DIY Permanent LED Christmas Lights
Every Christmas, for a few years, my husband has suggested putting up permanent LED Christmas lights. We looked into having someone install them for us, and our bids were thousands and thousands of dollars.
So, we decided to try our hands at DIY permanent Christmas lights. We ended up installing everything for a fraction of the cost, and we are so happy with how they turned out!
Videos of LED Christmas Lights:
I have two videos showing this whole process. The first is a look at the backend setup, and the second is a look at the installation on our home.
DIY Permanent LED Lights Video about the backend
DIY Permanent LED Lights Video about the installation
How do Permanent LED Christmas Lights Compare to Traditional Christmas Lights?
Compared to traditional Christmas lights, these permanent LED lights are a bigger investment up front, in both time and money. But we have found that they have been worth it to us. We love that we don’t have to climb on the roof in the snow every year to install our lights. Plus we think they look pretty cool!
When can you use Permanent Christmas Lights?
We actually use these lights more often than just on Christmas. If it’s someone’s birthday, a holiday, or a special game night, we light up the house in colors to match whatever we have going on!
That’s the cool part of these DIY permanent Christmas lights- you use an app on your phone, so you can choose whatever color or pattern you want. So we have a different light show every night!
What do Permanent Christmas Lights look like in the Daytime?
I was worried about what the permanent Christmas lights would look like in the daytime, but they actually don’t look bad at all! You can see them once you are close to the house, but you would never know they were there from the road.
Steps to installing DIY permanent LED Christmas lights.
- Buy Supplies
You will need 12 v LED lights, a controller, power supply, power cord, j-channel, a 1/2″ drill bit, and metal screws. There are a lot of other things that really make the installation nice, but aren’t necessary. See the bottom of this post for links to other helpful items, hardware, and apps.
- Dry Run first
Before you start drilling holes and installing things, it’s best to play around with everything in your garage or living room. Nothing is worse than installing hundreds of lights, just to take them down because something isn’t right. Make sure steps 3-6 are good before you start the install process.
- Prepare LED lights
When you get your LED lights, they will look like this photo below.
Your LED light string comes with a male connector on one end and a female connector on the other end. The end with the female connector also has two extra wires (positive & ground) that you can use if you need to inject power later. I talk about this in step 17.
For this step, you’ll want to cut off the male connector (the one on the right in this photo). Only cut the the connector off of the FIRST strand. You’ll want these connectors to stay on all of the other strands. We are cutting this connector off now so that we can attach it to our power supply.
- Connect LEDs to Power Supply
Now that you’ve cut the male connector off, your light strings will have 3 wires. The colors may be different than mine, but look on the light and they should be labeled. Mine are positive or 12v (red), negative or ground (blue), and data or digital input (white).
You will attach the positive (red) and ground (blue) LED light wires to your power supply. Make sure you know which is positive and which is ground, because if you plug the wires in reverse, it will fry your lights, and you’ll have to get new LEDs.
The date wire (blue or green) will be attached to your controller later.
Attach a power cord to your power supply. Do not plug this into the wall until everything is connected. You don’t want to be working with live wires, and they really won’t do anything anyway. Then you’ll be all worried that things aren’t working… LOL. We’ll fire them up once we have everything connected together. - Connect Data Wire to Controller
Now your positive and ground wires are connected to your power supply, you’ll need to connect your LED lights to your controller. The controller is like the brains of your lights.
First, snap your controller into a breadboard– a breadboard basically just makes it so you can plug wires in easily to the controller without having to solder anything.
Then connect the data wire (white in my case) to the breadboard in the D4 pin on the controller.
If you’re using 12v lights (which is what I linked), make sure your controller will take 12v (which is what I linked). If you are using other supplies than the ones I linked, make sure both the lights and controllers are either 12v or 5v. So if you get 12v lights, you need a 12v controller. If you get 5v lights, you’ll need a 5v controller. - Install Software
The software we like is the WLED software. This is the program (or app) on your device where you can choose colors, brightness, etc.
Install this software on a wifi enabled device- like your phone, tablet, or laptop. You can find it in the apple app store, or on google play for android. - Copy Software to Controller
You will need to install a program on your computer, then attach the controller to your computer with a USB cable. You will copy the WLED software into your controller. We recommend ESPhome Flasher.
This gets a little technical, but Dr ZZs does a great job talking about it on this video. - Dry Run again
Just in your living room or garage, double check that your controller, power supply, and power cord are properly connected to your LED lights. Check your that your positive and negative wires are correctly attached, and fire it up!
Play around a bit, and make sure things are good. - Secure the power supply and controller to your house
Now we are all up and going, we are ready to install!
You’ll want to think about a few things before you make anything permanent. For example, if you are using the DigQuad controller (we recommend this one), you will want to install your controller and power supply in a central location and run the lights off of it, kind of like an octopus. If you are using a different controller, you’ll want to place the power supply and controller on one end of the house and run everything linear from there. (see step 15 for more on this)
Your LED lights will be secured to your house with the J-channel, but you might be wondering what to do with your power supply and controller. This is kind of personal preference, but there are two options that are most common.
We secured the controller and power supply to the wall inside our garage, then drilled a little hole through the eaves of our home. We ran an extension wire from the controller, through that hole, to the outside of our house. Then we attached that wire to our LED lights.
The other option you have is to get a weatherproof box, and place your components in there, on the outside of your house. - Decide on LED Light Placement
Before you start drilling holes in your j-channel, decide where you want your lights on your j-channel. We decided to have our lights pointing OUT, rather than DOWN, so we drilled into the face of the J-Channel.
We have seen that a lot of people drill into the underside of the J-Channel, so their lights point downward. It seems that most professional companies install the lights pointing downward. It is all personal preference.
- Drill Holes in J Channel
Drill holes in your j-channel with a 1/2″ drill bit. You will want the distance between the holes to be the same as the distance between your LED lights, in our case, it was about 2.5 inches.
In our shop, we offer a drilling jig to help simplify the drilling process and to keep spacing equal.
- Measure J-Channel to fit
Meaure and cut your J-channel to fit under your eaves.
- Attach J-Channel to House
Use your metal screws to attach the J-Channel to the house. You want to make sure the front of the J-Channel is flush with the front of your house.
PLEASE NOTE: Be aware of what you are attaching your J-Channel to. In our case, we attached it directly to the soffit with metal screws. Do not drill into rain gutters.
- Insert LED Lights
Pop your LED lights into the J-Channel, and tuck the wires behind. If you need to hide wires, use electrical tape that is the same color as your j-channel.
I’ve been asked if you need some sort of caulk, putty, or adhesive to make your lights stay in the holes. The answer is no. If you use the drilling jig we offer, and a 1/2″ drill bit, the lights should pop right into the holes and stay put.
- Connect Multiple LED Strands
If you use the DigQuad controller, you can run multiple LED strands from the controller. So I would recommend putting the controller in a central place where strands run off of it, kind of like an octopus- haha!!
If you are using a different controller, like this one from Amazon, you will run everything linear off of the controller. So you need to think of that as you install your lights.
If you need to run longer strands, you can connect one LED strand into the next. The LED light strands will have little connectors on each end (male and female). You can just snap one strand into the next strand.
When you get to the end of your roof and want to stop your lights, simply cut off the wires between lights. We like to wrap a little electrical tape around the end. That is how you end your row of lights.
When we splice wires together, we use shrink tubing to keep everything connected and tight. You could also use connectors for an easy connection. - Going between roof lines
If you are going from one roof line to another, you’ll need to start a new line from the controller to your new set of lights. If the controller isn’t near where you want your new strand of lights, you may need to run a 3-strand extension wire from the controller to your new strand of lights.
If you have a space where you don’t want lights, you can run an extension wire between the LED strands. Simply cut the wires on the LED strand where you want your lights to end, then attach 3-strand extension wire. When you get to the point where you want your lights to start again, attach the end of that extension wire to the next strand of lights.
Make sure to use 3 strand wire here, because you want your power and your data to continue through to the next strand of lights.
When we splice wires together, we use shrink tubing to keep everything connected and tight. You could also use connectors for an easy connection. - Dim or Flickering lights?
If you are running several strands of LED lights off of your power supply, you may have dim or flickering lights. The reason for this is that after so many feet of lights, you power is basically being used up, so there’s not enough juice to reach the very farthest lights.
To solve this problem, you have to “inject” power again to your farther strands of lights.
To do this, you’ll run a 2-strand extension wire directly from your power supply into your farthest strand of LED lights.
You may have been wondering what those two little wires were for that are coming off of your LED light strand. This is what they are for! You’ll attach your 2-strand extension wire to those two wires -ground (likely blue) & 12v (likely red)- that are coming off of your LED lights.
Please note: if you don’t want to buy two rolls of wire, you could use a 3-strand extension wire here, but just don’t hook the third strand (the data wire) up to anything.
With our setup, we have had a couple of problems with flickering. We were able to solve those problems by injecting power into the end stands of LEDS. Dr Zzs talks about some solutions to various problems in this youtube video. So if you are running into those same problems, make sure to check that out. - Enjoy!
We hope you found this tutorial helpful. We would love to see how you installed these DIY permanent Christmas lights on your own home. Tag me on instagram @thecreativemom.
Supplies needed for DIY permanent Christmas lights
Necessary Items:
- 12v LED lights: https://amzn.to/2IpiXfV
- Digi Quad Controller (the one we recommend): https://drzzs.com/shop/digquad/
- Power Supply: https://amzn.to/3gqWsnd
- Power Cord: https://amzn.to/3B5H6x4
- KeeYees Controller (if the DigiQuad is out of stock. Please see the FAQ’s below for more on this.) https://amzn.to/3HHCB0z
Software & App:
- WLED software: https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/releases
- ESPhome Flasher Program: https://github.com/esphome/esphome-flasher/releases
Installation Items:
- Drill jig: https://www.thecreativemom.com/product/3-d-printed-jig-for-permanent-christmas-lights/
- J Channel: homedepot.sjv.io/364gy
- 1/2″ drill bit: homedepot.sjv.io/kDxrx
- Metal screws: https://amzn.to/3nTKPJw
- Connectors: https://amzn.to/3lP6hMN
- Shrink Tubing: https://amzn.to/3gtL8qv
- Outdoor Extension Wire 3-strand (from your controller to your lights, or between lights) : https://amzn.to/3n7fhP7
- Indoor Extension Wire 3-strand (from your controller to your lights, or between lights): https://amzn.to/3jxSY52
- Outdoor Extension Wire 2-strand (from your power supply to inject power into to your light strands) https://amzn.to/3vGlNkE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
How much do DIY Permanent Christmas Lights cost?
Permanent LED Christmas lights vary in cost depending on how many feet you need. DIY permanent LED Christmas lights, costs around $3-$8 per linear foot. Professionally installed, they cost anywhere from $26-$50 per linear foot.
How much did OUR DIY permanent LED Christmas lights cost?
For our house, we ran about 150 feet of LED lights, and we were right around $500 to install everything. That’s about $3.33 per linear foot. This is much better than the $4800 we were quoted by a local company, which ends up being $32 per linear foot.
Are DIY permanent LED Christmas lights worth it?
This is really up to you. It is a big undertaking to buy and install permanent Christmas lights, but that’s only for one year. After the investment of installing these lights, you get to enjoy them without much cost of effort. We have noticed that every once in a while we have to do a little bit of maintanance, but it is nothing like installing Christmas lights year after year.
We personally love our DIY permanent Christmas lights. I would definitely recommend them to anyone who wants a low-maintanance alternative to traditional Christmas lights.
What skill level do I need to install Permanent LED Christmas Lights?
You definitely need some tech savvy for this project. I wouldn’t say you need a Master’s Degree in computer science, but some technical knowledge definitely helps. If you are the IT person in your family, and if you feel comfortable splicing wires and such, you should be able to tackle this project.
The information I’m giving here, is pretty basic, but for more in-depth technical information, follow the tutorial in this video by DR ZZs. It is very helpful!
The install process is pretty basic, so as long as you can climb a ladder and use a drill, you should be ok on the install.
Are Permanent Christmas Lights Worth it?
Like I mentioned, permanent LED Christmas lights will cost you more time and money up front than traditional Christmas lights. But in the end, you’ll save time and money because you won’t have to buy, repair, and install new lights each year.
Can I control my Permanent LED Christmas Lights with my phone?
YES! That’s the best part of all of this! We use a software called WLED software. This is the program (or app) on your device where you can choose colors, brightness, effects, etc. You can also set a schedule on this app. So you can tell your lights when you want them to turn on and off.
Install this software on a wifi enabled device- like your phone, tablet, or laptop. You can find it in the apple app store, or on google play for android.
Once you have this app, you connect it to your controller, which is kind of like the brains of your LED light system, and you can control your lights using the app on your phone.
How do you attach the LED lights to your house?
We used basic J-channel that you can find at any hardware store. We matched it to the color of our soffit and facia. Then we drilled holes, using our drilling jig, about every 2.5″ along the j-channel.
We popped the LED lights into the holes in our j-channel, and then attached to the roof using metal screws.
How do the lights stay put?
I’ve been asked if you need some sort of caulk, putty, or adhesive to make your lights stay in the holes. The answer is no. If you use the drilling jig we offer, and a 1/2″ drill bit, the lights should pop right into the holes and stay put.
Should I use 12v lights or 5v LED lights?
We used 12v LED lights. Either will work, but the 12v are brighter. Just make sure you have the right power supply for whichever lights you use. So if you get 12v lights, you’ll need a 12v power supply. Liewise, if you get 5v lights, you will need a 5v power supply.
Which controller should I use?
It has come to our attention that the Dr ZZs DigiQuad controllers are often out of stock, so we are getting a lot of questions if there is another controller that will work. The short answer is yes. There are other controllers that work and are a bit less expensive. We have been through about 4 different controllers before we tried the Digi Quad controller from Dr Zzs. While you can use another controller, we really do recommend the DigiQuad.
The instructions in this post were written with the DigiQuad controller in mind. However, if you would like to try a different controller, we recommend this KeeYees controller. There are a couple of differences in the controllers, and the Keeyees one is not as seamless as the DigiQuad is.
The biggest difference is that the Keeyees controller runs everything linear. So you only have one output and you run your lines continuously off of this controller. We found that to be a problem for us because we had to keep injecting power (see step 17) because our lines were getting so long.
The DigiQuad controller is more like an octopus, where you put the controller in a central location and run up to four lines out of it. So we have not had to inject power, which has helped with flickering and lights being dim.
Do I need WiFi at my home?
Yes! This whole system runs off of your wifi, and connects to your phone via wifi.
Do LED Christmas Lights increase your electric bill?
Any type of Christmas lights will increase your power bill. But when comparing LED to traditional Christmas lights, there is a definite advantage to LED. LED lights generally use 80-90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.
How long do LED lights last?
A huge concern when installing permanent Christmas lights is how long they will last. You don’t want to take all the time, money, and effort to install something that you’ll have to fix later. But LED lights are often rated up to 50,000 hours. That’s about 50 times longer than a typical incandescent light. So while you may be used to fixing Christmas lights every year, you won’t have to do that with these types of LED lights.
If you leave your permanent LED Christmas lights on for 12 hours a day, they should last more than 11 years! Cut that time down to just 5-6 hours a day, and they will easily last 20+ years.
Having said that, the lifespan of the controller and power supply may vary. So I can’t say these will always be maintanance free, but they will likely last several years at least.
How long can I keep my LED Christmas lights on?
Well manufactured LED lights are extremely long-lasting, and can be left on all day, every day. LED’s don’t produce as much heat as traditional lights, so they are much less likely to overheat or set on fire.
Do I need any special tools to install DIY permanent Christmas lights?
We recommend one of these drilling jigs. They make drilling holes in the j-channel SO much easier! I honestly don’t know how you would do it without one of these jigs. But besides that, you shouldn’t need more than basic tools like a drill, wire cutters, etc.
More technical questions?
If you have technical questions about the controller or really, any technical questions at all, you may want to check out this Facebook group. It is full of people who are installing these same types of lights and it is really helpful because people are always asking and answering questions that you may also have.
Why is my string lights only lighting up the first bulb.
I just finished getting my permanent LED Christmas lights installed. Your instructions were very valuable in getting them installed. Thank you!
However, there are two things that I think are in error. The instructions for the same lights you used says to drill 8mm holes. 8mm is about 15/32″. I used a 15/32″ drill bit and the lights made a nice tight fit in which they won’t come out. I experimented in using a 1/2″ drill as you did and I found that the lights didn’t lock in as they should.
The other thing is that in step 3, you said to cut off the male end to connect to the controller. This is wrong, the female end should be connected to the controller. Following your instructions, I found that the lights would not work when connected to the female end.
I would have loved the article if I could have seen any of the pictures, the ads running across every single one was pretty annoying and it turned me off to reading your article. I coudl have tolerated one or two every now and then, but I had to stop at every picture for like 10-20 seconds so an ad could run before I saw the picture. Might think about trimming those ads down a bit.
If you’re only using one row of strip lights in a linear fashion (500 lights) will a 12Volt 30 amp power supply be sufficient to power them all without any flickering or dimming or will power injection be necessary?
What is the purpose of the breadboard? The dig-quad controller doesn’t have pins to attach it to a breadboard, and it appears that I can connect all of my connections directly to the controller. Therefore, is a breadboard needed?
Thank you for all of this information…I am really excited to get started. I am really confused though by the need for a power cord and a power supply. I ordered both, but I’m not sure how they both are used in this project.
The power cord and the power supply come with a 3 prong plug that goes into an outlet. The cord is just that…a cord with a three prong plug on one end and 3 bare wires on the other end. The power supply has a three prong plug on one end, a power box in the middle, and a two wire adapter on the other end.
I assume the power supply is used to power the controller. The 3 prong plug goes into the wall outlet, and the two wire adapter gets attached to the controller using short pieces of electrical wire.
Is that correct? If so, what is the power cord for?
Can you post pictures of the various connection steps and the breadboard connection?
Hi Natalie! This is awesome and I have always wanted to do this project.
I currently have the lights and power supply but the controller is on back order. Can I test the lights with just the power supply? (we got the one you linked on the blog). If so how do I wire it as I can get power to the power supply but not the lights?
Thanks so much
Natalie, thanks for sharing this info! The controller you link to can’t be delivered for almost 6 weeks. Can you tell us what we need to shop for so we can find something that will get here sooner? Thank you.
From Tammi
Hello my peaks do not have soffits any idea how to attach without drilling into the house?
Thank you
Thanks for this very helpful guide. I have two questions.
1. Will the sun cause fading or yellowing of the pixel bulbs?
2. What kind of mount would you suggest for a flush install? In other words, the gables of a couple dormers are flush with the wall but I would like to outline them and J-channel would not look good.
Isn’t the male connector the one on the left?
What happens if a light goes out?
Can the wifi controller that sometimes comes with the set of lights be used?
Do you have a diagram or picture how to set up the Power box? Which wires go where?
thx
Thank you again.
I have another question:
Where can we place the dig-quad controller?
Can we place it in Garage or Even outside of garage under the soffit?
I live in cold place, and temperatures will go below -15F in winter.
So garage or outside is fine? Or do we need to put inside our home?
We truly appreciate your efforts on this. Thanks a lot!!!.
How is controller connected to the “EAGWELL 12V 30A Dc Universal Regulated Switching Power Supply “? and what is the benefit?
The controller itself has no power at all. So you need a power supply to give the entire system it’s power. I hope I understood your question correctly.
Natalie
@Natalie Dalpias,
Thank you for the reply.
Yes, you got it. I instead bought a ’12V 30A Dc Universal Regulated Switching Power Supply’. That should be equivalent to what you have suggested.
Hi. Thanks for the tutorial! I am so excited for my husband and I to DIY this! One question though, what is the advantage to buying drzzz’s controller over the first one you listed? His is more expensive so I’m wondering if it allows us to skip purchasing other items or why you recommend it over the other one. I am also confused on going from one roofline to another….why do you need to start a new line from your controller for that? Won’t that quickly fill up your controller? For instance, I have 2 peaks, then my entry way and then 2 peaks over my garages. Do I need a new line for each peak? I am just so confused on why I can’t add all the string lights together and only have one line going to the controller. Thanks for your help!
@Kami B., check out Drzzs home automation and tech hacks FB page. There’s a lot of activity there and people helping each other. If you read my post just before your I also had questions. The FB community has a lot of information. To your question about the controller one thing I’m learning is I need a low level shifter to boost my data. The Drzzs controllers are upgraded and have what you need and then some! Check out this page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1969622823351838/?ref=share
Hi Mike,
Thanks so much for the info and for sharing this facebook page. It will definitely help a lot of people!
Natalie
Hi Kami,
We liked Dr Zzs controller because you can run all of the lines from the controller (think like an octopus) rather than one continuous line from the controller. This helps so you don’t have to inject power as much. There are a few other technical reasons we like it. The other controller is fine and will work, but we have been happiest with the one from Dr Zzs.
To answer your question about going from the different roof lines, you can just run one line, but you will have to inject power eventually, which becomes a bit of a headache. There are also benefits when you do different patterns and effects in the app.
First off I want to thank you for making this post! This was a great guide to get started and I’ve watched a lot of Dr Zzs videos as well. I hope to catch is controllers in stock at some point. However, I’m hoping you can help me for now. When I started my project the KeeYees ESP8266 was also on back order so I order a different brand. I used a 12v to 5v converter power the ESP8266. At first D4 output was 3.3v until I connect everything and then it never goes past o.11v. I’m trying to get 25’ using a sacrificial pixel and it’s not working. I can connect directly into the first pixel and fed some function.. is it possible the controller I have only accepts 3v in? I’ve order keeyees coming in next week.
Hi Mike,
The data line does not put any voltage out. So measuring the data line voltage isn’t going to be helpful to you. Honestly, I’m not sure what the problem may be, as we can’t speak to your other controller. I am so sorry! I wish we were able to help more with this. I see that you found that facebook group, so I’m hoping you were able to find some help there.
Natalie
Great breakdown of the process!! I have been debating on doing this type of project for the past 2 years, every year my wife has me go through the garage searching for the different lights she uses for themes. Each year is different ( white Christmas, classic green and red, Christmas tree multi color and others.)
This year I am going this route so that she can just choose her theme without having to go up the ladder and lug around everything.
Now a couple questions:
1. Was the 500 pixels enough or did you have to purchase more? I am planning of using your 2.5 dill jig. How many pixels would you say per ft?
2. It is hard to find J channel in our local Lowes and Home Depot. I am assuming any type of side trim should essentially work.
We used about 700 lights for our home. But you should be able to easily do the math. At every 2.5 inches, you’ll need 48 lights every 10 feet.
The J-channel is really easy to find. This is a common item used on most homes, so hardware stores usually carry it. Although you never know what to count on these days! Haha. But yes, any type of trim should work for this.
Thank you so much for this detailed DIY!!
Apparently DRZZS board is out of stock so I will have to figure out a way to control the lights and add Wi-Fi. My question is…What determines what time the lights come on at night? Are they set up on a timer? Does the app have a time on/off set for them? Do you turn them on manually?
I am new to this and trying to get everything in order. I appreciate any guidance!
Thank you so much!!
We have noticed that Dr Zzs’s boards go out of stock and restock pretty quickly, so keep watching that. But if you are wanting to go another route, this one from amazon is the one we used before we got the one from Dr Zzs. It’s pretty good, just not as seamless as Dr Zz’s is. https://amzn.to/3Cr2Oxh
Hello! I’m about to do step #4 as part of my dry run. You say in step #4:
If you’re using 12v lights (which is what I linked), make sure your controller will take 12v (which is what I linked).
The controller you linked is “KeeYees 3pcs ESP8266 ESP-12E Development Board WiFi WLAN Wireless Module CP2102 for NodeMCU for ESP-12E for Arduino” and on Amazon they say it only takes 3.3v to 5v. Are you sure this controller will take 12v? I have 12V lights and a 12V power supply; I don’t want to plug in the controller and immediately fry it.
Hi Craig,
Thank you for your comment. We have used this controller with our 12v lights and it has worked fine. However, we just recently purchased the controller that Dr Zzs has created and sells for this very purpose. It is hands-down much better than the controller I previously linked. So much, that I removed that link from this post, and I now I only recommend purchasing the Dr Zzs controller instead. Here is the link: https://drzzs.com/shop/digquad/
Thanks so much!
Natalie
This is amazing. I found a company that takes care of all the software, controller, power and lights.. But the rest of the tools needed(J-Channel, drill, etc) is phenomenal. If anyone is looking for the programmed lights with app, they are at Color Bit Lights – they are based in Texas. I am in North Carolina so they got to me in like 3 days.
Thanks for the tip! All that tech stuff can be super overwhelming.
@Jay, Do you have a link/website for this company?
On the 12v lights you posted, do you know the color order of them?
They are whatever color you choose. They have the capability to change, and because you have an app on your phone and the controller connected to the lights, you are able to decide how you would like them to look.
Hi, you noted that to have professionals install a system you were quoted thousands (out here where I live, I expect it would cost anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 for a professionally installed system). I want to know – how much $$$ did you save by doing it yourself? All these little parts add up, and then there’s the risk of getting up on that ladder, which to me is worth something. I’m looking for a system myself but need to know if spending extra $$$ is worth it if you’re someone who hates ladders and may not want to spend the time on a DIY project. Thanks.
Hi Jay. We ended up spending about $500 on this project. It depends on the size of house, though.
I may have this wrong, as I’m a novice, but it looks like the link you’ve used for for the Power Supply is for a 5V AC-DC adapter, not a 12V.
Thanks so much for your comment. You are right. I edited to add the right link. Thanks for the heads up!
Natalie
Hello,
This project has been on my do to list for a while. Thank you so much for the great tutorial! I’m definitely going to bookmark it. 🙂
Nice look for those lights. I’m wondering about a reply you made to someone to someone else. You said you wish you had bought the wifi version. What is that? I’m pretty new to RBG/LEDs. Thanks
Hi Lana. I’m not sure exactly what you mean? Everything should work together and connect to wifi as explained above. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Natalie
Any videos on how to set up and wire the KeeYees controller? I’m having by a lot of issues. Thanks!
I’ve wanted to do this since I last saw you talking about it last year. Every Christmas, for a few years, my husband suggested installing permanent Christmas lights. We considered installing one for ourselves, and our bid was thousands and thousands of dollars. I really want to use the lights all year round, there is a solution to put them on and take them down again.
Thanks so much, Emma. We have loved them!!!
You can use strip lights. However, we liked the shape of the individual lights so they looked like traditional Christmas light bulbs. I’ve wanted to do this since I last saw you talking about it last year. Every Christmas, for a few years, I have been advised to put on regular Christmas lights.
That makes sense Ava, some folks like the traditional Christmas bulb look. We live here in Arizona and HOA’s can be a pill. Had to make it streamlined and really have it blend in during the day in order to keep it up all year.
This is the best! However, maybe we can also use the strip light as an alternative, what do you think?
Hi Samuel, you can absolutely use strip lights. However, we liked the look of individual lights so they looked more like traditional Christmas light bulbs. Good luck!
@Samuel,
One thing to keep in mind is your climate. Strip lights can be more sensitive to freezing temperatures. I first used a reputable strip LED and installed it in October. By February, LEDs started malfunctioning which affect all of the lights downstream. The LED string pixels tend to handle the cold temperatures better.
Thanks for the info. I didn’t know this about strip lights, so that is really helpful!
Natalie
Thank you for putting this all together! I’ve been wanting to do this since I first saw you talk about it last year — but there is SOOO many parts I couldn’t wrap my brain around. Thanks for breaking it down and linking to everything!