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I'm seeking advice for safe, cost-effective lighting inside a Sukkah.

My goals are:

  1. Minimize risk of fire. Even florescent lights can get hot enough to spark dry kindling in certain circumstances.

  2. Minimize energy consumption. Should I go with solar? Outdoor timers? See #3 below.

  3. Minimize up-front costs. Timers or solar-powered LEDs seem like a great idea for the first two, but so far I've seen some prohibitively expensive and complicated solutions involving retrofitting florescent-tube fixtures to operate LED tubes.

  4. Simple installation - see #3 above.

  5. Have a Sukkah that is lit as brightly as my dining room.

  6. To have a Sukkah in which I can entertain guests who will want to hang out in the Sukkah long after the meal has ended.

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  • I feel I should mention that LEDs get hotter than fluorescents (for equal lumen ratings). If your goal is less heat, florescent is the way to go.
    – Ariel
    Commented Sep 12, 2012 at 2:54
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    @Ariel, whaat???
    – Seth J
    Commented Sep 12, 2012 at 14:39
  • @SethJ It's true. Compare two random flood lamps I found: The LED outputs 630 Lumens while using 9.5 watts (66.3 lumens/watt). The CFL outputs 1600 lumens while using 23 watts (69.5 lumens/watt). The CFL puts out more light for the same amount of energy, meaning less heat. LEDs have better color accuracy than CFL, but worse energy efficiency. (In a lab you can get better, but I limit myself to what's available commercially.) Even if you find an LED with better efficiency than a CFL, it still puts out plenty of heat. Also, a CFL radiates the heat outward, an LED puts it in a heat sink.
    – Ariel
    Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 6:24
  • Discussion regarding the merge can be found at chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/6109926#6109926
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 18:14
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    You can add a timer inexpensively to practically any plug-in solution.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 18:40

5 Answers 5

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I use strands of decorative lights rated for outdoors, plugged into a heavy-duty (outdoor-rated) extension cord that is plugged in in the garage. I used to use two strands of white holiday lights like these or these, attached to the top corners and draped along the walls. This year I upgraded to these lanterns, strung through the center at the top:

lanterns

The bulbs are LEDs and the shades are nylon (not paper). I find that the shades make the lighting more pleasant to look at (not looking at bare bulbs), and it feels less like Christmas lights (l'havdil). The strands of bare lights are brighter than the lanterns; each lantern seems to be about as bright as one candle (or so it seemed on Yom Tov when I could directly compare). I used two strands (totaling 20 lanterns) for my 8x8 sukkah and that produces a nice warm light, but it's not as bright as I'd like so I'll probably add a couple more strands next year. According to the specs, you can daisy-chain up to 15 strands.

I tie the cords to the sukkah frame with string. A system of clips could make that faster, but it takes me about 3 minutes to put up my lights so I haven't bothered.

As an alternative, this strand of icicle lights costs $15, burns only 8W, and generates a lot of light according to Isaac Moses (thanks!). While I haven't done this myself, I've also seen sukkot that add a single larger light (sometimes LED) suspended from the center.

In the past I've wrapped the connections (extension cord to plug, plug to plug) in plastic and then taped it tight with electrical tape. That hasn't caused me any problems. This year, since I was ordering new lights anyway, I also added these water-tight cord protectors:

cord protector

As for operating costs, during chol hamoed I just plug the lights in before using the sukkah and for yom tov I just leave them on. A timer would reduce the wasted electricity on yom tov if you're concerned about that.

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This year, I ran an outdoor-rated extension cord (not hard to come by) out a window (through the already-insulated gap where an air conditioner is) to the sukkah and plugged in a five-bulb lighting string, also outdoor-rated. I used yellow anti-bug CFLs, again outdoor-rated.

When I've asked in Home Depot about plugging things in outside, I've gotten the following suggestion multiple times: wrap the connection tightly with a plastic baggie, then use electrical tape to tape up the edges of the baggie. I used this where the lighting string plugged into the electrical cord.

The yellow light does a great job of not attracting bugs. Our ~8'x10' sukkah is comfortably and warmly lit, if a bit yellow* (and probably not as bright as SethJ's dining room). The total power usage is 65 W, and the total fixed cost was ~$85, with all materials reusable in future years (including the CFLs, which ought to last a while). I'm confident that the setup is safe, since everything is outdoor-rated, the sechach provides some additional rain protection, and the CFLs don't emit much heat.

* The yellowness of the light has an interesting effect. At night, when these bulbs provide nearly all the light in the sukkah, the yellow ratchet straps (similar to this I use for "lavud" purposes seem to be white.

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If your sukkah is on your porch, often you have a porch light already there.

Some people have an outdoors outlet and plug a light into there. Anyone have their experience with this? How waterproof/safe is this?

I've tried some solar-powered-walkway-light devices, but they haven't been bright enough.

This year we used a 4-D-battery, LED camping lantern. It's worked fine despite all the rain; I'm not concerned about it burning or electrocuting anything; it provided enough light for us to see our food (though it still felt like nighttime); and with fresh batteries and turned on right before yomtov, it was still providing light (though slightly dimmer) 50+ hours later, good enough for the third night of a 3-day yomtov.

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  • Administrative note: This was penned as an answer to another question and merged hither.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 18:09
  • My experience with a lantern as Shalom described has also been positive.
    – Ze'ev
    Commented Sep 23, 2013 at 2:09
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I've been using shop lights (similar to this) for years now; two of them, each with two fluorescent bulbs, comfortably light up my 30' x 9' sukkah.

I plug them into a regular power strip, which in turn is plugged into an extension cord rated for outdoor use. I used to put a plastic bag over the power strip to protect it from the rain, but didn't do so this year - turns out it wasn't necessary: despite all the rain, nothing has shorted out, B"H.

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  • Administrative note: This was penned as an answer to another question and merged hither.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 18:10
  • +1 for the lighting suggestion and outdoor-rated extension cord. -1 for suggesting no water protection was necessary because in one year of heavy rain you didn't have a problem. I hope you wouldn't advise against wearing a seatbelt if you once drove without one and had no problem.
    – Seth J
    Commented Oct 4, 2012 at 4:14
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"Simple" solution. I have an encased halogen lamp with a clamp. I clamp it onto the top pole of the succah at one end with the light facing inside the succah. It's plugged into an outdoor 20 ft. heavy extension cord which goes up the side of my home, through an ajar bathroom window and eventually into a plugged in electrical timer.

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