This is the best video explaining this. So many videos don’t even mention all this very important stuff. And teaching so much had no clue about. Much appreciated. Great video

This IS AN AMAZING video! It's clearly demonstrated and no fancy video effects and obnoxious music in the background to distract you. It's also a great lesson in electricity for a newbie like me. THIS is the way all video lessons should be created. THANK YOU!

I have been putting up lights since i got my first house in 1996 and at one time would put up around 10,000 have won first, second, third and honorable mention. Now I only put up around 2,000 and have blow ups moved to a smaller house and I wish I learned this a long time ago. It just like putting in the landscape lighting will be much easier with the plugs in the middle of the cords.

Just started making my own cords. First year using LOR, and decided to make my own cords instead of spending $300 on cords at Lowe’s. Thank you!

(Hits forehead) NOW I get it! Thanks for a great explanation. Even though people were trying to explain things, seeing it in video with your demonstration made it easier to understand. Thanks!

Thanks for helping out all us Crazy Christmas decorators. 🎅❤🤶

This was fantastic - other than the focus issues - I sent on to my son as a primer on lamp wire, polarity, plug blades, ribbing, importance of amp counting, voltage loss etc! Love it and learned how to make custom extension cords in the process!

Wow, I have to say that you are an excellent teacher of electricity, and thank you for your great instructions. I have learned so much from your tutorials with regard to fixing Christmas lights, fixing LED Christmas Lights...and now making my own customized extension cords. My husband will be so jealous...hahaha! J/k 😂 Actually he will be proud that I was interested in learning and will be able to do everything I learned, when we put up our Christmas lights this year. Thank you so very much 😊

Excellent! Lighting things differently this year and this is so helpful for making my own cord with inline connectors. THANKS.

I’ve watched this video several times. Not because I didn’t understand but because it’s so impressive.

Still the best video on the internet for how to on these plugs.

I feel like I'm now an electrician. What a fantastic explanation. Thank you.

Great stuff. You’ve gotten me excited to customize my exterior Christmas lights this year.

I am a electrician and you did a fantastic job at explaining and did it right 👌

I wanted to comment about how smooth your video is. The content is detailed but the way you explain things is priceless. I stumbled on your channel by searching for how to install an outside electrical outlet under my soffits for Christmas lights. And this year I just bought custom wire and and sockets plus lights. I am also waiting to be accepted into an electrical apprenticeship and hope get a better understanding of electrical and scale up my attempts. I realized I made a mistake by having two males and females in line for my trees and wondering why I couldn’t light any of them up. So I went out and spent $150 in extension cords because I just thought that they couldn’t handle the power but I just realized after your video that I just did things wrong. In ending, it means a lot that you put this out in the world for us. Thank you for your time. I am watching your other video on how you wire your Christmas lights display and I am in shock. That is a lot of work. Have a good Thanksgiving.

I love this video. So much explanation and it’s all essential. Big thanks.

Excellently explained sir. I like the layman terms you used. Very easy to understand. Superlative video!😊

Thanks for the tips and tricks. You are very knowledgeable...you can tell you know your stuff. Thanks for sharing.

What a great video, I learned so much. Thank you for your professionalism.

Great tutorial, we have 35 christmas village houses with various lengths on their cords. I have 2, 8 feet styrofoam blocks carved into 3 levels where the entire village sits with the top level being about 4 ft off the ground. Using this tutorial I am going to take out the 5 volt C7 bulbs and replace them with LED bulbs make a custom extension cords with enough inlines for each little building. Ill somehow attach the ext cord to the back of the styrofoam blocks instead of them being down on the ground. Its kind of a crazy mess underneath where all the cords are plugged in.

One of the best educational KZfaq videos I ever seen good job man thank you

Excellent walk through. Thank you! Very detailed.

This is a GREAT Video!! Very Practical, Extremely Easy to Understand. Thank You Very Much!!! 😀

AWESOME tips! Thank you!

Best tutorial of its kind!

Very clear explanation. Great job!

Great details, brother! Thank you!

Thanks for a great video. My question is how 'weather resistant' are these vampire plugs? They don't look like they would inherently be waterproof without additional modification.

Excellent tutorial. I was just looking at our mish mash of extension cords thinking there must be a better custom way to provide electricity. Never knew the smooth vs ribbed edge. Thanks

This should be KZfaq's default "How to Christmas Light like a badass" video.

GREAT and VERY INFORMATIVE video, Sir!

Great video for a beginner. Thank you

Excellent video! I just bought a new house and I'm going to have a Griswold Christmas... this will save me a ton of money on extension cords! Thanks

Thank you. Excellent tutorial.

Interesting and perfectly explained!!!

Great video... I am forever fighting with blown fuses on the cheap Christmas tree lights... Next year it will be done RIGHT... Thanks to you.

REALLY well done!

Thanks you so much! First time leaning this

THANK YOU! I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS.

All the things I never knew! Great video!

Best video ever! Thank you!

I'm so sick of big box store lights.... this video was amazing.. ty for explaining everything.

This is a fantastic tutorial. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks so much for the help this is an awesome video! Very useful

Thank you for the help!

Great video, very thorough and detailed... I love how you thought of the all the details.. very elementary but necessary for a noob like myself.. THANKS

Great video done nicely. The only problem is how quickly these assemblies will become overloaded. The c7 and c9 lamps draw a significant load considering the capacity of the cable. A much better scenario would be to use the miniature light sets and the led sets draw even less load.

excellent video, very useful. Thank you.

If not already mentioned: A person doing this might consider using a dab of dielectric grease on the vampire tips and cut ends. This will help make the connection a little more water resistant and keep the copper from becoming corroded as fast.

Great video! FWIW, the cutter is a diagonal cutter, commonly abbreviated as “dikes”

Great info. Thanks!

You literally are going to save me $$$$$

Very informative video. Thanks

Thanks for talking about fuses, I've been on the hunt for that info

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Good job bright ideas.

outstanding... .thanks for sharing

Yery informative. I never knew this. Thx

yes very well taught...I actually think I can do this....thank u

Good point on light socket polarity. Another video said only the plugs mattered

That was just super,,,,thank you,

This would work for decorative yard lights as well hmmmmm 👍thanks

Very informative thx

Good stuff thank you

great information nice video

well done

Good video.

Could have used this video a long time ago lol. I'm certainly no professional but I'm probably pushing Griswold country here pretty soon. I'm already running about 60 extensions. Along with multiple timers which in some cases. Are connected to multiple extension cords. Which are then connected to more power connectors connected to more extensions lol. Now of course I am conscious enough to use higher gauge cord from my outlet which are all 12 gauge. Along with having a custom breaker box each with its own breaker running 20 amps. But running all those extensions probably is not the best method. Making my own certainly would be a better option I think. :)

Perfect timing for me to come across this Video. Thanks for the detailed instructions. How can i make a custom cord with a socket at one end and a male plug at the other end? I am trying to make a string of lights with 1 or 2 feet wire drops that have a c9 socket at end of the drop with the drops spaced at custom spots. In other words, it is for lighting a series of paper lanterns that will hang from a track in the ceiling dropping of about 1 or 2 feet. any suggestions to go about it?

Great tutorial…do you suggest sealing the plugs up at? Maybe some hot glue or something to try and waterproof it. Especially in the online plugs. I live in NY and there’s a good Chance these wires would get covered in wet snow.

Do you recommend the use of dielectric grease during the make up of these plugs?

Thank you- I learned a lot. Can we use speaker wire instead of SPT 1 to make extension cords?

hey paxton great vid, just blew my mind, i never knew these existed. question is, how do u water proof all the connections and plug points?

Good job

Thank you so much for that. I'm a contractor and that's something I never knew . An I tell you I'm gonna use that to my advantage. Can I do that with thicker cord wire also ?

This is an awesome tutorial!! Thank you!! Question - I'm a beginner... do you do anything to waterproof your connections when you connect two strings together?

I'm making apiece of yard art with a 6 ft long cord with a male end and a C7 at the other end. This video was extremely helpful. My only question is if I use a c7 vampire on the end of the wire won't it leave the wire exposed? How would you remedy this?

What do you think would be considered a professional light show of considering how many lights you have

Awesome. Never knew about these vampire plugs. Here's an idea: ( might work) - if you want to use the male plug with the fuse in it. Instead of cutting it off you could go about 2" down from end and add a female vampire plug. Snip the end of female vampire plug so wire passes all the way through. Then just put on of those clear plastic child proof outlet covers in it to cap it off or instead of capping it off you could run another strand of light off it so that the fused male end becomes a ' Y ' for light strands like your example if you had a outlet btwn 2 bushes. Also another question... whenever you throw out a electronic object like a lamp or tv could you cut and save wires? Or would speaker wire work? I have a whole roll, about 100ft of speaker wire. Or does it have to be lamp wire?

Outstanding! Right now we have our lights (almost exclusively LED's) operating off of five heavy duty shop rated extension cords. The lights are daisy chained together along the roof line and gutters and down the corners of the house. Others run to the trees and bushes in the yard. I am tripping a GFCI regularly, inside the house. I have no idea how many AMP's are daisy chained together but will calculate that tomorrow. Are the maximum AMP's going to be based on the rating of each extension cord and or the fuse panel to the outlets or both? I don't trip anything in the service panel, so I am confused as to what's really going on. A neighbor down the street has more lights on his house than we do, but he doesn't have any issues. I want to eliminate as many of my shop extension cords as possible and replace them with custom cords as you demonstrated; especially where we are challenged with putting shrub lights together. We are powering from two exterior outlets and three interior shop outlets. I am thinking of using a power strip in the shop, with a built in surge protector and rated for a considerable amount of AMP's. My question: When we build the custom cords, using SPT 1, once we max out the AMP's (whatever that number is) I assume we continue building cords until we are finished. . . ultimately ending up with (X) number of cords that need to be plugged into (X) number of outlets. What is the best practices methodology of powering the cord(s) and not tripping the GFCI circuit? I was told the GFCI is only tripping because of moisture, but I am not convinced that's the total issue. The house is not large (1300 SQ FT max) and only the front is lit. . . not the sides or back.

Thank you for the video, question: how long can I make my lights and how many can I plug together and be safe, also how long can I make the extension cords? Don’t want to start a fire 😁, thank you.

Thanks for the tips. When adding in the vampire sockets, how many can you add to a 25ft strand? I want to make my lights with less gaps between the lights. Thanks

Great instructional now, what do i do with all the extra extension cords that I've accrued over the years?...lol

Great video. There is a lot of copper in that cord to end up in a land fill

Are these all waterproof? This would make my life alot easier, great video, well done, and thanks for your time.

Well there you go, you have answered questions I did not know I needed to ask so as so as i can I'm going to try to put up my lights. I don't have a big beautiful house like yours but I have in my mind for my double wide mobil home a modest version with the Little Drummer Boy song. Im getting ready to go Google you. To see if your saleing what im thinking about. Do these have to be incandescent lights? I shared my with these neighbors who moved with most of mine. My brother got the new LEDS and gave me all his mini lights. I found you looking to fix them. Thank you for all the free tips. Yeah. Merry Christmas

Great video can you tell me the model # of the meter or name. And by any chance do u have a chart on figuring out amperage or how many strings can u connect to getter using so 1 wire.

Would you be able to answer a question- troubleshooting related for custom lights?

In making my own extension cord how many lights or like the blow molds can I have plugged into one made cord. Thanks

I would like to run one very long wire with numerous vampire plugs for my blow molds. Can i do this?

WOW thank you thank you THANK YOU for taking the time and slowly explaining this in such detail! You really helped me understand the vampire plugs and how to get around my roof eves. My question I may already know the answer to but I just want to ask to be safe. On a C-9 strand rather than run a extension cord up to the roof to light them is it possible to cut the existing male plug off and splice it so I could actually have a 5-6 foot lead so I could plug them into a exterior socket that is ankle high on my house? Verses zip tie a ugly orange or green extension cord to gutter? Is there a vampire splicer? Or just your old fashion wire cutters and electrical tape? Man I am so glad I found your videos!!!

I'm decorating a tree outside, could I use SPT 1 to make a 1 (male) to 4 (female) splitter? That is have it come off of one cord and then feed 4 separate xmas lights strand?

I know this is an older video..but how would I end a run of C7 sockets. Like if I wanted to rewire a blowmold that has 3-C7 bulbs in it with a male plug on the one end and the socket on the other end? Great video!!

This is a great video. Would you happen to know how to make custom length Mini light cords? I have some smaller items Id like to use mini lights on but I don't need 100 bulbs. Some times I just need 5 or 10 Thanks.

I purchase Gilbert plugs from a couple of different US based vendors (haven't found one vendor that carries all types and colors). I have noticed that some of the plugs do not have the UL Mark on them. Have you seen this also? Is this something I need to worry about? Thank you.

Hey Paxton, so can I make a custom extension cord with SPT1/SPT2 cord and vampire plugs - one end is female, 1 female connector in the middle and towards the end, then end with a male connector. so i can lay that on the flowerbed and connect my regular retail christmas lights to it.???

Very handy this is exactly what I need to efficiently wire my wife’ s snow village on our bookshelves.

Is the only risk of having two male ends on a line is that you could get shocked if one end is left open? I’ve put a female plug in the middle of a line before and used it as my main power inlet, meaning I need a double male extension cord from the outlet to my main strand.

I made a strand of about 15 C7 bulbs, terminated with a female outlet. When I plug the male end in to a power source, none of the bulbs illuminate. Any idea why? Do I have to have bulbs in all the sockets (some are empty)? If all the bulbs are installed but one is burnt, will the whole strand fail? Or, is it likely that either I installed one of the sockets with reverse polarity, or one of the socket's vampire tap didn't make contact with the wire? Any ideas on how I should troubleshoot this?

Will a 10 gauge extension cord despite if its only available in yellow grounded cord but regardless of whether the cord is grounded or not - post having the ends cut off or at least the outlet/female end... in the north america regions that is... work with putting c7 sockets onto said cordage etc fwiw and using led bulbs which have the correct (in this case or tbh scenario actually [sorry if this is something that takes up time for what it is] "C7" size/candelabra? Base screw in type... for the pruposes of being easier to swap from incandescent type to led "retro fit" packages of 2 each led light bulbs sold in the night light or light bulb aisle) for making custom led light strings?