I have a 68 ft strand of little multi-colored lights up. Came home today and the last 10-12ft of lights has blacked out. The other 50+ft is lit and looks great. I replaced the fuse and the first blacked-out bulb. It’s supposed to be one of those ‘if one burns out, the rest stay lit’. Any suggestions?
Judaism
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I believe that the Christmas light strands are divided into three circuits (as you have found out). I think you are correct that if a bulb burns out the rest will stay lit. My suspicion is that one of the bulbs in that circuit has lost its continuity. It probably twisted around in the holder and the wires aren’t touching the poles anymore. The only solution is to go bulb by bulb (in the ones that are out) and figure out which one is the culprit. But the bulb is still probably good.
Bernie
Great, thanks. Sounds like a lot of fun in 25F weather ; )
I buy new lights ever year. Can’t be arsed going through that same routine. 2 hours of work to save a $4.99 string of lights. Life is too short.
They’re brand new!!! I just bought them on Saturday and put them up on Sunday. That’s what kills me, they worked fine last night.
I think you should call you should contact your lawyer, and file a lawsuit against the government for not protecting you against a known problem of lights (plugged into their electrical grid) failing and not having adequate signage indicating that such a thing was possible.
**Great, thanks. Sounds like a lot of fun in 25F weather ; **)
This is one of the reasons that I stopped putting lights up outside. The others revolved around the fact that I only had them on for about 6 hours the whole season. We live out of town, and we have very few neighbors so there is nobody to turn them on for. Way too much frustration for me. Now just decorate inside the house.
MattinSF’s plan might be the best, at least from a time/cost point of view. But it is sort of wasteful.
Bernie
Take them back to the store and throw them at the cashier!
I’m with Matt, I budget one year for lights and if they pop on again next season, I’m in the bonus.
We went through 2 fake Christmas trees from costco where a part strand would not come on. Dis-assemble the tree, haul it back to costco twice. The third seems to be working.
I miss the old school kind that screwed in.
When I was a kid, one Christmas we put some cheapo lights outside on two small pine trees in the front yard. Year after year they worked. The trees grew and grew but the lights stayed in the same place. They would work and you could see an outline inside the tree of how tall the tree was when we put the lights on. Those lights worked for at least 15 years. They don’t anymore, although they are still in the now 40 foot tall trees.
I guess they don’t make them like they used to.
Judaism
What? No electric Mennorahs?
Judaism
What? No electric Mennorahs?
Funny you should mention that! Last night my Catholic wife and I were talking about holidays as a kid and I remembered that we did have an electric menorah in our dining room window, that lit up the “candles” individually!
Shawn
DO NOT decorate. I don’t care what the wife threatens to hold out on you, just say no to decorations. It’s not worth it.
i thought we discussed that there are post-decorating perks…
Funny you should mention that! Last night my Catholic wife and I were talking about holidays as a kid and I remembered that we did have an electric menorah in our dining room window, that lit up the “candles” individually!
What? No ladys’ fish stocking leg base lamp in the front window?
Normally, I would agree. However, we’re hosting Christmas and our 3 1/2 yr old nephew and 2 yr old niece are coming…so, it’s for them (and Tracy).
Now Shawn, it’s not nice to lie to the good people here, especially around X-mas. We know that the lights are for Tracy… and for you… you softie… :-p
Take them back and get the LED kind. They don’t short and they use something like 1/3 the electricity. And they last thousands of hours, supposedly.
Funny you should mention that! Last night my Catholic wife and I were talking about holidays as a kid and I remembered that we did have an electric menorah in our dining room window, that lit up the “candles” individually!
What? No ladys’ fish stocking leg base lamp in the front window?
**Nothings ever good enough for you! **
Ahhh, the stinking mini-lights. More than likely you’ll get very frustrated trying to fix the problem. Take them back to the store or just throw them away if the store is going to be a hassle. Get C7 or C9 lights, LED or a commercial grade mini-light. The standard cheapo light strings just don’t hold up very well outside.