

LED rope lighting has two main advantages. 1) Heat 2) Power consumption.And it costs almost 10x as much. :(

You can use the channels and use screws to screw them through the bottom of the channel and into the wood under the lip. Double sided tape works, but I've had some tape pull off.

Bud

John: I also used the tracks bought at HD to hold the rope lights. No problem with above mentioned flickering on the dimmer.. Tracks were secure with flat head screws every 3ft apart..ck out my gallery for some pictures of the riser, built with the help of AVS members.. :D

Just don't ball up the extra that you don't use in a tight location and heat shouldn't be an issue.Unless I missed something can't you cut it to length (within 24"), so why would you have a bunch of extra to worry about?

Did anyone use the electrical wire clips (one nail), that fit the roper lights? It's the ones used to connect coax/other cable that are found in HD electrical department next to all the wire nuts? They seem sturdy and easy to install, but it would probably be a pain if needed to take down (i.e. a section of the lights dies out).

Any other suggestions, alternatives? The plastic clips are fine for the first mount, but after a while they snap really easily.

Did anyone use the electrical wire clips (one nail), that fit the roper lights? It's the ones used to connect coax/other cable that are found in HD electrical department next to all the wire nuts? They seem sturdy and easy to install, but it would probably be a pain if needed to take down (i.e. a section of the lights dies out).

Any other suggestions, alternatives? The plastic clips are fine for the first mount, but after a while they snap really easily.

The home depot clips are very flimsy. 1000bulbs has some upgraded clips that are much sturdier. they are more expensive, but well worth, IMO.

Heavy duty clips (http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php?product=30133)

these are for 1/2" rope, they also have 3/8", be sure to get the right size.

One other benefit on the LED lights is they last much longer, but I went with the standard light from 1000bulbs and I am happy...

I used the rope light tracks from home depot. Works perfect. I originally slapped a brad nail in it every 3-4 feet, but when my carpet guys laid my carpet, they removed them and put them back up with some super heavy duty carpet glue.

http://www.ronniejackson.com/theater/Images/riser/P3180008.jpg

http://www.ronniejackson.com/theater/Images/riser/P3180050.jpg

Ronnie

The home depot clips are very flimsy. 1000bulbs has some upgraded clips that are much sturdier. they are more expensive, but well worth, IMO.

Heavy duty clips (http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php?product=30133)

these are for 1/2" rope, they also have 3/8", be sure to get the right size.

One other benefit on the LED lights is they last much longer, but I went with the standard light from 1000bulbs and I am happy...

Hi,

I checked on their site, but the for the 3/8" light that I have downstairs (HD-style) they seem to only have these all in one style cheaper ones (not the heavy duty).

http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php?product=32438

Do you maybe have the link for the heavy duty ones? Can anyone confirm if maybe the bigger heavy duty ones worked with the HD lights? The shipping for this place is kind of expensive, don't want to RMA.

Thanks!