The Story of Christmas Mini Lights

Electric Christmas lights are believed to have been first invented by Edward H. Johnson in 1882. The first electric Christmas lights were walnut sized incandescent lamps that were hand-wired together in series. As with most new technology the newly invented electric Christmas lights, while a great hit, were too expensive for the average family to afford. It was not until the early 1930's that electric Christmas lights widely replaced candles as the preferred light source for holiday decorating. However, the original electric Christmas lights were not mini style lights. Most of the first sets of Christmas lights that were widely available to retail customers used small C6 bulbs. The C stood for candle for the flamed shape of the bulb while the number 6 identified the 6/8 inch diameter of the bulb. These original Christmas lights used a miniature candelabra screw base which is now known as the E10 base. What we now refer to as mini lights (also known as Italian lights or fairy lights in Europe were developed much later.

The technical name for the Christmas mini light is the T1¾. The T is because the bulb is tube shaped and 7/32 of an inch in diameter. These lights are also sometimes referred to a M5 lights because they are generally about 5 millimeters in diameter. This style of light became popular for many reasons including its smaller size, lower energy consumption, and more durable bulbs. The larger traditional style Christmas lights such as the C6, C7, or C9 had larger glass bulbs which were more easily broken and also housed a large filament which creates a lot of hit when illuminated. As incandescent technology was improved, lamp manufactures began using new materials such as tungsten for the filaments and began filling the bulbs with different kinds of gas to increase efficiency and luminous output. These new developments allowed lamp manufactures to make smaller light bulbs that produced as much light or more than their larger ancestors. This improvement in technology was the principle factor that lead to the development of what we now call the miniature Christmas light.

The first mini Christmas lights available were a set of 35 3.5 volt bulbs. A smaller set of 20 6 volt bulbs was also available. Most modern sets of incandescent mini lights now come with either 50 or 100 2.5v 170 mA bulbs. Some manufactures also offer a brighter version of the mini light which uses 3.5v incandescent mini lamp.

In recent years, Christmas light manufacturers began using LED technology (which was developed in the 1970s and was first used to illuminate instrument control panels) in Christmas mini light sets. As with most incandescent Christmas lights, the bulb shape and size for the mini light was designed to house the filament. Because LED lighting does not use a filament the mini style bulb was not necessary but most manufacturers use a plastic LED cover that is shaped like a traditional mini light in order to emulate the traditional mini light style that consumers were accustom too. However, the LED mini light bulb cover typically is not smooth like its incandescent cousin; the LED bulb is faceted or textured which helps diffuse the high directional LED light.

Whether LED or incandescent, the traditional Christmas mini light style is still by far the most popular size and shape of Christmas light. Its small, low profile bulbs are easy to decorate with and produce brilliant small points of light.