Seems sort of backwards at times but right now it makes sense to spend money to save money. How? Currently in Ontario, Hydro One Networks is sending out coupons on a bunch of electricity saving items. The offer is in conjunction with Canadian Tire and can save you up to $30 off the initial cost of a number of energy saving items.
Spend money to save money. It really does seem strange but once you look at something like LED Christmas lights, it very quickly makes sense. A string of 70 Noma LED lights runs between $12.99 and $19.99 right now (depends on the colour of the LED) but the cost of running them is almost $0. According to the information on the box, 600 LED lights will cost only $0.45 to run for a typical Christmas season (at $0.12/kwh). The C7 incandescents can run up to $35 for the same number of lights and the same period.
Considering the LEDs are supposed to last up to 200,000 hours, that’s a whole lot of money you can save. Spend money to save money is really starting to make sense now.
I bought Canadian Tire’s 35-light LED Colour Changing Light Set, Red & Blue.
I had it plugged in, inside, for a full week before they crapped-out.
They now emit a very useless dim light.
booo
[...] This is similar to a program that I mentioned last year in my Spend Money to Save Money post. That program was offered through Hydro One (my power utility) in conjunction with Canadian Tire. This Every Kilowatt Counts program appears to be completely generic and you can use the coupons anywhere. [...]
[...] So spend money to save money and get your Enbridge Rebates. Filed under: General | Tags: Enbridge, rebate, save money. [...]
[...] In my Spend Money to Save Money post I mentioned Noma LED Christmas lights as a way to save money. I went and bought 8 strings of their “clear” 70 light sets, 3 with the medium sized bulbs and 5 with the little bulbs. I’ve been rather impressed with them so far. The medium sized bulbs are outside and appear to be pretty good. They have that bluish glow to them which has grown on me. They aren’t quite as brilliant as a regular incandescent white light but they do have a certain amount of dazzle if you view the bulb from the right angle. [...]
Bought 3 strings of Noma LED christmas light. Two of the three strings developed a problem after a couple weeks. Both strings only one half the lights work.
Luc, if you still have your receipt (and even if you don’t), Noma lights are warrantied for 5 years. I took back a set to Canadian Tire that had some burnt out lights after one seasons and they just gave me another set in exchange. No questions asked. Yeah it’s a pain in the butt to have to go back to the store and exchange it but the product comes with a warranty that says they will replace them if they are defective. I’d say that if they no longer work properly then they are defective.
This is an old post but I’d like to respond saying I had the same problem. I bought two sets and they fizzled out as soon as we put them up. We had them replaced and the new ones worked fine. We hardly had them on and the following year they fizzled out after we put them up! I didn’t realize I could take them back after so long and no longer have the receipt or the box. Maybe there is a more reliable brand?
Jen, I agree that the quality of the Noma lights seems to suck, especially considering the number of sets I’ve replaced plus hearing about other people with the same problems. As long as Canadian Tire keeps replacing them for free, I’m OK with them.
The downside of all of this though is where do the bad lights I return end up? I’m hoping that it’s not in a landfill somewhere but then again, what else are they going to do with a bad set of lights?
I purchased 4 sets of regular sized Noma LED outdoor lights at Canadian Tire and half the string stopped working after one year. Canadian Tire refused to take them back without a receipt. I have since switched to the Noma outdoor mini LED lights, and am hoping to have more success with them this year.
I envision a huge pile in the landfill as you cannot take the bulb out to replace them or let along find a short in the ciruit.
@Janet: Just remember to keep your receipt for the new lights! Then if you have problems, you can return them.
I agree that it sucks how many sets of lights are getting returned and/or trashed because they stop working. LEDs are supposed to be a much longer lasting light. Unfortunately it seems that the Noma lights in the past just haven’t had the quality control to allow them to last the many tens of thousands of hours that they advertise.