I'm writing this on 16 November, but I'll back date it. We had high winds 2 November, a branch came down and brought the patio lights with it. I used a lightweight steel cable in a plastic jacket, and the falling branch just stretched the cable until it broke. Every light bulb lit up, even though the strings were on the ground. The east-most string was separate, and it stayed up.
I disconnected power. I had noticed earlier that the bulbs all have a green tinge, due to tree pollen, I think. They are zip-tied to the cable, so I'll have to re-string them or remove the zip ties. (That is, there is a loop of zip tie that has a cable-sized hole at the top that I could presumably just slide onto a new cable. The zip ties were trimmed, so there's almost no hope of removing them without cutting them off.)
Working on the gutter 14 November, I realized that if the gutter fell, it would take the remaining cable with it, so I disconnected that cable at the house.
I have left over stainless steel cable from the deck railings that might work. I think I need about 90'.
My concern is that, because the cable broke, the bulbs made a soft landing and the anchors at the house and the trees were not hurt. Nothing would make the cable railing snap before it ripped the eyebolts out of the tree. On the other hand, maybe that would mean that the lights stayed up despite a falling branch.
Oh, and I think I should do 3 separate runs (I went out to the tree and came back to the house the first time and that's why the branch took down 2 of 3 runs.)
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