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GFCI Christmas Lights?

H

HB2

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have indoor/outdoor net style Christmas Lights for my front bushes. The
Christmas lights will not accept a 3 prong plug that my outdoor extension
cords require, so I am currently using indoor extension cords for my outdoor
lights. How do I make this situation safe? I do not know much at all about
electricity, so please excuse my ignorance. Can I use a GFCI extension cord
to make this safer? I would think the grounding prong would be required to
use GFCI but like I said, I know very little about electricity.

Thanks
 
J

John Gilmer

Jan 1, 1970
0
HB2 said:
I have indoor/outdoor net style Christmas Lights for my front bushes. The
Christmas lights will not accept a 3 prong plug that my outdoor extension
cords require, so I am currently using indoor extension cords for my outdoor
lights. How do I make this situation safe? I do not know much at all about
electricity, so please excuse my ignorance. Can I use a GFCI extension cord
to make this safer? I would think the grounding prong would be required to
use GFCI but like I said, I know very little about electricity.

Well, you are right about that!

There is NOTHING to prevent your pluging in a light set with a two prong
plug into a three prong extension cord.

If you are using the extension cord to increase the separation between two
sets of outdoor lights, then it's OK to use an "indoor" extension cord. Just
about any extension cord has better insultation than all but the best set of
outdoor lights.


"Safety" can be provided by ensuring that the outlet that powers your
outdoor lights is GFCI protected. If it rains the GFCI might trip and you
may not be able to reset it until the next day when it dries. I have not
even had trouble with the lights tripping a GFCI except in a heavy rain and
the next day I was able to reset the GFCI and using the lights.
 
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