Pushing back the darkness on nighttime BBQing

[Lightning]

As some of you know from the pictures I've posted in the past, I end up cooking outside at nighttime quite a bit. Especially now with the time change. I'm not a fan of darkness at 5:00 PM. 

Bottom line, you need to be able to see what you're doing to grill effectively.  The 100 Watt clamp work light clipped to the back vestibule's eavestrough pointing into the back yard made cooking outside possible, but it wasn't nice for hanging out and didn't do much beyond the first bit of the back yard, and was kind of tacky.  This is what I wanted to do back in the summer but I had to wait until now for Christmas lights to become available.

Everything's in disarray back there with the fall cleanup going on but you can see the two performers as the last of the evening sun goes.





The pictures don't do it justice, but after dark, the soft golden glow is quite beautiful but not overpowering, and bright enough to cook by comfortably.  I really don't think anything comes close to matching the way low wattage clear incandescent bulbs look.





So far, it's worked out quite well and I've barbecued a couple of times far more easily than before when I had to clamp a flashlight between my teeth and/or clip work lights onto the eavestrough.  I just thought I'd throw this out there in case anybody else is dealing with dire outdoor lighting since Christmas lights are only available this time of year and doing this kind of project in spring or summer isn't possible unless you stock up now.


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[kettlebb]

That looks nice! I'd leave them up year round.


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[MacEggs]

That looks very cool, dude!  Great idea.

Man, that backyard is big.  Mine is the size of a postage stamp. 
The wife has mentioned doing something along these lines …. Which means more work for me. 

[CharliefromLI]

Any special size christmas lights?



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[swamprb]

Nice!  I HATE Daylight Savings Time!!

Bought some of these from Costco last year and just noticed they are on sale:

http://www.costco.com/Feit-Outdoor-Weatherproof-String-Light-Set%2c-Black%2c-48-ft%2c--24-Light-Sockets%2c-Includes-36-Bulbs.product.100140552.html

I ran them under the eaves of the Bone Shack - lights everything! Put a couple LED bulbs and a LED Flood in the center.

[Travis]

Looks great! That picture in the dark is awesome.


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[RottiGuy]

Looks great!!!

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[MrHoss]

Looking good Mr Griswold.

[Lightning]

That looks nice! I'd leave them up year round.

That's the plan.  The whole project was intended to make the back yard nice to be in after the sun sets. I wish I could have done it during the summer but Christmas lights weren't available. Now that it's done, I'll definitely be enjoying it year round.

Nice!  I HATE Daylight Savings Time!!

Bought some of these from Costco last year and just noticed they are on sale:

http://www.costco.com/Feit-Outdoor-Weatherproof-String-Light-Set%2c-Black%2c-48-ft%2c--24-Light-Sockets%2c-Includes-36-Bulbs.product.100140552.html

I ran them under the eaves of the Bone Shack - lights everything! Put a couple LED bulbs and a LED Flood in the center.

Huh, thanks for posting that. I didn't see those when I went looking at what was available but I think one of the neighbours down the street used two sets of those lights in their yard. I was trying to figure out what they had and the bulb size and spacing looks like that set you linked to or something very similar.  I'm no fan of daylight savings time either.  I really think it's an empty shell game since it can't change how many hours of daylight there are this time of year.

Any special size christmas lights?

They're all standard 7 Watt C9 Christmas lights except for the strings attached to the wood fence where I used smaller 5 Watt C7 lights instead because I didn't want them to be overpoweringly bright with the light reflecting off the wood behind them and to stay under the 15 amp limit on my one outdoor socket.

That looks very cool, dude!  Great idea.

Man, that backyard is big.  Mine is the size of a postage stamp. 
The wife has mentioned doing something along these lines …. Which means more work for me. 

The yard's definitely big. I got seriously lucky with the lot my house sits on.  By the time I got this done, I used 12 strings of lights for a total of 240 feet of installed length, and that's without running them right into each of the four corners.  I didn't think it was necessary to go right into the corners and cover the whole perimeter of the yard edge to edge on each side and to avoid going over 15 amps total current draw since I only have one outdoor wall socket so I can't split it across multiple circuits.  It sure added up quickly!  If you do a similar project, you'll enjoy the end results for sure.