It’s the holiday season. You have a box full of string lights. Somehow the lights you had outside last year got mixed with the lights you had inside. The stress builds! What should you do? You can’t tell the difference between the indoor and outdoor bulbs. What’s the harm in throwing caution to the wind and just grabbing a string and putting it up? Well, it depends if you are putting it up outside or inside. To better understand why it matters, it is helpful to learn a bit about the differences between indoor and outdoor lights.  

Indoor Lights

Indoor lights are generally listed for dry or damp conditions. This isn’t just string lights. I mean all indoor lights. What does that mean? It means that an agency such as UL (Underwriter’s Laboratory) or ETL (Edison Testing Laboratories) has tested the fixtures and listed them as suitable for a dry or damp location. Why is that important? Well, fixtures that are dry or damp suitable are not as robust as fixtures designed for outdoor use. The two key issues you may experience are moisture and temperature. Dry- and damp-listed fixtures are not suitable for excess moisture (like rain or snow) or extreme heat or cold. Indoor lights that are directly exposed to the elements can stop working, or worse, cause a fire hazard.  

Outdoor Lights

Outdoor lights, again not just string lights, are listed and suitable for wet locations. This means that either UL or ETL engineers put the lights through a battery of tests to make sure they can handle outdoor weather conditions. As you can imagine, it takes more engineering to ensure a light is ready to withstand the harsher conditions of the great outdoors, so they tend to be more robust and a bit pricier.  

Okay, so now you know the basic difference between an outdoor and an indoor light. So, let’s go back to the box of lights scenario. Actually, before we do, do you use the blunt end of a screwdriver to hammer in nails? I mean, you can do it, but it’s not really the best use of the screwdriver, right? Keep that in mind as we move on. 

The Right Lights for the Right Space

In your holiday hurry, you grab a strand of lights, spend the next 30 minutes trying to untangle them, and then you put them up around your hearth. Guess what happens? Nothing! They work as intended. You can use outdoor lights inside. Remember the screwdriver comment though? In general, you do not want to use outdoor lights indoors because they tend to be more expensive considering they must pay for the extra engineering and testing to be “wet” listed, and the performance tends to be different.  

Performance, you ask? Well, outdoor lights tend to use more watts per foot, meaning they appear brighter. Now, so far, we have discussed holiday string lights, but there are a lot of other outdoor lights. We could be talking about a flood light, the kind of light that generally has two bulbs (or lamps) and often is connected to a motion sensor. These are designed to “flood” an area with bright light. This is awesome if you are trying to deter any potential burglars, but not so cool if you are trying to light your living room. You can do it, but do you really want to? Not only are these going to be way too bright, but they also won’t be dimmable.  

But if you are determined to string up your outdoor Italian lights in your bonus room, go for it! Many a themed restaurant has created a cozy atmosphere employing that strategy. Just remember, you will generally pay less and have more control options (like dimming or changing light colors or temperatures) with lights designed specifically for indoor use. When it comes to lights outside, stick with lights that are intended to be outdoors and carry the UL or ETL wet listing.  

If you need help choosing the perfect outdoor or indoor lighting option to make your space merry and bright, give us a jingle at 1-800-624-4488 or try our convenient pop-up chat feature at the bottom right corner of our web pages.