I bought these a very long time ago when they first came out. To the best of my knowledge they are one of the first sets of LED Christmas lights. They're not very bright despite drawing over 100mA and with only a third being lit at a time as they chase. This is mainly because the LEDs of that era were only designed for use as indicators.
The construction of the holder is interesting. I was wrong in thinking that the LED leads pierced through the conductors. It appears they are wedged behind the leads and then pressed into a holder that grips everything together.
The construction of the holder is interesting. I was wrong in thinking that the LED leads pierced through the conductors. It appears they are wedged behind the leads and then pressed into a holder that grips everything together.
My earliest LED Christmas lights were in the shape of a flattened plastic Christmas tree which plugged into the car's lighter socket and stuck to the windscreen with a suction cup. It was a three channel set too, about 9 LEDs in total, and bought around 1992, I think. I always thought it was dead neat!
The batterys got corroded on all 7 of our pifco led Christmas lights from the early 80s or 90s /and a tiny bit of early 2000s
Its Adam berrisford from wing illuminations Lightworks depot in wing Buckinghamshire we have had 7 of these pifco led from the early 80s /90s
The Innovations catalogue used to sell these in the early 90s. I remember my aunty Edna had some on her tree bless her. Not very bright at all, but at least the flashing wasn’t obtrusive.
I bought three sets of these decades ago, when I used to work as a Hospital Pharmacist in the UK – I used them as Christmas Decorations in our Pharmacy – cheered the place up a lot, and although "feeble" by today's standards, they certainly met the requirement (AND were remarkably economical where battery life was concerned – I used Duracells, one set lasted the entire "Festive Season"!
I remember buying a set of these, I think I paid about £15 in the early 1990s. long gone sadly, something in the controller died. It brings back memories seeing your set!
One of my aunties had a set of those on her Christmas tree, when I was little, along with a set of berry lights. This was in the early 00s, roughly 2002. I was fascinated with them because they flashed.
What about adding some more modern LEDs to it?
Great video! I founds some PIFCO fuse wire from the early 70s
Holy crap i had a set of these too! Aunty bought them for me in the early 90s, being a kid mine even came in the bath with me, powered up…and still worked, flashing underwater, thanks to the low voltage. Dried out and worked fine! Give you a tenner for them lol around 1999 i was finally able to get some 5mm blue LEDs from a shop in Derby for 50p each! Finally made my own LED christmas lights out of a set of battery bulb lights..fortunately the lamps hadn't been glued in so it was a quick swap! Boring aren't i?
I came across part of a set of commercial warm white LED xmas lights. The inserts are molded into the sockets and you have to literally cut the plastic off to get at the LED. The LED's are not your traditional xmas light type either but rather a rounded clear lens with no deflector in them.
I have about 25-30 of them on the piece of the string I have here..
I remember some vintage LEDs… pause while I remove my glasses and polish while I sigh and look thoughtfully toward the horizon. You could buy an assortment from Radio Shack, and it truly was an assortment, some even looked reclaimed, every pack was different. The kids: WTF is a RadioShack? …what are glasses?
I watch most of your videos in the shower, so technically I'm touching myself while I watch you, "Hey Clive I'm taking it to my bits!"
I remember having those lights for my tree when I was a kid 🙂 They were really dim