Any tips for preventing outdoor xmas light theft?

[Christien]

We just put up about $400 worth of xmas lights at work, most of which is rope lighting. I want to leave them on overnight, partly for inventory theft prevention, partly just to draw attention, but I'm concerned about them getting stolen. Yes, it's karma coming back to bite me in the ass because I used to steal lights as a kid

Any ideas on how to make sure they don't get stolen?

[Cdnone1]

Hang Toronto Maple Leafs banners at the mounting points. No one will touch them as nobody wants anything to do with the Leafs
Steve

[ODDJOB UNO]

make everything 220 and LIGHT EM UP!

[masraum]

Weird, I'd never heard of or even thought of Christmas lights being stolen.

[Christien]

We have everything that's not bolted down with NASA spacecraft-grade loctite stolen from around here. While the Leafs flags are a good idea, that actually might attract the kind of dip***** that steals xmas lights...

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by Christien

We have everything that's not bolted down with NASA spacecraft-grade loctite stolen from around here.

Move....seriously

What does a thief do with a string of stolen lights anyway?

[Christien]

It's work - not my decision to move! A guess a thief would put the stolen lights on his trailer.

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by masraum

Weird, I'd never heard of or even thought of Christmas lights being stolen.

+1

[gr8fl4porsche]

If you install the lights using many brackets screwed into whatever substrate you are attaching them to, then I would think removal would be way too involved for any would be thief.

[johnsjmc]

Never heard of it either but a box of zip ties would make theft difficult without damaging the string or the need for tools to remove.Attach them all together and where they wrap around posts and such. Then when and if you want to take them down a pair of sidecutters will let you clear away all the ties.

[James Brown]

You can move around here, most dickwads leave there Christmas lights up year round with no problems!

[esample]

See:

Spoons For Real Men

[dad911]

Spray them with skunk scent.

Of course, then you will want to throw them away and buy new ones next year.....

[legion]

When I was a teenage hooligan, you could turn off a string of light by stealing a single bulb from that string. We could "turn off" large displays in under a minute with six guys.

It wasn't about stealing the lights, it was about causing trouble.

[Rick Lee]

This should be a good deterrent. But it might only work on those with military experience. Be sure to have a flashing red LED and wires running to it.

[nostatic]

Ahh, the days of being a reprobate. The old "big bulb" xmas lights made a great sound when you threw them and they smashed. If you go with led lights, no fun to be had there. If people steal the whole string then you have a different type of reprobate.

Find the neighborhood hooligan. Kill him and put his head on a pole outside your house next to the lights. Time honored tradition...

[WolfeMacleod]

Spiral some electrified razor wire around it...

[McLovin]

just strip off all the insulation from the wiring.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by masraum

Weird, I'd never heard of or even thought of Christmas lights being stolen.

Originally Posted by enzo1

+1

+2

And I never thought of busting bulbs or turning lights off. What's not to like about lights? Hell, in my day it was a free light show.

When the mini lights became commonplace, people would string them up in their patios and burn them all year for some "mood."

Anyway, I like the tiewrap thing. Take some rose vine cuttings and tie them in with the bundle.

[Normy]

You live in Ontario and have a problem with theft?

I didn't think that was possible in Canada-

Local teenagers drunk perhaps? Anyway, install security cameras, or at least fake security cameras.

N