New underwater lighting test: Rope Light!

Seems to be a success! I would need 3 for around the inner edge of the pond,
so I connected 3 together. Each plug is supposedly water tight, and there
are no holes in this type of rope light. (They are also low power super
bright lights). As a precaution, I also added silicon sealer liberally
around each plug, before plugging them together.

I dunked them into a galvanized tub for the test, and plugged them in, and
they look to be fine.

I'll let them soak overnight, and then run the test again, in case there is
any leakage.

Assuming they work, I'll put them into the pond, and put some decent sized
rocks around the edge bottom, to keep them somewhat around the bottom edges.

We did this with a small clear mini pond (large tuppeware link storage
container), and they worked fine for at least 2 years, before we removed the
whole thing to move. That same old lightstring turns on every night without
fail or leak for the last 3 years now as well.

(Those little 4 watt "egglights" don't really add much light at all in the
pond at night.)

I'll plug these into the timer that runs all the night lighting, so they are
only burning for 4 hours or so each night.

-
Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

yup, my string of lights (tucked up under the veggie filter overhang) lasted about 3
years. http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/winters/winter.htm
bottom right picture shows lights on during the day. the rope has been removed since
sections were out. we went with a halogen pond light under the lily. I still need
to get pictures at night. Ingrid

"Gareee©" wrote:

Seems to be a success! I would need 3 for around the inner edge of the pond,
so I connected 3 together. Each plug is supposedly water tight, and there
are no holes in this type of rope light. (They are also low power super
bright lights). As a precaution, I also added silicon sealer liberally
around each plug, before plugging them together.

I dunked them into a galvanized tub for the test, and plugged them in, and
they look to be fine.

I'll let them soak overnight, and then run the test again, in case there is
any leakage.

Assuming they work, I'll put them into the pond, and put some decent sized
rocks around the edge bottom, to keep them somewhat around the bottom edges.

We did this with a small clear mini pond (large tuppeware link storage
container), and they worked fine for at least 2 years, before we removed the
whole thing to move. That same old lightstring turns on every night without
fail or leak for the last 3 years now as well.

(Those little 4 watt "egglights" don't really add much light at all in the
pond at night.)

I'll plug these into the timer that runs all the night lighting, so they are
only burning for 4 hours or so each night.

-
Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)




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Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
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I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

wrote in message
...
yup, my string of lights (tucked up under the veggie filter overhang)
lasted about 3
years. http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/winters/winter.htm
bottom right picture shows lights on during the day. the rope has been
removed since
sections were out. we went with a halogen pond light under the lily. I
still need
to get pictures at night. Ingrid

Haven't decided if I like them or not yet.. they do add more light to the
pond, and maybe after the water clouds a little, I'll like them more. (I did
a water change today to get rid of the mud and much that filtered in after
that heavy rain storm a week ago.


Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

after just draping them in the pond I decided I didnt like looking right at them. I
like the illusion of the light sorta coming from everywhere. Ingrid

"Gareee©" wrote:

wrote in message
...
yup, my string of lights (tucked up under the veggie filter overhang)
lasted about 3
years. http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/winters/winter.htm
bottom right picture shows lights on during the day. the rope has been
removed since
sections were out. we went with a halogen pond light under the lily. I
still need
to get pictures at night. Ingrid

Haven't decided if I like them or not yet.. they do add more light to the
pond, and maybe after the water clouds a little, I'll like them more. (I did
a water change today to get rid of the mud and much that filtered in after
that heavy rain storm a week ago.


Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

wrote in message
...
after just draping them in the pond I decided I didnt like looking right
at them. I
like the illusion of the light sorta coming from everywhere. Ingrid

If the water is crystal clear, they you can actually see the ropelights, but
once it clouds a little, from either algae, or just sediment kicked up, you
do get that cool glow effect.

For a REALLY cool mini pond effect, get a large (like galvanized tub or
larger) clear or opaque plastic storage bin. use 1-2 strings of ropelight,
and wrap it around the outside of the container. Duct tape that in place.

Dig a hole, lower that into the hole, and the add edging, or plants inside
the pondlet.

At night, because of the clear frosted plastic, the whole mini pond will
just glow, and if you choose green or blue ropelight, it looks just awesome!

It's a night cheap "accent" type of thing.

I tried it with a kiddie pool, but the lights aren't bright enough to be
seen through.


BTW, what ever happened to that guy who was going to have a small gas driven
fire pit in the center of his pond?

--
Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 11:01:06 -0400, "Gareee©"
wrote:

wrote in message
...
after just draping them in the pond I decided I didnt like looking right
at them. I
like the illusion of the light sorta coming from everywhere. Ingrid

If the water is crystal clear, they you can actually see the ropelights, but
once it clouds a little, from either algae, or just sediment kicked up, you
do get that cool glow effect.

For a REALLY cool mini pond effect, get a large (like galvanized tub or
larger) clear or opaque plastic storage bin. use 1-2 strings of ropelight,
and wrap it around the outside of the container. Duct tape that in place.

Dig a hole, lower that into the hole, and the add edging, or plants inside
the pondlet.

At night, because of the clear frosted plastic, the whole mini pond will
just glow, and if you choose green or blue ropelight, it looks just awesome!

It's a night cheap "accent" type of thing.

I tried it with a kiddie pool, but the lights aren't bright enough to be
seen through.


BTW, what ever happened to that guy who was going to have a small gas driven
fire pit in the center of his pond?

I'm still here, just never post because of the flood of BS from the
retarded obnoxious children that seem to infest this group.

Some experimenting revealed some issues I haven't bothered to work out
fully:

Burning propane at the water surface leaves a fine, oily, sooty
residue on the water. I could probably live with that and just
overflow the pond a little at trhe end of the evening.

Water heats fairly quickly in a #10 wash tub, don't know how that
would work out in my 1300 gallon pond.

The odor agent in propane (ethyl mercaptan) originally concerned me,
as it is toxic in "large" doses. However, it is not very
water-soluble, it is only used in 5-13 ppm in commercial propane, and
it burns, so it's probably not a factor.

I had to bubble a pretty large volume of gas through the water in
order for the flame to be self-sustaining, though I think if I used a
smaller orifice than was used in my firsdt experiment to release the
gas it would make a smaller but more consistent stream and allow a
better flame. This is really what'as holding me up, I haven't taken
the time to make a new test jig.

Thought about using a small floating platform to hold the end of a
flexible line and releasing the gas at or above the water's surface.
Designed it, haven't tested it yet.

Another thing I want to try is running a gas feed from the house line
instead of using a propane tank.

Just been too busy, new job, family, blah blah blah...

If/when I do more experiments or get a full installation I'll post
info here.

Mike
Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody...I should have been more specific..." - Lily Tomlin

Gareee© wrote:
Seems to be a success! I would need 3 for around the inner edge of the pond,
so I connected 3 together. Each plug is supposedly water tight, and there
are no holes in this type of rope light. (They are also low power super
bright lights). As a precaution, I also added silicon sealer liberally
around each plug, before plugging them together.

I dunked them into a galvanized tub for the test, and plugged them in, and
they look to be fine.

I'll let them soak overnight, and then run the test again, in case there is
any leakage.

Assuming they work, I'll put them into the pond, and put some decent sized
rocks around the edge bottom, to keep them somewhat around the bottom edges.

We did this with a small clear mini pond (large tuppeware link storage
container), and they worked fine for at least 2 years, before we removed the
whole thing to move. That same old lightstring turns on every night without
fail or leak for the last 3 years now as well.

(Those little 4 watt "egglights" don't really add much light at all in the
pond at night.)

I'll plug these into the timer that runs all the night lighting, so they are
only burning for 4 hours or so each night.

-
Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)




Do you have link of where you purchased these lights ?

"CanadianCowboy©" wrote in message
...

Do you have link of where you purchased these lights ?

Yep.. Target.com.. I bought them with this intention during the after
Christmas clearance sales. I think I spent a total of $9 on 30 feet of
ropelight, and you can actually connect 300 feet together in this brand!

They were generically blue boxed, and look for ropelight without vent holes
along the sides. Basically you want a long sealed tube. They have watertight
caps at the ends, and if you remove these, then you plug the next strand
into that plug. Even the power cable can be unplugged from the cord.

I think nce the pond water clouds a little, I'll like them more, because the
rope light gives off a kind of glow around the inner edges of the pond. (2-3
feet deep here)

I'll probably use an egglight on a submerged rock, and point it up at the
gargoyle spitter, so he stands out at night.

We are also still planning that waterfall, and will probably put an egglight
at the bottom of the fall in the pond pointing stright up, to highlight that
as well.

--
Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)