Beyond Beautiful: Stress-Testing the Best Permanent Christmas Lights in Edmonton
I’m Darren. I founded Darren Does That and I believe that to be the best permanent Christmas lights for the Edmonton market lights should be more than just beautiful. They need to last. I want to provide my customers with products that empower self-expression and perform reliably for decades to come. So I have put the Watts Permanent Christmas Lighting system through a gauntlet of extreme tests to ensure they meet my high standards for durability.
Why Toughness Matters to Be The Best Permanent Christmas Lights
When you invest in permanent Christmas lights for your home in Edmonton, Sherwood Park, or St Albert, you’ll want a system that can withstand our tricky climate. From harsh winters to accidental bumps, a permanent lighting system must be resilient. I wanted to see exactly what Watts Lights could endure, so I conducted a series of brutal tests to find their limits.
Here are 5 extreme tests I put these lights through:
- Blunt Force Trauma
- Sharp Trauma
- Wet Conditions
- Extreme Cold
- Extreme Heat
- Tugging & Tension
- Getting Run Over
Blunt Force Trauma: Can the Best Permanent Christmas Lights Take a Hit?
To test resistance to blunt force, I took a Watts Lighting 30mm puck (the light we install in an aluminum track around rooflines) and repeatedly struck it with the back of a hatchet. The video shows just how much impact the setup absorbed. It took five forceful hits to knock out the white LED in the puck, while the blue channel remained. All subsequent lights in the chain continued to work perfectly. While the epoxy lens showed some flattening, there were no chips or cracks. This is great news for any accidental impacts your Watts permanent Christmas lights in Edmonton might experience.
Sharp Trauma: Cutting on Your Permanent Christmas Lights
Next, I used the bladed side of the hatchet on a new puck, again backed by Baltic birch. I honestly expected my freshly sharpened hatchet to slice right through to the circuit board. To my surprise, it took several sharp blows just to deform the epoxy covering. For context, a single hatchet strike on the birch board created a gouge half the depth of the light puck! After eight strikes, the puck finally stopped lighting, but impressively, there were still no shattering, chips, or cracks, and the lights further down the line remained operational. This speaks volumes about the robust construction of the best permanent Christmas lights.
Wet Conditions: The Best Permanent Christmas Lights Must Not Be Stopped By Water
Watts Lights boast individual connectors for every single light. While this might seem like a small detail, it’s actually a significant benefit. It eliminates the need for field cutting to fit different rooflines, which is crucial for a custom installation of permanent Christmas lights. But the real question is: are these connections truly waterproof?
To find out, I fully submerged them in a pail of water—and everything remained 100% fine! I even left some lights in a pitcher of water for 72 hours, waiting for them to get cold enough to freeze. Those lights were also 100% operational, proving these connections are built for the wettest conditions our Edmonton permanent Christmas lights will face.
Extreme Cold: Conquering Winters with Permanent Christmas Lights
Speaking of those lights in the pitcher of water, I froze them solid in a block of ice for a different test in the video. Of all the tests, this was the one I was most confident about. We’ve had some brutally cold February snaps in Edmonton, with wind chills reaching -50°C, since I started installing these lights, and I’ve never had a single complaint about them failing in the cold.
To push the limits even further (since zero-degree ice isn’t all that cold), I dumped a bag of dry ice into the pitcher, bringing the temperature way down. Dry ice is a frosty -78.5°C before it sublimates. My thermometer bottomed out at -38°C, indicating the lights went even colder. The wires became noticeably stiffer, but they didn’t crack when manipulated, and the lights continued to function perfectly. When it comes to permanent outdoor lights in Edmonton enduring our harsh winters, Watts is clearly up to the task.
Heat Tolerance: To Be the Best Permanent Christmas Lights They’d Better Handle the Heat
The Watts Lighting system is rated to function up to 70°C. While I hope for my dear customer’s sakes your Edmonton permanent Christmas lights never see that kind of heat, I wanted to find their absolute breaking point. On a galvanized steel backing, I aimed a heat gun set on high at close range to a light, constantly monitoring the temperature.
Above 70°C, the epoxy began to bubble slightly. By 120°C, the surface was completely bubbled, and I (embarrassingly) tripped the breaker in my garage. After resetting the breaker, I continued, and at 140°C, the epoxy started peeling away from the circuit board, and the light appeared to be out. Amazingly, after the breaker tripped, the power to the lights was killed, but the light itself wasn’t destroyed—it simply needed to be turned back on in the Watts App. Even after enough heat to peel away the epoxy, the Watts light puck continued to function!
Tugging & Tension: How Strongly Built Are These Permanent Christmas Lights
How much tension can Watts Lights endure? Plenty! Neither I nor Maksym (who’s considerably fitter than I am) could pull the wires out of a light or pull a connection apart on our own. When both of us pulled on either side of a connection, it took all our strength to separate it. Even then, we didn’t ruin the light. The failure point was the screw cap that threads the lights together. We could even friction-fit the connection back together, and it would still work (though I wouldn’t trust its waterproofing anymore). This demonstrates the robust connections vital to be the best permanent Christmas lights in Edmonton.
Running Them Over: The Ultimate Test for Permanent Christmas Lights in Edmonton
For a final display of durability, I wanted to let my inner child out. I tossed the lights into a puddle in our back alley and drove over them with the company van. The weight of the vehicle was distributed not just on the lighting pucks, but also on the rubber-gasketed, screwed-together connectors and wires. To my absolute delight, they withstood the pressure without any issues. There wasn’t even flattening of the screw together connections which I thought would surely not stand up.
Conclusion: Watts = The Best Permanent Christmas Lights for Edmonton Homes
After two and a half years of installing these lights, I knew they were tough. But their performance during these extreme tests far exceeded my expectations. I’m more confident than ever that the Watts Permanent Christmas Lighting system is an excellent investment for homeowners in Edmonton. The kind of conditions that might endanger these lights on your home are likely to pose at least as much threat to your home itself.
When it comes to permanent Christmas lights in Edmonton, Watts Lights offer unparalleled durability and peace of mind, and Darren Does That is your perfect partner to ensure the installation is done with exceptional attention to detail.
Ready to explore the beauty and resilience of permanent Christmas lights for your Edmonton home?
