A new low for shitty eBay fairy lights.

I bought these in the US and they are abysmal. The wire is razor thin and carries full mains voltage. I am going to repurpose them but aside from the individual LEDs and control box, I'm not keeping anything else. The 'US' 120 plug is a Chinese 220 with aluminum prongs and no standard US holes or polarity. There is no attempt at a fuse and just like Clive's, the control box is easily opened. I was so disturbed by how light weight they were, my hair stood on-end and that was before I plugged them in. I would love to see a re-purpose video on the set Clive showcased (or one like it) to see if there is a minimal and safer way to power them.*** I concur that the wire they were made with is a mystery metal and most likely will need (as previously suggested) copper rated for the required power. Very scary sets. I hope no living being is harmed by these. EDIT: I spoke far too soon. I found a video by Clive from 2016 about the 'groom-o-cutor' set that is virtually identical to my set. I'm going to just salvage the LEDs and be done with it.

Alex

low voltage would require step-down components, thicker cable, real copper...

Gordo

It's almost like they went out of their way to make these shitty.

David Rickard

I just got a 4-foot string of 10 LEDs with a fancy end cap (I got one with stars and one with little globes) on 'em for 96 cents yesterday. 2 "AAA" batteries and a switch. No shocks, just colorful delight. EDIT I simply must try these with a joule thief

Michael Thompson

Awful dangerous junk made to look “compliant” - we know why they are / what to look for etc, but does so worry me that a young family get some as they are struggling financially/ or who doesn’t love a bargain etc. The potential consequences ! I’m generally anti rules / regulations (they they get ‘used / twisted’ ) but how on earth to keep them out of the ‘wrong’ hands. I know all ethical questions issues etc and we do like our ‘junk’ but !

RDM

I see these on ebay all the time. You can buy safer christmas lights from the store for just a few dollars more.

That fake fuse really shifts these out of the category of "incompetently dangerous" into the category of "maliciously dangerous".

One of the fuse clips IS connected to the live pin. Taking it apart could be interesting, but tricky due to the fact it appears to be a solid moulded piece of plastic.

Big Clive

Most of these sets have this clip on/off cover.

Big Clive

Wellll anyone struck by lightning would tell you its not the voltage 💀 its the current... point made though ☣️ I guess it’s the evolution of the consumer when you see the markup on ‘legit’ 🎊😈 products... or the difference of a few caps to make something safe🧲

Cerity

WoW!!!...... Just, WoW!!!

Paul Noble

I 've just checked ours. They appear very similar, but the plastic cover on the white box is glued on and they operate from a 24 volt 12VA transformer. They were purchased from a well-known UK chain of garden centres a few years ago.

I bought ones almost exactly the same but mine had the added advantage of a 2 pin plug and a nice little plastic adapter! I spent a day cutting the strands off and soldering them in parallel to another wire, adding resistors to the strands that didn't have them and powering it from an old 22v HP printer adapter. They don't flash but they also don't kill.

Oh they could go lower, and probably will. That sucks. It shouldn't this time of year or any.

Michael Thompson

That's why I never buy mains powered devices directly from China via ebay or amazon. Battery powered stuff can't kill me.

Get the plug cut open Clive, curious to see what they did in there, are the fuse contacts live at all (design mistake) or is it just a complete sham?

The Tinkering Shed

We have seen that fall off cover before, was it on the groom o cuter ones ?

The Chinese have a new weapon in their arsenal- designed to kill us off one at a time... Jeez those are a bad set of lights, and they must know what they are doing to deliberately manufacture a fake plug- which must cost the same a a legit one surely, to manufacture?

Mike Hughes

Holy crap that's bad

The Tinkering Shed

A few years a go i bought some “low voltage” leds like this from ebay with the idea of bypassing the mains switching section and running them from my 12v system with possibly a boost converter to maybe 24/36v dc with my own controller, but they came out just like this and weren’t low voltage at all they were wired for mains voltage. Nothing i could do with them, certainly not using them at mains voltage after looking at they shite quality.

James

Why go to the trouble of including a fuse assembly and then bypass it. The mind boggles 🤣

I would probably just use it to get some worms out of the ground for fishing 😆

Mike Weijmans

I suppose you could at least salvage the pinky/purple LEDs, junk the rest.

Wim

Really bad.

Peter Laws

I'd be interested to see inside that plug, and how they bypassed the fuse.

Michael Dunn

That plug was a bit of a shocking thing (sorry for the pun ;) ) how hard to put a uk complent plug on they ?

Mort

Yes, quite surprised you didn't gut the plug set too!

Mike Cowen

What absolute trash.

But but but... It says “UL Approved” and has the logo right on the box. 😱

Lostngone

A lovely set of death-lights to go with a death-dapter and a death-dalek lantern!

Chewie

I am surprised you didn't take it to bits ;)

OMG 💀 Death Lights

Jamie