Waterproof outdoor string lights

This collection brings together outdoor fairy lights, with visible bulbs or LED cord, powered by mains, battery or solar panel. For each model, the IP rating on the packaging gives the level of protection, and the plug and transformer often deserve more attention than the wire itself.

How to tell if a string of lights is for outdoor use?

A string of lights is intended for outdoor use when its IP rating appears on the packaging: IP44 resists water splashes, IP65 jets and driving rain, IP67 temporary immersion. Also check the plug and the transformer, often less protected than the wire itself.

What does the IP rating of an outdoor string light mean?

IP stands for ingress protection. The two digits that follow indicate first resistance to dust and solid objects, then resistance to water. On waterproof outdoor fairy lights, it is the second digit that decides: a 4 lets splashes through, a 5 withstands jets, a 7 tolerates temporary immersion. A high rating does not replace a well-sheltered plug.

Waterproof outdoor fairy lights: IP44 or IP65?

It all depends on what the wire receives. Under an awning or on a sheltered balcony, IP44 models are enough. On a facade, a pergola or in a hedge, aim for IP65 string lights, which take driving rain and watering. The two can also be mixed on the same installation.

What are the different types of outdoor string lights?

There are festoon lights with screw-in bulbs, LED cords and strips, globe string lights, light curtains and solar models. The choice depends on the effect you want and the location: visible bulbs for a terrace, a thin cord to follow a railing or a hedge.

Waterproof outdoor festoon lights: for what use?

The visible bulb gives a round, warm light that can be seen and replaced when it burns out. It is the model that turns a courtyard or a pergola into a corner where you stay after the meal. All our string lights are chosen first on this criterion: screw-in bulb or sealed module.

Globe string lights or thin LED cord?

Globe string lights spread light widely and suit a hedge or a hanging arrangement. The LED cord, thinner and more flexible, highlights a line, a roof outline or a railing without drawing the eye to the wire. For a facade or a garden, compare the string lights for the garden and facade before deciding.

How does an outdoor string light work?

A string light works with a power supply that transforms mains current into low voltage: either directly at 220V, or via a 24V transformer, or by rechargeable battery, or by a solar panel connected to a small battery. The type of bulb determines the effect and whether it can be replaced.

Should you choose a 24V or 220V LED string light outdoors?

220V plugs directly into a socket and often accepts screw-in bulbs. 24V goes through a transformer, which lowers the voltage in the wire and reassures when children play outside. Compare 220V LED string lights and 24V low-voltage string lights depending on whether a socket is nearby.

Waterproof outdoor solar string light: how does the battery take over?

The panel charges a small battery during the day, and a dusk sensor switches the wire on at nightfall. Performance depends entirely on the charge accumulated and the sunshine of the season. Rechargeable string lights work on the same principle, with a USB socket as well.

How to install an outdoor string light?

You install an outdoor string light starting from the socket: first fix the start and the transformer in a sheltered place, unroll without pulling the wire tight, then progress support after support. Leave a loop of slack at the connections and check the sealing of each connection before switching on.

Where should the cable run and where should the socket be placed?

Locate the socket before anything else and shelter the start: a closed box is better than a connection lying on the ground. Then run the cable along an existing support, gutter, railing, beam, rather than across a walkway. The wire must never rub against a metal edge, nor rest in a puddle.

How many metres and connections should you plan for?

Measure the actual route by following each fixing point, then add the drops to the socket and slack at the connections. Two short sections are better than a single very taut wire: installation is simpler and so is maintenance. For consistent light across the whole area, keep the same type of bulb, and take a look at our full range of lighting for the fixed lighting that will accompany the string light.

How to fix an outdoor string light without drilling holes?

Without drilling, use adhesive hooks suited to smooth surfaces, cable ties on a gutter or handrail, tension wire between two anchor points and clips for branches. The fixing must remain removable and must never compress the cable.

How to hang a string light on a gutter or a handrail?

Plastic cable ties or clip-on hooks hold well on a gutter, a handrail or a pergola tube. Tighten just enough to hold the wire still, never to the point of crushing it. A staircase string light is fixed the same way on a handrail, with a point every thirty to forty centimetres or so.

Which fixing for a facade or a render?

On a smooth, degreased wall, an adhesive hook holds correctly for a season. On an uneven render, prefer a tension wire stretched between two anchors or a lightweight profile, which is more reliable. A wall string light thus stays well aligned without multiplying holes in the render.

Why does the solar string light not work?

A solar string light goes out when its battery has not charged: shaded panel, facing north, dirty or placed behind a window. Place the panel facing south, well clear, and check that the dusk sensor is not masked. In winter, the reduced sunshine is rarely enough to cover a whole night.

Where should the solar panel be placed so that it recharges?

Facing south, tilted towards the light, without the shadow of a wall, branch or gutter, and never behind a window that filters the rays. Clean the surface once a season. Outdoor solar string lights that must last several hours in the evening require a full day of charging.

Why does my LED string light not work?

Check the power supply before the string light itself: socket, transformer, disconnected or oxidised connection, loose bulb, fuse. Test the product indoors on a socket you know works to rule out a mains fault. Solar LED string lights add one more checkpoint: the state of the battery.

Waterproof outdoor fairy lights: which atmosphere for the terrace, the garden and the facade?

For a terrace, visible warm-white bulbs installed in swags create a festive corner; on a facade or under a pergola, a thinner LED cord highlights the lines without dazzling. In a tree or a hedge, a string light with a flexible wire blends into the foliage.

Waterproof outdoor fairy lights: which light for a dinner outside?

Look for a warm light, around 2700 kelvins, and visible bulbs of small diameter to limit glare. Hang the wire high, above the eye line of seated guests. The rest of our lighting catalogue takes over on the fixed part, if the meal continues indoors.

How to light a tree, a hedge or a pergola?

In a tree or a hedge, a flexible string light slips between the branches and the light point disappears into the foliage. On a pergola, stretch parallel lines from one post to the other rather than a zigzag. Indoors, a wall string light for the bedroom follows exactly the same principle on a wall.

When should you start putting up Christmas decorations?

Christmas decorations are generally installed in late November, when the weather allows. Put the string lights up before the baubles: they are fixed to the branches and the frame, and the baubles are then distributed over them. At the end of the season, unplug, clean dry, dry, then wind loosely.

Should the string light be installed before or after the Christmas baubles?

Before. The string light is fixed to the branches, the frame or the support, then the baubles are distributed over it without crushing the wires. In that order, you will not have to take the decorations down to re-run a wire or correct a connection. On a tree as on a railing, the logic remains the same.

How to store an outdoor string light so you can reuse it?

Unplug, let it dry completely in the air, then clean dry without any product. Wind the wire around a piece of cardboard or a reel, without tightening or folding the connections, and store the transformer separately. A wire stored properly lasts longer and can be put back up without knots the following year.

Secure payment, tracked delivery, returns and Designix customer service: you order with peace of mind, and you write to us if a connection, a bulb or a transformer raises a question.

First choose the location, then the corresponding IP rating, and finally compare the models: that is the order that avoids mistakes. Browse Designix lighting and its collections to find the string light that will stay outside all season.

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