Tree house needs lights
#1
07-26-15, 08:36 AM
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Tree house needs lights
I'm in indiana. Agricultural property. Making a tree house and wanted to put some lights on it. "Fairy lights" as there called. It's too far for me to run cable to it and I would rather just use a car battery or any other battery. Rechargeable would be nice but if it's just double AAs it's not a big deal. I'm wondering which route to go as the best way to keep them protected from animals and weather. Thanks!
#2
07-26-15, 09:46 AM
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As you suggested I would go with some LED fairy lights and power them from a battery. You can add a solar panel to provide charging if you don't want to lug the battery home for charging.
#3
07-26-15, 03:36 PM
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How do I connect them though. Are there fairy lights powered by dcv or do I need to get an inverter?
#4
07-26-15, 03:41 PM
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Many LED strings and LED strips run on 12 VDC. Just look for it when buying the lights. I would try to stay with 12VDC just for the ease of charging (solar or other) and if you wanted to you could run other things like a radio with an inverter to get 120 volts AC. Also 12 volts is intrinsically safe so no worries about the Fairies getting hurt. 
#5
07-26-15, 03:50 PM
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Thank you. I'll probably just lug it out. It's far enough away from the house I'll be taking the cub cadet.
#6
07-26-15, 05:24 PM
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Oh. But how do I protect the wiring and lights from animals and weather. There are a lot of squirrels
#7
07-26-15, 07:00 PM
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The weather shouldn't be too much of an issue if you use some weather proof splices. If the lights will be in the rain just make sure they are designed for outside. They make LED strips that are waterproof. Biggest thing is the Sun, UV light will degrade the wire insulation in a few years if it is not UV rated cable.
If the critters are aggressive, you could either just cut a slot in a board and cover the wires, or sleeve it in PVC conduit, plastic wire loom, or flexible metal conduit.
If the critters are aggressive, you could either just cut a slot in a board and cover the wires, or sleeve it in PVC conduit, plastic wire loom, or flexible metal conduit.
#8
07-27-15, 05:43 AM
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Squirrels can be a problem if they want to chew on things. They are very hard to defend against as they can chew through wood and plastic but I would not worry about it unless it proves to be a problem. If they do decide to chew on the lights then you might have to accept that it's not a good place for lights. By the time you try to armor and protect the wiring and lights it's probably going to be pretty ugly, destroying the nice affect of fairy lights.
#9
07-27-15, 08:25 AM
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Thanks, I'll try wiring them under the rail. The animals will have to go to extreme lengths to get them. And it should protect it a little more from weather and sun.
#10
07-27-15, 08:37 AM
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The squirrels in my neighborhood will cut their teeth on anything, including the metal 'wire' used to hold chain link fence to the rails and posts. I don't know exactly what it is by my best guess is 14 ga solid aluminum and they chew through it.
If yours are that bad, I'd bail on the whole project.
If yours are that bad, I'd bail on the whole project.
