How to Cut Rope Lights
Rope lights are the perfect answer to provide lighting around the house, particularly during the holidays. Rope lights come in large strands that are easily unrolled and can illuminate Christmas trees, the outside of homes or provide lighting around stairs or outdoor areas. Rope lights may be purchased in a variety of colors and lengths, and they can be easily cut and connected to other strands of rope lights to cover large areas. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Rope lights
- Rope light connector pieces and end caps
- PVC pipe cutter or scissors or wire cutters
- Plastic splice kit
- Hair dryer
Instructions
-
-
1
Disconnect the rope light from its power source.
-
2
Locate the markings for cutting the rope light. On standard two-wire rope lights, the markings appear every 18 inches. For three-wire chasing lights, the markings appear every 36 inches.
-
-
3
Make a clean, vertical cut on the desired marking using your cutting tool of choice.
-
4
Locate the end of the rope light where you just cut. If you are connecting rope lights, the wires must be trimmed to accommodate the connector piece. To do this, bend the rope light about 2 inches from the end. This will cause the wires to protrude from the rope light casing. Standard rope lights will have two wires, while chasing lights will have three wires.
-
5
Trim the protruding wires with scissors or wire cutters.
-
6
Bend the wire back to normal. You are now ready to attach an end cap or a connector kit to add more rope light.
-
7
Attach a plastic end cap, if you were shortening the rope light. This will keep water out and prevent the wires from being exposed. If you are connecting two pieces of rope light, ensure that the ends of all connecting wires have been trimmed back.
-
8
Slide a piece of silver shrink tube from the splice kit over the end of one rope. Press the wires from each rope to be joined firmly into the connecting piece. Move the shrink tube so it covers the connection, then use a hair dryer to seal the connection.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If using scissors to cut the rope light, use scissors with a pipe-cutting slot to ensure a clean cut.
Make sure that the rope light is disconnected from the power source before cutting. Not doing so can result in electrocution.
Cut at the designated lengths only. Randomly cutting the rope light will result in short-circuiting.
