Dodgy Christmas lights?

[ban-all-sheds]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead

 

[xr4x4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead

Thanks, you can be helpful sometimes.

 

[Steve]

Don't know what it would be doing on a set of xmas lights though. . .

 

[Adam_151]

Suppressing the stray RF that a badly designed switch mode power supply is emitting which has a long attenna attached through which to cause havoc with a lot of electronic devices?

 

[JohnW2]

Suppressing the stray RF that a badly designed switch mode power supply is emitting which has a long attenna attached through which to cause havoc with a lot of electronic devices?

True, but that assumes that there is a SMPSU.

Steve: is there another 'box' further downstream of that 'while box' which is (or could be a 'transformer') or power supply - or does that cable go straight from the 'while box' to the lights (which is what I had, perhaps wrongly, assumed)?

Kind Regards, John

 

[winston1]

Next time buy your lights from the likes of B&Q and have no problems, not really expensive either. What happened to the lights you bought last year? Could you not just use those?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I don't recall coming across a set up were they have an in-line ferrite, without there being a plug-in transformer connected to the flex.
This looks like a hash-up, wouldn't be spoiling my Christmas with them!

 

[mfarrow]

I'm sure I've seen 'basic' lights being sold in shops quite recently (i.e. last 10 years) that are wired as they always were - i.e. just like that with two wires coming out a plug. I'm not sure whether there's a 'ban' on them or just that people demanded more from their lights i.e. twinkling setups and the consequential wall worts.

There is a standard for domestic appliances with states very similar methods of protection to BS7671. I would hope that this has been around for awhile and that the cable sheats of Christmas lights can be classed as being double or reinforced, probably the latter if anything.

Certainly you can buy these types of lights in the 90's and everything else you boughts by then came with double insulated flex - so they must be able to satisfy the requirement somehow.

 

[plugwash]

Modern direct mains powered christmas lights from reputable vendors do still use two seperate wires but both the cores and the insulation of those wires are far thicker than on old* christmas lights.

The wiring in the OPs photo looks more like what i've seen on old christmas lights that what I have seen on anything sold by a reputable vendor in the last decade.

* I can't say exactly when the switchover happened. I belive when I was a teenager (about 10-15 years ago) that new lights sold by reputable retailers had the thicker cable but lights with the old thin cable were still in widespread use.