Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Rope lights are wired into sections, and when a single bulb eventually burns out, the entire section that it is in will go dark. The burnt out section then needs to be cut out (look for the cut marks) and replaced with a section of "good" rope light using inline splices. This is why it is always a good idea to get a little more rope light than you actually need for your project, so you can have some spare sections on hand for when a burnout occurs.

Determining the correct length of rope light available for use can be tricky due to the cutting interval sizes that you need to factor in. Use our handy Rope Light Calculator to figure out the size you need.

Our rope lights are not UL listed. See our UL Ratings article for more information.

While our rope lights are suitable for outdoor use, and can withstand rain, they are not waterproof. It is NOT recommended to use them underwater, or in a situation where they would be near a lot of splashing water.

We offer a variety of controllers for the different types of rope lights we sell. Additionally, most standard commercially-available dimmers will work with our rope lights.

Most rope lights will interface with a DMX controller through the use of a third-party DMX Controller Power Dimmer.

Yes, our LED rope lights are dimmable using our 2-Wire 2 Channel Dimmer Controller, as well as most commercially available standard dimmers. Dimmers depend on being able to regulate the power being fed to the lights they control. However, due the extremely low amount of power that LEDs use, you will often find that some dimmers will have a difficult time maintaining full control over the rope light. The most common effect of this is a limited dimming range, meaning the lights may not be able to be dimmed down to extremely low light levels, where even less power is available to control. Of course, different qualities of dimmers will yield different results.

You may find that when you receive your LED rope lights and plug them in for the first time to test them, nothing happens! Don't worry, they're not broken. LEDs are polarized and are sensitive to the flow of electrical current. So when the LEDs don't light up, it means the power is flowing in the wrong direction. Simply remove the power cord from the rope light and connect it to the opposite end.

Don't be alarmed. LED rope lights use a clear outer tubing with colored LEDs within to produce the desired color. Most incandescent rope lights use a colored outer tubing to act as a color filter to produce the color. As such, if you have a red incandescent rope light, it will look "red", even when off. However this does not apply to LED rope lights. When they're off, they will look similar to clear rope light. When you plug them in, the colored LEDs will turn on and you will see the true color of the rope light..

At this time, we do not offer a custom cutting service for our LED rope lights.

Yes! Samples can be found here.

A colored standard incandescent rope light is created by coloring the outer plastic tubing, so that it essentially acts like a color filter. A "clear" incandescent rope light has a transparent outer tubing, so what you get is the direct warm white light of the incandescent bulb. "White" incandescent rope light is actually considered a colored rope light and has a white-colored outer tubing. This look softens and diffuses the light and is commonly referred to as a "frosted" look. Clear rope light is by far the more popular choice.

To calculate shipping charges for orders to the United States and Canada, place your item(s) in the shopping cart and begin the checkout process. Enter in your shipping address information and select a delivery method and the shipping charges will be displayed. This does not commit to you to the order in any way and you are free to cancel out of the order screen at any time to return back to the site.

Yes, we do ship internationally. International orders (except for Canada) will calculate in the shopping cart as $1. This is not the actual shipping cost. It is a placeholder value. Please contact us before placing an international order so that we can prepare an accurate quote for you. After your international order is placed, we will replace the $1 placeholder value with the quoted shipping cost. Please note that the total order cost from your original order will be increased to account for the international shipping charges.

Yes, we can ship using a customer's FedEx account. We charge a $10 fee for this service. At Checkout, please provide a note that includes your account number in the Comments field. After the order is placed, we will go into your order and manually override the shipping charge that was auto-calculated by the shopping cart and replace it with our $10 fee.