Commercial Christmas Light Supplies

Christmas light supplies for commercial properties

Commercial Christmas Light Supplies carries what goes into lighting a storefront, office building, apartment community, HOA entrance or campus: C9 installation kits up to 4,000 ft., C9 socket wire, LED C9 bulbs in 500-bulb cases, LED mini light strands in 24-strand cases, mounting hardware for shingle, tile, metal and ridge surfaces, slide-on plugs, lamp cord and photocell timers.

Long runs and large footage

Commercial rooflines are measured in hundreds or thousands of feet. C9 installation kits come in 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000 ft. sizes alongside 250 and 500 ft., in 12 in. or 15 in. spacing. 15 in. spacing uses about 20% fewer bulbs over the same footage and is common on buildings viewed from a parking lot or street. 12 in. spacing gives a tighter line for entrances and areas viewed up close.

Mounting on commercial surfaces

• Metal fascia, canopies and steel trim: magnet clips hold C9 sockets without fasteners or drilling.
• Tile roofs and deep fascia: tile and extended fascia clips reach past the edge.
• Peaks and ridgelines: ridge clips straddle the ridge cap.
• Shingle and gutter edges: all-in-one clips and O-clips.
• Walkways and beds: 8 in. light stakes hold C9 bulbs on socket wire along a path.

Power and control

Slide-on male and female plugs finish cut runs without stripping wire. Lamp cord extends power from an outlet to the start of a run or bridges a gap such as a doorway or drive entrance. A photocell timer at each outlet switches its runs on at dusk and off after the set number of hours, so a property with several power points runs on the same schedule without anyone flipping switches.

Running a display for more than one season

Most commercial displays are taken down and reinstalled each year. Socket wire, LED bulbs and timers carry over from season to season when they're stored well, and replacement sockets repair a cracked socket without replacing the run. The guide below covers takedown, storage and reuse.

Mini lights for trees and grounds

LED mini light strands carry 50 lights at 4 in. or 6 in. spacing and connect end to end. 24-strand cases keep every tree in a courtyard, median or entrance planting in the same color and spacing. 4 in. spacing gives a denser wrap on trunks and branches; 6 in. spacing covers more canopy per strand.

Planning across several buildings

On a property with more than one building, measure and order per building, and keep each building on one spacing and one bulb color. A run sheet listing every edge with its footage, outlet and timer keeps the order and the install in step, and becomes the takedown and reinstall reference in later seasons.

Ordering

Free shipping on orders over $500 within the United States, no order minimum, no fees, and every order ships the same day it's placed. Unused, uninstalled product in original packaging can be returned within 30 days of delivery.

Takedown, storage and reuse of commercial supplies

On a commercial property the same rooflines get lit every year, so most of the material bought for the first install can go back up the next season. Whether it does depends almost entirely on how it comes down and how it's stored. This is the process that keeps socket wire, bulbs and timers in service for several seasons.

Before takedown: label every run

While the display is still lit, walk the property and tag each run at its male plug with the building, the edge and the run number, for example "Bldg B, north eave, run 2". Note any dark sockets or flickering bulbs on the same tag. A run that is labeled before it comes down goes back up on the same edge next year without being re-measured or re-cut.

Taking the runs down

1. Power off at the timer or outlet before touching any run.
2. Remove bulbs first on long runs. Unscrewing C9 bulbs while the wire is still clipped keeps the weight off the sockets and keeps glass and plastic off the ground. Bulbs go into a bin labeled with the run and color temperature.
3. Release the clip, not the wire. Open each clip or lift each magnet clip and let the socket come free. Pulling the wire out of a row of clips cracks sockets and stretches the cord at the socket molding.
4. Coil as you go. Wind each run back onto a reel or into loose figure-eight coils from the far end toward the male plug, so the labeled plug ends up on the outside.
5. Take the clips down too. Plastic clips left on a building through a summer of sun turn brittle and tend to break on the next install.

Storage

• Dry and off the floor. Lidded totes on shelving, not cardboard boxes on a concrete slab. Moisture in sockets is the most common cause of dark runs the following year.
• One tote per building or edge group, labeled to match the run tags, with the property's layout sketch taped inside the lid.
• Bulbs separate from wire, sorted by color temperature. A sun warm white bulb that ends up in a warm white run shows from the street.
• Timers and photocells indoors, in a box with their programmed on-hours written on it.
• Avoid tight coils and heavy stacking, which leave kinks in socket wire that make sockets sit crooked on the next install.

Reuse: the pre-season check

Before reinstalling, lay each run out on the ground, fill the sockets and plug it in. Anything that fails here is far easier to fix at ground level than on a lift.

• Dark single bulbs: replace with the same line and color temperature. 25-packs are $19.95, enough to re-lamp several runs.
• Cracked or loose sockets: replacement sockets clamp onto the wire in place of the damaged one, without cutting the run.
• Damaged plug ends: cut back past the damage and fit a new slide-on plug. Male plugs are $49.99 per 50-pack.
• Nicked or crushed wire: cut out the damaged section and rejoin with a female and male plug, or shorten the run if the edge allows.
• Timers: test the photocell by covering it in daylight. A replacement photocell timer is $11.

What usually gets replaced each season

On a typical commercial reinstall, the socket wire and most bulbs carry over; clips, a share of the plugs and a handful of bulbs per run get replaced. Plan the pre-season order around that: a few 25-packs of bulbs in each color temperature on the property, clip packs or cases for the full socket count, a pack of male and female plugs, and a 10-pack of replacement sockets per few thousand feet.

Keeping a running log per property, with which runs needed repairs, what was replaced and how many clips were used, turns next year's pre-season order into a copy of this year's with small adjustments.