String lights or fairy lights are popular for people would like to decoration their garden, house or room with beautiful cozy and accent lighting. More and more manufacturers provide hundreds types of string lights in a wide variety of colors, shapes, material… Are string lights safe for children’s bedroom? In following parts, we are going to answer these questions to understand how we can use string lights safe even for children.
Incandescent string lights that plug into a wall outlet could produce enough heat to set fire to things like pillows, curtains, blankets wooden surfaces and stuffed animals. Battery powered LED string lights don’t produce enough heat and are safe to use in children’s bedrooms.
If you want to know how to keep your child’s bedroom safe while also making it look great, keep reading. There will be some specific tips on how to keep everything safe and cheerful.
ARE STRING LIGHTS SAFE FOR CHILDREN’S BEDROOM?
The answer here is Yes – as long as your string lights are properly cooled and properly wired.
For many people, first thing that entices buyers to buy a product such as string lights are their elegant lights; which can turn a bland boring place into a stunning beautiful place with different setups and your unlimited imagination.
But what makes them safe or unsafe to use? The biggest problem with string lights is heat production. Heat can cause fires which is the last thing you want to happen.
String lights can produce too much heat in two places;
- The bulbs themselves
- The voltage regulator in the string
The common misconception about string lights are they do not need to be cooled. But all of string lights give heat even they are LED light or incandescent bulbs, especially when you leave them on for long periods of time. So making sure they are kept away from flamable materials is important no matter the type of lights you use.
LED’s are a lot cooler than incandescent bulbs but they should both be kept away from flamable materials although LED is a much safer choice in your childs bedroom because heat buildup goes much slower and LED’s are safe to touch with bare hands even after being turned on for a while
LED lights do have another big problem though and that’s with the little box that regulates the voltage and possibly color effects and flashing. These little boxes are often really low quality and can overheat quite easily.
The more money you spend on string lights, the higher quality voltage regulator you can expect which means better managment of heat and therefore you get a safer set of lights that also lasts longer. A dreadful majority of string lights products are overvoltage, overheating and poorly wired. As a result of pumping too much power into cheap quality chips and bulbs, it can cause too bright and hot string lights. This can obviously be dangerous and cause fires.
So buying a high quality set of lights is very important to your childs safety. Check below which types of string lights to look out for to get the best results.
TYPES OF STRING LIGHTS
There are four main types of lights you should know when shopping for a set;
- Incandescent: These lights look good but produce the most heat of all. Even the best are too hot to safely touch and can cause burnt skin.
- Wall powered LED: Wall powered LED string lights look good compared to other string lights but as mentioned above, you need to spend some money to get a set with good voltage regulator.
- Battery powered LED: Battery powered string lights are a bit safer not because they are higher quality but simply because the battery runs out quickly if something goes wrong. It’s still a good idea to not buy the cheapest one you can find though.
- USB powered LED: These are usually cheaply produced but don’t produce too much heat since USB outlets can’t actually provide much current. They are suitable for use in your child’s room.
Since you do the research carefully, read the manufacturer’s instructions and follow some specific tips as below, it will be safe to use string lights for your children’s bedroom.
HOW TO USE STRING LIGHTS SAFELY FOR CHILDREN’S BEDROOM?
Here are some of the best tips you should follow to make using string lights as safe as possible.
01 of 09 Aluminum Channel
Do your children and yourself a favor by spending few extra dollars for high rank string lights and extra effort to put your string lights inside aluminum channel. The channel works at a heat sink and extra layer to avoid your children touching when string lights are installed at a height or location that is relatively accessible.
02 of 09 Battery Operated Led String Lights
This version of string lights are much safer to use indoor than the electrical one. The profit of these led string lights is they do not produce much heat like incandescent bulbs. The safety standpoint is your strips can keep away from overheating or fire. The led string lights will be safe around children, they can be used in nursery and children’s room.
Using the battery power guarantee that the led string lights do not head up even you use them continually. You can use on/off switch on the batter box when the string lights are not in use to extend battery life.
03 of 09 Avoid Wet and Moist Environment
For safe operation, place your string lights at a dry, cool and well ventilated area or surface. There are many types of light strings are waterproof but not the battery box if you decide to use battery operated led string lights.
04 of 09 Prevent damaging the cord’s insulation
Do not put the string lights under heavy furniture or attach them under doors or windows where can damage the cord’s insulation. You can use damage-free hook, thumb tacks or nail to hang and support the string lights but have to make sure they won’t harm the cord’s insulation.
05 of 09 Heat Sink
In case you don’t want to use channel for your string lights, it’s better to install the strips on heat sink such as dark matt surface, copper, concrete, brick, stone… They can absorb or reduce the head effect.
06 of 09 Pick Right Voltage and Wattage
Choose the low voltage string lights will be more extra safer than normal than standard string lights. In the other hand, low voltage lighting don’t generate energy just to waste it, it is energy-efficient. Low voltage bulbs are using typically now is from 12 to 24 volts.
Check the type of light, the circuit, cord specifications and the max wattage before connect many string lights together.
Let’s do some math!
Most houses in the U.S have combination of 15-amp and 20-amp, 120-volt circuits. To define the max capacity your circuit can handle, you have to multiply the amp and the volt:
(15A x 120V =) 1800 watts
or
(20A x 120V =) 2400 watts
But our recommendation for your circuit loading is no more than 80% capacity so you are actually using 1440 watts for a 15 amp circuit and 1920 watts for a 20 amp circuit.
Now you can count how many string lights you can connect together.
A traditional incandescent light bulbs use about 100 watts. If you are having 15 amp circuit, it means you can connect 14 string lights together (1440/100 = 14.4)
If you are using Led string lights 7 watts and 15 amp circuit, it means you can connect 205 lights string together. That’s amazing number as Led string lights use less energy than incandescent light.
07 of 09 Pick Right Color
Do not use blue light for the string lights as it can disturb you and your children’s biological and sleep rhythms. It passes straight through and has been proven to be harm full to light sensitive cells like retina.
Yellow or red are the better colors to use in the bedroom, they work for adults and kids as well. They provide a low color temperature, far lower than regular sunlight and useful in protecting the retinas.
08 of 09 Be Careful to Reuse Old String Lights
It’s not recommend to reuse the old string lights for decorating your children’s bedroom. If you have many old string lights you can donate them to your local waste and recycling center.
09 of 09 Unplug or Turn Off
One again, you should remember that string lights can overheat, the lifetime of a bulb is not changed much by the number of times you turn them on and off. So remember to unplug or turn off the battery box of the string lights in bedroom before go to sleep or leaving the room, shouldn’t take risk to leave them on all the time.