Dangers of fairy lights
There are always reports of pollutants and technical defects. Main Danger: Electric shock. This is also confirmed by Werner Leistner, product tester at DEKRA Stuttgart. LED technology has made fairy lights significantly safer, but when savings are made on materials, this usually comes at the expense of safety.
Fairy lights in the test
The following six warm white LED chains compete against each other: For indoor and outdoor use, a tufted light chain from Obi, a galaxy light chain from Aldi Süd, a ring light chain from KiK, a string light chain from Action and indoor chains from Amazon -Shop Add-Tronic and purchased from Star Trading at lichterkettenexperte.de.
Power consumption
Werner Leistner explains that power consumption has been significantly reduced thanks to LED technology. This means that throughout the entire Christmas season, the electricity consumption of a string of lights on a Christmas tree is in the cent range.
Laboratory testing for pollutants
The fairy lights are examined by DEKRA for chemical pollutants. Phthalates in particular are considered particularly worrisome. These can be inhaled through evaporation into the room air or through house dust. Phthalates are plasticizers that are used in many plastics, explains Werner Leistner. Some of them are very harmful to health and phthalates are odorless, so you don't notice them.
Laboratory testing for flammability
After contact with the 650 degree hot filament, no part should catch fire. All materials from the six test candidates pass this fire test.
Laboratory testing for moisture resistance
All parts of the fairy lights for outdoor use are watered for a specific period of time. In the light chain from ALDI Süd, water penetrates into the switch housing. That shouldn't have happened because it could lead to a short circuit.
Laboratory testing for risk of electric shock
If the chains are poorly made, it can be life-threatening. This is not the case with any of the six chains. However, some of the LEDs in the KiK light chain failed under high voltage.
Conclusion
The light chains from OBI, Action and Add-Tronic have passed all chemical and electrical tests. Contrary to labeling, the galaxy fairy lights from Aldi Süd were not moisture-resistant in the sample. The Star Trading chain contained banned and harmful plasticizers, just like the KiK light chain, which was also defective in the high-voltage test.
In the sample, only half of the fairy lights were convincing - and provided pleasant rays of hope.
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Source:
SWR market check / Author: Patricia Metz
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