Video: What is the "mini" in minilights?

What is the mini in mini lights?

Video Transcript

Shellie: Today's video answers the question, "What's the mini in mini lights?" What?

David: Focus

Shellie: We get this question because things have really changed in Christmas lights. At one point, back in ancient history, like when I was a kid, lights only came in three varieties. They came in C7, these bulbs that screwed into cords, C9s. And here, let's look at them. Here we go. Squirrel. And then they also came in this type of light, sort of a Christmas tree light or a string light. These bulbs are glass and they're incandescent, and they have to be large enough to accommodate a filament inside. So, these are just over 1/2 inch long and about 0.2 inches wide. If you need a reference, here's my thumb. See? Look. Oh, wait, the manicured side is here. Mosquito. And so, that's about how big these mini lights were back then, but things have changed.

Now, with the advent of LED Christmas lights, they don't need a filament. They produce light because electrons excited by electricity are jumping up and down in the valence band. And so, you can have lights like these. These are some battery lights with micro drop bulbs, and you can see they're tiny little things.

So, we call these micro drops. You'll see other terms for small LED bulbs, like micro drop, itsy bitsy, fairy, but those are not mini. These are mini lights. So, what that means is when you're shopping for Christmas lights, take a look at the specifications and see the dimensions of the bulbs on the light strings that you're purchasing to make sure they're going to be the right size for your project.

So, I hope this helped illuminate you today. And I'm Shellie at Christmas Light Source.

Jack: It's going…

Shellie: Is it going?

Jack: Yes.

Shellie: Oh, where's our… Dude, for Levi, do the board. Do the board.

Jack: Is it all right if dad's hair comes in the shot every once in a while?