Permanent holiday lights that can be used all year!

I’m sure most of us don't necessarily aspire to be that house with a million holiday lights that are synchronized to music. But every time I see a house like that, I can't help but catch the holiday light bug and want to do more to bring joy to my family and the people around me. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for permanent holiday lights, I'll show you a DIY version that only costs a couple hundred dollars.

Here are some great resources that go way more into the details:

Chapters:
00:00 - Catching the holiday light bug
00:49 - Project requirements
02:16 - How to attach LED strings to a house
05:17 - Controlling the LED strings
07:57 - Voltage drop and power injection
10:18 - Installing PVC pipes on the house
11:42 - Setting up a power supply
14:33 - First test and demo
15:39 - Go watch my stranger things message wall video

New videos are uploaded as soon as I finish them!

If you're like me you have creative ideas and sometimes they get trapped inside your mind. Here on Byte Sized Engineering I make project videos that get you excited about unleashing your inner maker and making those creative ideas a reality!

You shouldn’t need an engineering degree to make your ideas a reality. I suffered through years of engineering school so you don’t have to. I know how it feels to want to make something I’m excited and passionate about, but also feel overwhelmed by not knowing where to start. I’ve unlocked the secret to getting past this feeling of being stuck. In my videos I show you how to take complex problems and break them down into smaller, more manageable “byte sized” pieces.

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[fractalfool]

Just a tip from a plumber here. Not sure how long your gonna use this solution but over a couple of years if you don't paint that pipe it will become yellowed and brittle

[renod]

Another way of getting the spacing correct would be to pick a spacing that was easy to repeat that is shorter than the maximum spacing and the cut the pipe a little bit shorter so the spacing to the next one works out right.

[biondatiziana]

As a technical writer, I just love how clear and thorough this video is. Bravo!

[bogmaerke]

Create a small jig. Attach some round plug the size of the hole on the jig, clamp the jig to your drill press stand 2.4 inches away. Add another round plug or use a fence to keep the PVC pipe centered.

[robertb]

I appreciate the detail you provided. Nice job.

[lanswipe]

The 2.4" thing I'd probably sketch it out in CAD software, generate a technical drawing, use a thermal printer to print out the drill guides, then use that to drill pilot holes.

[partsdave]

You should add connections to each run to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Even though you’re wired, you can slot the back open if you can’t easily disconnect them. I suspect the odd angles aren’t 45 degrees, but you can design and 3D print a solution for that. And you will probably have to add more installation clips as it sags from outside heat in the future.

[MattBrauchler]

I love this! I think I might buy brown j channel aluminum trim and self tap to the underside of my eaves and then fave the LED out! Love the video and detail. Ignore the haters. :)

[kirstenvalentine]

Every "permanent holiday lighting" supplier and video I've seen leans into how "cool" you can get with the displays: rainbows, chasing stripes, etc. Other than solid color, I haven't seen anything that mimics a traditional holiday light installation. It turns out, I'm oldfashioned and really just want a slow, gentle twinkle. Is that possible with your installation? I'd love to see a video of all the effects you've been able to use. I'm just an extremely lazy person who wants maximum use from any installation effort.

[Sean-tcjm]

How did you handle the wiretap for the power injection? I've seen lots of solutions, but am curious what yours was. Did you Tee off the main run back to the power supply and then continue down to the next one? Or did you run multiple power injection lines to each 10 foot section?

[cvzphotography]

But now you have pvc on your house. That will break down from the sun after a few years. Cool video. Makes me want to try something similar.

[mikepanchaud]

To measure 2.4 inches.
2.4 equates to 10 leds for every 24 inches or 5 leds per foot. So mark accurately 1 foot intervals on the pipe. Make a simple 1 foot ruler from card that has 5 divisions per foot, it is easier to use mm (61mm is 1 fifth of a foot), then mark each foot long secton on the pipe with the 5 divisions.
It pays to think decimal !

[thewascallyrabbit]

build a jig. put a 1/2" rod mounted vertically. then as you drill the hole move it down. the jig need to sit the specific distance you need.

[jmcguire]

how to mark the holes...
start with a normal 90 degree angle stock or bracket, lay you PVC onto it then score a mark down the side of the pipe. you now have a straight line down the length of the pipe that doesn't wrap around the pipe at all. then take a cheap set of calipers, which are very easy to set to exactly 2.40 inches and use the calipers to score a small line perpendicular to the first line. this will be your first drill point. then continue to mark off lines perpendicular to the first line exactly 2.40" from the last mark until you get to the end. do it carefully and you quickly mark all of the drill points and even with tolerance stacking, any variations will be a fraction of a millimeter and will not be visually noticeable even if looking right at it.

[proppo]

You can get an even distribution of holes without a machine. Cut a string the length of the pipe. Stretch it out and fold it in half and make your mark. There's your first hole. Keep folding in half and marking until you have all your desired holes.

[roberthernandez]

Since most people don't have access to a CNC, buying pre-made LED channels like Permatrack are a much more reasonable and durable option. Cheap PVC isn't UV rated. Anyone using PVC in sunny climates will likely be replacing this "cheap" mounting solution once the UV rays have their way with the pipes.

[ZenHulk]

We had installed lights, done by a company that was their business, hooked up with them at the huge home show. Couple years, cool. Went to sell my house, home inspector said no, mortgage company wouldn't loan to buyer, made me take them down, and since i didn't put them up it was hell on a 20ft ladder. Found out from home appraiser that the VA and FHA require them to ding house value if their are installed Christmas lights, nearly cost me $8000 plus the $2000 that cost me to have them installed. So nope, new house is all lawn lights.

[ScienceBreather]

Amazing project!

Once I get a couple other projects I have stacked up done, I really want to tackle this one!

[JohnDoe-bdsz]

Make a jig with a peg the size of the hole, space it the correct distance from the center of the drill.

Drill the first hole and just put that hole over the peg and drill hole 2, then move hole 2 to the peg and drill hole 3 and so on.

That's how i would do it, since i dont have a CNC machine.

[JT.]

I did something similair, but used aluminum flashing to make my own channels for the lights. I built a cheap bender out of some lumber and angle iron, then made a guide for continuous drilling using dowels. Cnc just felt like overcomplicating a very simple task and mine is only a 4x4 bed.