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Help diagnosing Christmas light problem (1 Viewer)

Greg_S_H

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I've got a pre-lit Christmas tree with a section that's out. The best solution would be to restring it, but they did a professional job and even wrapped the greenery around the light strings, and even the connections are heavily wrapped and hard to get to. It's not a fuse, because a small portion of this section works and the tree top, which gets its power through this string, works. This section, like the other two, has its own extension cord that plugs into one of three outlets on the power strip.

I have a light fix gun. You plug it onto a bulb socket, pull the trigger, and it fixes a bad shunt that causes the lights to not light up even on a "one bulb goes bad, the rest stay lit" string. This thing works. A neighbor had an outdoor tree that only had something like six out of fifty branches working, so he put it out for bulk trash pickup. I took it, fixed it in about 20 minutes, and offered it back to him. He didn't want it.

Anyway, the gun works, and it even worked on another portion of this tree, but it's not working here. Worst of all, any bulb I pull from this bad section is dead. The light fix gun also has a bulb tester, and any random bulb from here does not light up. What would cause every single bulb to be dead in a section, but still allow power to pass through to that tree top section? Plugging in a good bulb doesn't kill the good bulb, but it won't light up in this section.

What's going on?

The tree has an option for all white lights or multi-color lights. Fortunately, the white lights all work, so its not a total loss. But, I'd like to get the multis as an option.
 

Scott Merryfield

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I ran into a similar problem with our pre-lit tree a few years ago. First one strand on the bottom went out, then another one in the middle stopped working the next year. I was never able to find the issue with either strand, and ended up removing all the lights using a wire cutter (which was a long, tedious task).

After that experience, I will never buy another pre-lit tree again. It only takes a few minutes to put lights on a tree, and if a strand goes bad, you can just throw it out and easily replace it with a new strand.
 

Stan

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Greg, never heard of a light fix gun. Wish I'd known about it last year. Had two wreaths with 300 lights each but big sections had gone out. I wasn't going to check one bulb at a time to search for the few troublemakers so they both got tossed into the recycle bin.
 

andySu

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Stan said:
Greg, never heard of a light fix gun. Wish I'd known about it last year. Had two wreaths with 300 lights each but big sections had gone out. I wasn't going to check one bulb at a time to search for the few troublemakers so they both got tossed into the recycle bin.
This




My dad has one of these how very nobble, must get them in the stores before Christmas.

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I set my small tree and lights up on 1st December. I noticed one of the LED lights was not working and these lights are only set-up once a year, I'm not sure how long I've had them maybe 8 or 9 years?
 

Malcolm R

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Scott Merryfield said:
I ran into a similar problem with our pre-lit tree a few years ago. First one strand on the bottom went out, then another one in the middle stopped working the next year. I was never able to find the issue with either strand, and ended up removing all the lights using a wire cutter (which was a long, tedious task).

After that experience, I will never buy another pre-lit tree again. It only takes a few minutes to put lights on a tree, and if a strand goes bad, you can just throw it out and easily replace it with a new strand.
My Mother went through the same exact thing a couple years ago. Neither she or I will ever buy another pre-lit tree.
 

Greg_S_H

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This tree is from the '90s, so it's had a good run. Just started having this problem last season. Nothing I can do about it this season, since I just put all the ornaments on.

That gun is great. Tonight, I had a string of lights that was half out and the gun fixed it instantly. It has worked every time I've tried it, except for the pre-lit tree.
 

ChristopherG

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I have the gun and it is very helpful. Troubleshooting light strings is one of my least favorite holiday activities. Our prelit tree which we have had for 10 or so years finally gave up the ghost on all the lights this year. No way was I going to remove the old lights so I just wrapped new ones over the old. Looks pretty anyway but I think this year the old gal gets a ride to the dump. The biggest problem I have with keeping these intact is storage. Major PITA and a huge contributor to the loss of lights - wrestling it up from basement cubby and then back down tooks its toll.

We put the prelit one in the front living room for looks and our "real" (i.e. live Douglas Fir) goes in our bump out off the kitchen/family room where the joy happens. Went to the local Volunteer Fire Department last night (yearly tradition) to get the tree and I am sitting 3 feet from it right now and it smells like I am in a pine forest. Christmas has truly kicked off for me now.
 

Raul Marquez

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The light gun works great. Regarding Xmas trees, my advise is to stay away from artificial and pre-strung trees.
My tree.... natural and with regular string lights.

Having problems uploading photo..... will try later
 

Stan

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ChristopherG said:
I have the gun and it is very helpful. Troubleshooting light strings is one of my least favorite holiday activities. Our prelit tree which we have had for 10 or so years finally gave up the ghost on all the lights this year. No way was I going to remove the old lights so I just wrapped new ones over the old. Looks pretty anyway but I think this year the old gal gets a ride to the dump. The biggest problem I have with keeping these intact is storage. Major PITA and a huge contributor to the loss of lights - wrestling it up from basement cubby and then back down tooks its toll.

We put the prelit one in the front living room for looks and our "real" (i.e. live Douglas Fir) goes in our bump out off the kitchen/family room where the joy happens. Went to the local Volunteer Fire Department last night (yearly tradition) to get the tree and I am sitting 3 feet from it right now and it smells like I am in a pine forest. Christmas has truly kicked off for me now.
Haven't put up a tree for several years. Loved the pine forest smell and with the light gun hints, may try again.But with a black lab and a Siamese cat, it was like the latest, greatest plaything they'd ever seen. It was hopeless, ornaments became toys, they'd chew on the branches, one time even tipped the tree over. Now that they're a bit older might be worth trying.
Not a total scrooge, still put up outdoor lighting. :)
 

Paul D G

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I find it's more of a pain going out and looking for a tree, strapping it to the car, wrestling it into the house.... then taking it down, unstringing the lights, dragging it to the curb, then vacuuming up all the needles it left behind (which often clogs the vacuum). :)

We tossed our artificial last year as well. Multiple light strings went out. I got some of them fixed temporarily with the gun, but one refused to work (looked like they were all burnt out), then two more strings went out again a couple days later. Thinking about it now, I probably could have bought a string of lights and swapped out the bulbs...

If an artificial tree costs $300-500, and a fresh tree costs $75, the artificial only has to last about 6 years before it's an even break. Ours lasted that long and it was a cheapo $300 one. We bought a nicer tree last year.

All our lights for outside the house died last year as well. It was the most frustrating year. Hung them all in the freezing cold, and they lasted a couple days and all but one still worked. Man I was pissed. :)
 

Malcolm R

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Paul D G said:
If an artificial tree costs $300-500, and a fresh tree costs $75, the artificial only has to last about 6 years before it's an even break. Ours lasted that long and it was a cheapo $300 one. We bought a nicer tree last year.
You must be buying your artificial trees at Lord & Taylor or Tiffany's. I'm not sure I've ever seen one in regular stores (Target, Home Depot) that cost $300 or more, unless you're buying an extra large tree, 9-feet or more.

I have two artificial trees right now, one green and one white, that I rotate from year to year. I hate having the same tree decorated the same way year after year.

I paid $10 for the green one (7-1/2 feet) about 20 years ago and $12 for the white one (6-1/2 feet) about 12 years ago. Both are nice and full trees when shaped and decorated.

I think I've got my money's worth. :biggrin:

I also have one of those light guns, bought it a couple years ago, but it doesn't seem to work.
 

Stan

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Paul D G said:
All our lights for outside the house died last year as well. It was the most frustrating year. Hung them all in the freezing cold, and they lasted a couple days and all but one still worked. Man I was pissed. :)
My outside lights have surprisingly kept working, think I'm on year five (those big outdoor incandescent bulbs). Spent hours putting them up and changing all the bulbs to an alternating red-blue-red-blue pattern. Looks really cool from the street. Naturally being made in China, all the color washed off that first year, so now they're all crystal clear, but still work.
I think I'll check out LEDs and replace them next season.
 

Paul D G

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I bought LEDs for outside this year. I never really liked the look but I've been warming up to LEDs lately. We got a set with a remote control that you can change them from all white to multicolor, and there are a variety of patterns you can have the lights do. They actually look pretty cool. Instead of illuminating the area like the normal lights do, they work like little spot lights and there are all these little streaks of color cast against the house.
 

Aaron Silverman

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We got a perfectly nice 7 ft Hanukkah Bush (;) ) at Target for around $60. They were even cheaper at Walmart, but we happened to be in Target when my wife caught me in a generous mood.

Real trees smell nice, but they are a nightmare on allergies.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Paul D G said:
If an artificial tree costs $300-500, and a fresh tree costs $75, the artificial only has to last about 6 years before it's an even break. Ours lasted that long and it was a cheapo $300 one. We bought a nicer tree last year.
I cannot image paying $300 - $500 for an artificial tree. I don't think we have ever paid more than $60 for one. Our existing, formerly pre-lit, tree is getting a little long in the tooth, so I may look to pick up a replacement during the after holiday sales.
 

Mark Collins

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Great plan Scott. I however have never bought one of these trees just because of the problem described in this thread. I purchase a great tree just when mine was looking kind of poor in 2011. I had bought the old tree in 1979 at Sears for 100 bucks. Hated to give up the old tree so I put the top of the old tree on a table in the living room and the rest of tree piece by piece into the new one. Man it look great. I have always had trouble with lights just like that commercial on TV. I found last year when taking it down I light one strand at a time that way I can find the knots. This year all the lights worked.
 

Kevin Hewell

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Paul D G said:
I bought LEDs for outside this year. I never really liked the look but I've been warming up to LEDs lately. We got a set with a remote control that you can change them from all white to multicolor, and there are a variety of patterns you can have the lights do. They actually look pretty cool. Instead of illuminating the area like the normal lights do, they work like little spot lights and there are all these little streaks of color cast against the house.
I got some of those this year, too. They look really cool.
 

Greg_S_H

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Last night, I found two branches on my salvaged outdoor tree were out, and the light fix gun wouldn't solve the problem. Just like my indoor tree, every bulb I pulled was also burned out. I replaced every affected bulb with a good, working one, and all the lights came on. This gives me great hope that a similar operation will bring my indoor tree back to life. I'll have to wait until after Christmas because of the decorations, but I think it's going to work.

Anyway, the salvaged tree was in my neighbor's yard for something like 15 seasons, and instead of looking like a tree with green lights, it was looking white with some tinges of green. I bought a raftload of green Walmart lights and am in the process of replacing every bulb. By my calculation, it's about 1000 lights. It's taking quite a bit of time and I have a long ways to go, but it is really transforming this tree. It's starting to look really great.
 

Malcolm R

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Greg_S_H said:
Last night, I found two branches on my salvaged outdoor tree were out, and the light fix gun wouldn't solve the problem. Just like my indoor tree, every bulb I pulled was also burned out. I replaced every affected bulb with a good, working one, and all the lights came on. This gives me great hope that a similar operation will bring my indoor tree back to life. I'll have to wait until after Christmas because of the decorations, but I think it's going to work.

Anyway, the salvaged tree was in my neighbor's yard for something like 15 seasons, and instead of looking like a tree with green lights, it was looking white with some tinges of green. I bought a raftload of green Walmart lights and am in the process of replacing every bulb. By my calculation, it's about 1000 lights. It's taking quite a bit of time and I have a long ways to go, but it is really transforming this tree. It's starting to look really great.
Congrats and good luck. You, sir, have far more patience than I. :biggrin:
 

Mike Frezon

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Thanks to you fellas, I'm now the proud owner of one of those tree guns! :biggrin:

When this season is over and the tree comes down, I will start to work on the lights on one of the middle sections of the tree. An entire string (or two) is out. And it's the same situation as Greg's in the OP--it is a pre-lit 9 1/2 foot tree and it would be near-impossible to replace the strings of lights. I'm really hoping the gizmo works!
 

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