mwalz 110 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Well i currently have one section of the yard on a 15 amp breaker. I'm not overloading it and it is always fine..except for night...It rained all last night and all today. All other parts of the yard are fine but not that breaker. Tomorrow i will have to take some things off of it:( just too much water on it. I even wiped off all the main outlets. It finally came the time tonight where all the outlets got too much moisture in them and it will not go on at all now. It really sucks because it happening right before Christmas when people are looking at lights and all my 18,000 lights are off.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kelso 1 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Living in the NW, I have had GFCI issues every year. Best tip I have read on this forum is to keep the plugs off the ground. This is the first year I have made an effort to get my plugs off the ground and the first year I have not had GFCI tripping headaches. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joesmoe2013 1 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Yeah we got about a foot of snow last week followed by a number of inches of rain here last few days. Half my display is out due to the freakin lakes in my yard. I'm hoping that they dry out by Christmas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mwalz 110 Posted December 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Next year i will try to lift my connections off the ground. This year is almost done so i will make due for the kext week or so. I just hate rain.....we have thick zoisha grass so the moisture stays forever in it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NH - Dave 23 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 normally its not the connectors on the ground, unless in standing water, its the items them selves. DE has a good bad weather voice over for when you have issues like this... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eggbah 20 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Buy or make some stakes and attach your plugs to the stakes with electrical tape. It is the easiest to work with in my opinion - stays put when wet and easier to remove than duct tape. Not the most attractive look but better than hunting around every store for the 3 outlet stake things that may be sold out. If you really want to waterproof it, you can build a little box to go over it. After losing all of my Christmas lights last year, some due to age, lost some due to my own stupidity, I have learned my lesson. Keep it high and dry! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CameronInGA 7 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 I generally don't have too many problems with GFCI trips. I do have some stake floodlights that will trip the GFCIs if I forget to clean the dead bugs out of the weep holes, but other than that I've done pretty well. I avoided tomato cage Christmas trees this year because of what I've heard about GFCI trips, but then again, my mega tree strands are tied to galvanized landscaping spikes and I haven't had any trips from that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DanielSkeen 0 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 I keep my plugs in up cycled boxes that I paint black to hide them. Zero problems so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Senior 0 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Take a 16 inch piece of firring strip to make your stake. Run your connections to the stake and tape them up and over the stake with electrical connection at the top. Cover with empty, inverted plastic coffee can. Doug Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Smith 0 Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 I keep my connections up on bricks and haven't had 1 GFCI issue all year. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mwalz 110 Posted January 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Next year i will hope to get mine all lifted off the ground. I really don't like the idea of covering them because i have a static display and they would be real obvious. I'm super picky about that type of stuff. If i see a bulb out of place in the display i have to go move it........If things aren't just perfect....then i have to go fix it... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Senior 0 Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 I really don't like the idea of covering them because i have a static display and they would be real obvious. If you cover connection with a coffee can...tupperware...whatever....you can always hide that with decorations like lighted gift boxes.... just sayin' Doug Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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