LED String Light Buying Guide For Commercial Buyers

Rubber Or PVC Cable

PVC is cheaper and is the right answer for a fixed installation that goes up once and stays. Rubber handles repeated coiling and cold far better, which makes it the choice for hire stock and for any display that is taken down and stored every year. Connector failure caused by handling is the usual reason event stock gets written off.

Garland String Light

Copper Core Size Is Not A Detail

A 0.5 mm2 pure copper core is what lets a long run carry current without voltage drop at the far end, and what keeps the cable flexible in the cold. Copper-clad aluminium is lighter and cheaper and is the reason cheap string dims toward the end of a run.

Bulb Spacing Against Coverage

Spacing runs from 5 cm to 50 cm. Tight spacing gives dense sparkle and suits tree trunks, railings and anything viewed close. Wide spacing covers far more area for the same money and is right for large canopies and long facade runs. Decide from viewing distance, not from a photograph.

String Light

Run Length And Where To Inject Power

A well built string will carry up to 200 m from one power cord. Knowing that number changes your layout: it tells you how many power positions you need, which is usually the expensive part of an installation. If a supplier cannot tell you the maximum run, assume it is short.

Cable Colour Is A Design Decision

Clear, white, green, dark green, blue, pink, black, yellow and purple are all normally available. Matching the cable to what it is fixed to is the difference between lighting that photographs cleanly and lighting with visible wires running through it. Dark green on foliage, black on dark sets, clear on glass and light drapes.

Garland String Light

Ask How The Connector Is Sealed

Glued joints with a rubber ring at each connector, tested to IP65, is what a commercial specification looks like. It is also the single most useful question to ask when comparing two quotations that otherwise look identical.