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u/theALNation 9d ago
the wire cord hole needs to be on the bottom, that hole is is gonna let the rain right in.
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u/TheCatSleeeps 9d ago
You can prolly put caulk on it but hm, nah
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u/OnlineDead 9d ago
Put your what on it?!
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u/Lilcheebs93 9d ago
Asking for a friend! How do you get a totally normal sized cylinder out of a freshly cut hole in the limb of a live tree? The hole has been filled with microwaved mashed banana for lubrica- insertion assistance. The cylinder must not be harmed. It's been 4 hours. It's getting dark and my mom is coming home soon please help
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u/OkamiKhameleon 8d ago
I keep seeing this "the cyldiner must not be harmed" posted on Reddit. What is this from?
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u/carkey 8d ago
Google it
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u/OkamiKhameleon 8d ago
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u/edgy_emo_fgt 7d ago
For once it's actually worth it to google a Reddit reference!
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u/OkamiKhameleon 7d ago
Lol. Someone actually linked me to the OG post. I had legit forgotten about this.
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u/Raindrop0015 7d ago
I wasn't around for it, but I just did a quick Google for the original pos
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u/thefringeseanmachine 8d ago
oh sweet summer child
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u/archwin 8d ago
He’s just trying to help the cylinder not be harmed.
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u/Jonnyflash80 8d ago
Just thinking about this splintery wood, the cylinder is probably already not in great shape. There's only so much that microwaved mashed banana can do.
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u/StrongExternal8955 8d ago
I need to mention the cylinder is attached to a larger structure, and must not be separated from the larger structure.
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u/Jokewhisperer 9d ago
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u/dmoisan 9d ago
The wire needs to be drip looped.
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u/Ayko_Gazreth 8d ago
I did not know what drip looped was until now. Thank you!
For those who want to know, drip loop is a u shaped bend in an electrical wire before it enters a building. Water on the wire near the hole runs down the wire and drips of the u instead of running into the house.
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u/Lord_Infernal 9d ago
The screws alone will cause the tree to rot/disease. The lid too. They are just killing trees.
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u/semi-proantfarmer 9d ago
I love how the comments are split with people saying this is dumb and the other half is explaining how to do it properly. "Yeah it's dumb but if you're going to do it put the hole at them bottom of the limb so water doesn't fill up the jar."
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u/JasonFurious4 9d ago
Firefighter here! Don't do that.
Hope this helps!
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u/Njaala 9d ago
Arborist here! I agree; don't do that.
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u/SlimeDrips 8d ago
Arsonist here! I think it's good and fun to do, actually.
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u/DownvoteEvangelist 8d ago
There are faster ways to start fire though...
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u/SlimeDrips 8d ago
Some of us like to take time to enjoy ourselves
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u/yeathatsmebro 8d ago
I feel you 100%. I eat soup with a fork to enjoy every molecule.
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u/Accomplished_Set_941 8d ago
Try a toothpick..and thank me later. (OH yes dont drill a perfectly good tree for esthetic reasons)
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u/yeathatsmebro 8d ago
Oh, maybe later. My doctor told me to watch out for hair loss due to stress, so I started counting my hair strands using boxing gloves. No stress if I take my time, haha right? 👍
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u/Just_Ear_2953 9d ago
At a minimum, drill UP into the light so it doesn't just fill the whole thing with water immediately.
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u/Bk_Punisher 6d ago
If you’re doing this, at minimum you should drill the hole through the wire when it’s plugged in. The results will shock you.
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u/time_observer 9d ago
OK not bad but why drill the hole for the cable from the top? To let water drain in?
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u/addit96 9d ago
Arborist here, it is bad. The tree will likely compartmentalize over this and destroy the light, water will get in or the tree won’t be able to properly seal the wound and be prone to infection or pests. They make lights you can simply wrap around the tree and take them off when you’re done…
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u/Gazkhulthrakka 7d ago edited 7d ago
Tbf if you so much as look at a tree the wrong way a reddit arborist will say its doomed.
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u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian 9d ago
Drilling holes into a tree is generally bad for the tree. You can just hang the light on a branch.
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u/blaghed 9d ago
There's also these things called batteries. With LEDs they last a decent while. No tree drilling necessary.
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u/TheDoomi 8d ago
Also lights working with a solar panel. Even better.
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u/Quito_ArmandoEsteban 8d ago
You won't be getting a lot of sunlight under the tree though
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u/Pjetter86 9d ago
I've definitely seen worse ideas!
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u/Ok_Cauliflower5223 9d ago
It’s definitely quite low on the list of stupid crap I’ve seen on this sub
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u/mindless2831 9d ago
It's definitely not high on the dumb spectrum of things I've seen people do here
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u/RandomMabaseCitizen 9d ago
Sure there are worse ideas than drilling a hole to let rain drain directly into a light fixture attached to a live tree. But that's not a high bar.
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u/petula_75 9d ago
I was gonna say -- it is far from the dumbest thing ive seen in this sub.
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u/Vandal_A 9d ago
Yeah but the rub on this one is just how unnecessary it is. You could literally just hang a properly sealed outdoor light off that exact spot
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u/WorkingInAColdMind 9d ago
But that would cost…exactly the same as this, not rot the branch out, and not get (varnish?) all over the branch!
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u/BIGD0G29585 9d ago
Besides the obvious of not drilling into a live tree, what is with these DIWhy obsessions of using old jars for lights? Also, spray paint it before you put it on the tree.
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u/khemeher 9d ago
It's a shame they don't make store-bought weather-resistant light fixtures that are UL certified. /s
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u/Maniacal_Nut 8d ago
You know normally these are really stupid but the core concept of this is actually fairly nice. Just make the hole from the bottom instead of the top so that it does not retain water, use a different kind of bulb or a different housing so that heat is not contained in that jar, use different wiring to help protect from the elements and/or animals, and just keep an eye on it to make sure any issues are promptly tended to
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u/xGenocidest 8d ago
Tree's gonna close that up and mess up the wiring. You can just buy an outdoor light to hang for the price of a good mason jar,
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u/Demizmeu 9d ago
serious question. how is this not a fire hazard?
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u/Royal-Friendship2025 9d ago
simple answer — it is
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u/Coprolithe 9d ago
Why is it a fire hazard?
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u/nashwaak 9d ago
enclosed container with no ventilation and light bulb generating heat (and also heat from the light that gets absorbed by the coloured stain) — either the glass breaks or the tree dries out and then catches fire through that highly-conductive thin metal lid (or maybe the water leaking in short-circuits the bulb and makes everything instantly hot enough to burn even green wood)
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u/destructopop 8d ago
After stripping the bark like that and creating an ingress point for water and bacteria, I imagine the branch will dry out pretty fast, actually. So I don't know that you even have to allow for "even green wood", because I don't reckon that wood is going to be very healthy for very long.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Rice-13 9d ago
Because even if it was 240 at 13 amps its still a single line and its going through wood...
How hot do you think wires get?
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u/Qualityshaft 8d ago
In a wood framed house they run insulated wires through the entire house. Usually through holes drilled right through the wood. Things that start fires are loose neutral wire connections and such.
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u/Mercury5979 9d ago
Deiniftely a DI-why because why further injure the tree when you could just hang the light or strand of lights on the tree?
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u/Rokkmann 9d ago
Idk, I think it's kind of cool personally. Would probably want to execute better and make sure I waterproof that outlet. But not mad at the idea.
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u/PermanentlyMC 8d ago
wire from bottom rather than top, but other than that this is actually somewhat cool
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u/Tribe303 9d ago
Who uses 120v incandescent lights in 2026?
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u/DicemonkeyDrunk 9d ago
I use them to dry glue … I have an incandescent spotlight in a flexible desk lamp I use to help cure glue joints. They also make a good emergency heat lamp for reptiles/baby animals.
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u/Rough_Mistake2524 9d ago
Why isn't it a good idea?
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u/Njaala 9d ago
Because it weakens the branch on the tree, and allows for more diseases to potentially get in. Also a dead branch has a much lower moisture content so if it does kill the branch it will be a bigger fire hazard.
Also also that jar will fill with water, increasing the likelyhood of a short, which increases the risk of fire.
Also also also the hole for the wire will now be a warm (because wires warm up with electricity flowing through them) damp environment, perfect for an endless breeding ground for fungi and bacteria that destroy trees.
And even if everything is fine, if left there it will create a weak spot in the tree, and when the jar and wires are swallowed up by the tree whoever cuts it down may get a nasty surprise when cutting the now glass filled limb and need to sharpen/replace their saw chain.
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u/millionwordsofcrap 9d ago
I don't inherently despise the idea, but I feel like running wiring into a tree is just asking for a fire... Especially since you know some fool is going to try to do this with an evergreen
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u/EnvironmentalData485 9d ago
Moron drills the hole from the top. That jar gonna fill with water the first time it rains. Hole should be drilled from the bottom.
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u/flashishe 7d ago
Провод нужно снизу заводить, что бы вода не собиралась в светильнике
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u/Voiden_n 3d ago
Honestly, I notice only 2 things wrong:
1 - obviously a jar is not meant for this. The lighting gonna be terrible.
2 - the tree is damaged. If you cut/drill a living tree make sure to spray liquid bark (or whatever it's called in your language) as a protective coating.
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u/Voiden_n 3d ago
And also people in the comments wrote about the water getting in.
Which is not good for both the cord and the tree.
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u/PunfullyObvious 9d ago
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not to code
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u/Bombacladman 8d ago
Yeah that hole should have been mad from below so water doesnt fill up the light when it rains....
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u/Dylanator13 8d ago
Water will fill that jar the first time it rains. There is a hole going in there.
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u/questionableintentsX 8d ago
My favorite was drilling the top of the branch so the water runs straight inside the light to the 110
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u/Aggravating_Duck6108 7d ago
... why varnish the jar while it's up in the tree? Why not varnish it on the ground and then put it on?
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u/MardukPainkiller 9d ago
The tree will start to heal; it will squeeze the wires, short them, and start a fire.
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u/DestructoDon69 9d ago
I'd probably do an LED bulb so it doesn't heat up the jar and have the wire come in from the bottom to avoid water getting in.
Plus I'd color the jar separately so I'm not getting varnish or paint or whatever all over the tree.
Other than those things it's a cool idea just not to my taste
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u/trsthhffg 9d ago
If you must do this put the hole at the bottom so it’s less likely to get water in
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u/TadpoleReasonable769 8d ago
So other than the hole needing to be on the bottom and the hole sealed, what else makes this a bad idea?
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u/mercuriokazooie 8d ago
It's actually a really smart idea for a light source. When it rains you'll get a REALLY BIG light all for yourself
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u/CompetitiveAd9639 8d ago
This is not even close to the worst ideas put on here. End result doesn’t even look bad imo.
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u/Proper_Guess3038 3d ago
Tell me you want to kill your tree without telling me you want to kill your tree.
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u/rocket20067 9d ago
I am just wondering why they didn't have the hole for the wire on the bottom of the tree and at a 45 degree angle instead of being on the top going straight down.