I am wondering if it's possible to recycle a string of patio lights that have E12 sockets with new wiring for a Christmas project. As it stands now the string of lights has a socket about every eight inches. There are at least 50 sockets on this string. I bought it at Good Will for $4. I'd like to cut the cord about two inches from either side of each socket and use new electrical cord to extend them to be approximately 12" apart. Each decoration will contain no more than four LED bulbs and each bulb will only use 1.2 to 1.5 watts. So in other words, I'd like to buy an extension cord, cut it at the appropriate length, connect my first E12 socket and then daisy-chain three more lights at 12" intervals.
Can I buy a standard extension cord to do this? I've done something similar with E26 sockets and LED bulbs in the past but wasn't sure if E12 lights were different.
Best Answer
If I follow your hoping to salvage the sockets out of this string and use them for a custom made string of lights. Since these sockets go for about $2 or so, you'll save something like $100.
I think it's a good idea as long as you make this a low voltage string of lights. I don't think 120V homebrew stuff is a great idea for a lot of reasons.
But say 12V - that's not nearly as dangerous, and power supplies are inexpensive and easy to find. With LED lights, the load is much smaller than with incandescent, and these types of projects are easier to pull off since voltage drop doesn't amount to much with a reasonably big wire. Low voltage LEDs should be less expensive and last longer because they don't need as complex a circuit in each bulb - a simple regulator instead of a full blown power supply circuit. The main conversion gets done in a wall wart that can be easily swapped if it breaks.
If you cut off those sockets with a bit of lead, you could connect them to a two-wire backbone cable and let them hang. I'd use a 14 gauge or 12 gauge twisted pair bell type wire rather than a cable with a jacket like an extension cable. That shouldn't be too hard to find.