Help diagnosing Christmas light problem (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

Congrats and good luck. You, sir, have far more patience than I.

It's turning out to be a bit of a project. The bases on the original tree's bulbs are weird, so I have to pull the actual bulb out of its original base and put them into the tree's original bases. It's really been hell on my fingers. But, I'm getting there.

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

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!

If you're lucky, it'll light your tree up really quickly. What I have found is that you get some bulbs that are string killers. Their presence on the line causes the entire thing to be dead. I guess it's because the shunt is broken and the light gun can't fix it. In that case, you'll have to actually replace the bulbs. When my tree comes down, I start on that fun project. I bought 300 multis from Walmart tonight (pretty cheap--$2.48 a box) and I hope (and am pretty sure) that'll be enough. I'm sure I'll have to switch the bases again, though.

 

[Greg_S_H]

It's like when you're feeling good about something, you have to be slapped down. I turned on the tree this afternoon to get to work, and pulled all of the white bulbs out on a level of the tree. It was six branches, 21 lights per branch, and every two branches were related. So, you pull one bulb, two branches go out. You pull out the rest of the 41 lights, take them inside, swap in the nice, new green bulbs, put them back in, and they light up. I have been doing one section at a time up til now, but I decided to just pull all 126 lights on that one level. Swapped them and put the fresh green lights back. First two branches lit up. Second two branches lit up. Third two branches . . . aw $&%^! Nothing.

So, I pulled that 42 bulbs and used my light tester on them. They all worked. Put them back. Nothing. Swapped back in the faded white lights that had been working before, nothing. Pulled 42 bulbs from the adjacent two branches that were working, put them in there, nothing. At this point, I put the faded bulbs in that section I had just robbed of bulbs and THEY now didn't work, so I was up to four non-working branches. Fortunately, when I gave them back their lights, they came back on. But, I am at a loss as to how to fix these two dark branches. Someone on the road who doesn't know it's a problem wouldn't even notice, but it bugs me. It also makes me lose confidence in my plan to replace all the bulbs in my pre-lit indoor tree.

I don't know. Maybe it's a problem with the wire. I don't know anything about how to fix something like that.

Actually, when the bulbs are in, current doesn't flow through one of the two branches. When the bulbs are pulled, it does. That probably means something, IDK.

 

[MattB101]

This




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

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?

BIG WARNING - THE LIGHT FIX GUN DOES NOT WORK ON LED LIGHT STRINGS. I'm not sure if it would damage them but most likely. It works by sending an extremely high voltage, extremely short duration pulse down the string and fusing the shunts an any bad bulbs permanently shut. Believe it or not it is built around the same type sparked as the pushbutton fire starter on your BBQ drill.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I was on their website last night and they have a model for LEDs.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Got a new digital multimeter and got my outdoor tree lit 100%. From bulk trash salvage to looking real super swanky. Maybe I'll post a picture later.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Please do!

 

[Greg_S_H]

My phone's camera isn't great, but this is all I've got until I break out the real camera. The outdoor pics are all my trash rescue stuff:

My indoor tree with only the white lights:

And with the missing section of multis:

 

[Mike Frezon]

Awesome, Greg! Thanks!

The trees (both inside and out) look great!

Hope I can get those sections of lights fixed on my tree later on. Picked up a slew of replacement bulbs on post-holiday clearance today.

 

[Edwin-S]

I find the easiest way to avoid hassles with Christmas lights is to just not put them up. No Christmas trees either. I haven't put up a Christmas tree in years. Makes life at Christmas much easier.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Awesome, Greg! Thanks!

The trees (both inside and out) look great!

Hope I can get those sections of lights fixed on my tree later on. Picked up a slew of replacement bulbs on post-holiday clearance today.

Thanks.

I bought a number of boxes of lights today, too! $1.24 a box at Walmart. I'm going to hit that section of tree as soon as the ornaments come down.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Just bought a new, unlit tree to replace our old, worn out one for next year for $42. I laughed at the prices at our local K-Mart for their "marked down" Jacklyn Smith trees - they still wanted $100 - $200 for them after post-holiday discount, and they had lights, which I did not want.

I guess if you slap a celebrity's name on the tree it increases the cost quite a bit. I cannot imagine what Jacklyn Smith has to do with Christmas trees, though.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I cannot imagine what Jacklyn Smith has to do with Christmas trees, though.

She makes them look good?!?

 

[Greg_S_H]

I think I know my problem now. I read that you should never plug your tree topper into the tree's light sets, which I did. Since taking that picture, a row of my clear lights has blown. I assume swapping out the lights will fix it, since the set is still passing power to the top section of the tree, which plugs into it. Next year, I'll dedicate an extension cord to the topper.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I am the Christmas Ninja!

Yesterday, I took my tree down and set the section I need to work on up on my tree stand. There was a small band of white lights that were out, so they were my test. I replaced all the bulbs and nothing happened. Got my multimeter on the job, narrowed down the problem area, reseated a bulb, got it working! There was a small band of multicolored lights working, and a small band below that that were not working. Replaced the bulbs, needed the multimeter again, got them working. Now, I just have a huge swath of multicolored lights to replace above that original band. It's going to take a while, but I now know it can and will work with some effort. It's kind of fun once you begin to believe you will actually get it working at the end of the process.


Soon:

 

[Mike Frezon]

Greg:


I may need you to come up to NY to fix up that one section of my tree. I wonder what the going rate for a Christmas Ninja is??


I had every intention of looking to fix it when I took the tree down. But it will wait until it goes up at the end of the year. I got socked in with congestion and a bad cold and just am not up to it right now.

 

[Greg_S_H]

The Christmas Ninja only visits the sincerest of problem trees. If the Christmas Ninja deems your tree worthy, there will be only three signs he was there: your tree will work, your cookies will be eaten, and your dogs will have been petted.


Hope you get to feeling better.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Well, that's another task done. My tree is completely lit up now! Next year . . . umm, later this year . . . is going to rule!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Well, that's another task done. My tree is completely lit up now! Next year . . . umm, later this year . . . is going to rule!

Don't worry, Greg. By next Christmas some more lights will not work.

 

[Malcolm R]

Don't worry, Greg. By next Christmas some more lights will not work.

That's what I was going to say. It's amazing how something can be working when you put it away, then not work when you plug it in next year.

 

[Greg_S_H]

It doesn't scare me any more, now I know what to do. The ones that worry me are the yard deer. They never fit back in their boxes right, so I'm always worried I'm damaging them. Then, I have a little tree with pine cones, berries and ice all over it, and a little more falls off every time I pack it up.