Does anyone know how many watts a 100 bulb strand of mini christmas lights uses?

Question

doesn't say on the package.

Answer 1

Well, if it's LED's then all bets are off, these are new and I don't have much experience. If they are just the mini incadesent lights (with a little filament and get sort of warm/hot), then the whole string is probably about 40watts.

Answer 2

Get the LED lights. They're brighter, prettier and use less electricity. I would go up to the attic and look at a strand, but I'd wake up my husband. Apparently it is something ridiculously low like 5 watts for a 100 bulb strand. They don't even get hot! And if they break, they don't produce glass slivers that imbed themselves into your skin.

"In the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Clark W. Griswood hangs 25,000 Christmas lights on his home. As people who have seen the movie know, when his wife finds the problem of the lights not working (They were plugged into an outlet controlled by a switch); the lights create a blinding display, the electric meter dials spin rapidly, the city street lights dim from the massive current draw, and even someone at the power station throws a switch to generate more electricity. Sounds too good to be true right? Well, maybe it is not too far from reality. Assuming Clark is using the old fashioned C9 bulbs which draw about 10 watts each; his entire display will consume 250,000 watts. That's 1/4 of a Megawatt!" (reference 2)
"If you are concerned about the cost of lighting a Christmas display over an entire month, consider LED Christmas lights. They operate at a fraction of the wattage required to light a C series or even a mini-light set. LEDs also last longer. They are rated to last 200,000 hours instead of the average 1,500 hours a normal light strand lasts. Also, because an LED is lit by a colored light instead of a colored bulb, you don't have to worry about paint fading or chipping over time. LEDs are definitely the most cost-effective solution to holiday lighting."

A normal lightstrand of 50 5-watt bulbs, the strand consumes 250 watts! http://christmas.howstuffworks.com/christmas-lights1.htm

Answer 3

Each of the mini bulbs with plastic bases and bare wires for contacts is slightly less than 1 Watt, so the whole string is about 80- 90 Watts.

The larger mini bulbs with screw-in metal bases (similar to what you would put in a night-light) are 5-7 Watts each, so a string would be 500-700 Watts.

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Answer 4

probably about 100 times the ammount than 1 bulb uses!