Actually each string is about 14 feet of lights. Not sure where you got 9 feet. That is a 20’ ramp, top hand rails are 16’ , I took 2 of the sets I got last week and put them along the 2x4 at the top of the lattice on either side and the light up the ramp nicely, 1st light is at the 4x4 at the top, last light is at the bottom facing out towards the driveway.
I don’t know about a tree, but I have them mounted facing down along the fascia of my porch, and they are bring enough to light up the porch. Ignore the forward facing LED strips. Those are Taotonic strips, but you can see the garden spots facing down . Not the best pic, but the easiest one to grab at the moment . I won’t be home until Wed. If you look for the thread on these actual lights, not this sale there are some better pics by others
Depends if you’re interested in the length with the stakes, or without the stakes.
I would say they’re suitable. Some of mine are in the landscaping in front of my house, and they’re bright enough to bounce off the soffit 2 stories up. Here’s an example from 4th of July:
EDIT: I also have them in Circadian Daylight as dimmers, so they start at 100% at sunset and get dimmer as it gets later in the evening (and brighter towards morning). I can’t say exactly how bright they were here, I think they were probably close to, but not quite, 100%.
Its primary goal is to adjust color temperature to maintain a normal circadian rhythm, but it can also adjust brightness. I like to leave my outdoor lights on all night for security (we live near the end of a relatively dark road) but I don’t like them being so bright that they would bother our neighbors. By allowing them to dim overnight I get the best of both.
Okay I got home earlier than anticipated ( I was not plan on having another heart attack and cancelling my trip ) . So here is a better shot, they are set at 60% , changing color every 5 minutes , using the Garden Hue app. I just happened to catch them in the middle of changing colors
As others have said, keep an eye on these guys. They briefly dropped to $47 new a couple of days ago and I was able to buy a “Used - Like New” set from Amazon Warehouse deals for $25. I bought my original set on the $31 sale in July and my wife was shocked how great they look lining the patio under the willow and now encourages more of them.
Ya, I got tired of having to decorate for each holiday, that’s why I put up the LED strips, Gardenspots, The path lights along the railing of ramp are BT speakers, etc etc. So now I don’t have to string lights, I just change the color scheme LOL.
2014
2015
Last year we earned a S & D complaint from Blake Shelton’s agent for copyright infringement LOL
I haven’t noticed any difference at all. Either with color/hue or stability. Of course that could simple be because I am controlling them with the outdated ST DTH.
I was confused by all the DH talk, so I wrote my own using the new zigbee calls ST provides. I can’t easily replicate the random hue changing without an accompanying SmartApp, but I haven’t spent much time on it. I can get it to blink without a smart app and without using scheduling.
I haven’t ventured into trying to write my own anything.
Using the Garden Hue app I have been having issue with the sunrise sunset activation not working (of course that is ST, not the app’s fault) , Other issue is when it does deactivate it doesn’t actually turn off the lights, they just stop changing color. Yes if they happen to be off when it stops they are off, but more often than not they will just stay on at the last color.
Last night they ended on a blue. I deactivated the app and changed them all to dark orange. For whatever reason 2 of the 5 strings kept changing back to blue after a couple minutes. They were still showing as orange in the ST app though, even after refreshing the app.
I use Osram LIGHTIFY GardenSpot Mini rgb - AAP Version for my GardenSpot Device Handler, this allows for color loop (transition to set color over time), and exposes a Random Hue Property. Then I use the Random Hue Property in CoRE to change the color ever X minutes, and since the Color loop is enabled it transitions to the color over X seconds, it looks really nice.
I created a virtual switch to enable to color loop, I have SmartLighting Smart App turn the virtual switch on at sunset, I have a CoRE Piston that is subscribed to the virtual switch turning on, while the switch it on it checks every X minutes that the switch is still on, if it is it then executes the Random Hue property, I then have SmartLighting turn the virtual switch off at 11:00pm, CoRE then sees that and turns off the GardenSpots.
