LED Christmas light repairs

[Blackstar]

Ok, every year I go through the same bullshit with lights. I set up my chair and go through plugging in each string to see what works. This year I’m at about a 50% failure rate. The fails are all half string not lit. Usually, I head to the store to buy new but this year I started with 1 string replacing bulbs trying to find the bad one. Quickly found that all the blue bulbs were rotten, working or not and the sockets are corroded. Not worth any more of my time. But now I do have all the bulbs that work available to use for replacement.

 

is there an easier way to find the bad bulbs?

Strings on right are bad. 

[J. Jackson]

Do what I do, chuck em and buy new.

[old indy]

AHHH yes like the old days.   i grew up with the old school larger bulbs from my grandfathers house. lots of it but--- old!        none of the little bulbs til i was a teen and still non of these leds.  those old strings were a bear to keep neat and working right but that was half the    "fun"       (as dad taught us)  of christmas for me as a kid,  i loved messing with all that stuff.

nowa days tho ,,,,  i havent set up a tree in quite a few years.

Edited November 19, 2023 by old indy

[Blackstar]

43 minutes ago, old indy said:

AHHH yes like the old days.   i grew up with the old school larger bulbs from my grandfathers house. lots of it but--- old!        none of the little bulbs til i was a teen and still non of these leds.  those old strings were a bear to keep neat and working right but that was half the    "fun"       (as dad taught us)  of christmas for me as a kid,  i loved messing with all that stuff.

nowa days tho ,,,,  i havent set up a tree in quite a few years.

I originally did my house in the large old school bulbs 18 years ago. Pretty simple, 1 bulb goes out, replace that bulb. That worked until the bulbs got hard to find and when you found them you had to buy 10 in a pack for an outrageous price, and when you put them in they were a different colour than the rest…..lol

I switched the the large LED’s on the house years ago and they have been great. I think I fixed one bulb 5-6 years ago. I’m redneck with those though. They stay up all year and don’t get banged around. Also they are under the eaves so they don’t see much moisture.

46 minutes ago, J. Jackson said:

Do what I do, chuck em and buy new.

Thats what I’ve been doing and when they were $10/ string it was easier. They are $30/ 50 light string on sale now and I’m throwing out 10 of them.

 

I was hoping someone might know a quick fix.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Blackstar

[Steve753]

11 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I originally did my house in the large old school bulbs 18 years ago. Pretty simple, 1 bulb goes out, replace that bulb. That worked until the bulbs got hard to find and when you found them you had to buy 10 in a pack for an outrageous price, and when you put them in they were a different colour than the rest…..lol

I switched the the large LED’s on the house years ago and they have been great. I think I fixed one bulb 5-6 years ago. I’m redneck with those though. They stay up all year and don’t get banged around. Also they are under the eaves so they don’t see much moisture.

Thats what I’ve been doing and when they were $10/ string it was easier. They are $30/ 50 light string on sale now and I’m throwing out 10 of them.

 

I was hoping someone might know a quick fix.

I fixed the problem real fast a fw years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No more lights!

[ViperGTS/Z1]

Are these c9 outdoor lights?.... That's what I'm going to deal with when I get home today. But I don't think the LEDs that I have are even replaceable. What I'm finding out is the whole string goes out but there are two little fuses in the plug And when I replace those it usually works again.

[ViperGTS/Z1]

1 hour ago, old indy said:

AHHH yes like the old days.   i grew up with the old school larger bulbs from my grandfathers house. lots of it but--- old!        none of the little bulbs til i was a teen and still non of these leds.  those old strings were a bear to keep neat and working right but that was half the    "fun"       (as dad taught us)  of christmas for me as a kid,  i loved messing with all that stuff.

nowa days tho ,,,,  i havent set up a tree in quite a few years.

Yeah I remember those really old lights.... Even the glass was molded with a ripple like effect like a candle.   Those were my dads and they were probably from the '50s or '60s.    ..... And then they came out with that blinking light bulb... That was all the rage back in the day lol..... But I tell you what those old strings were sure easy to maintain ..I would go out every night and check for bulbs that were burnt out and replace as needed.

Edited November 19, 2023 by ViperGTS/Z1

[ArcticCrusher]

57 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I originally did my house in the large old school bulbs 18 years ago. Pretty simple, 1 bulb goes out, replace that bulb. That worked until the bulbs got hard to find and when you found them you had to buy 10 in a pack for an outrageous price, and when you put them in they were a different colour than the rest…..lol

I switched the the large LED’s on the house years ago and they have been great. I think I fixed one bulb 5-6 years ago. I’m redneck with those though. They stay up all year and don’t get banged around. Also they are under the eaves so they don’t see much moisture.

Thats what I’ve been doing and when they were $10/ string it was easier. They are $30/ 50 light string on sale now and I’m throwing out 10 of them.

 

I was hoping someone might know a quick fix.

A quick fix is to scrooge those lights.

[old indy]

1 minute ago, ViperGTS/Z1 said:

Yeah I remember those really old lights.... Even the glass was molded with a ripple like effect like a candle.   Those were my dads and they were probably from the '50s or '60s.    ..... And then they came out with that blinking light bulb... That was all the rage back in the day lol

Yes my dads side was SUper meticulous about things like decorations. cra cra..      everything from about the 40s on up was in their original packaging for the most part till the 70s. some of the figurines were stil cloth covered wires lol  a lot of bulbs were only half colored since the paint had come off the inside of them.  the quality of the old stuff will never be matched today huh.. 

[Mainecat]

I bought a tester that looks like a gun. It works pretty good.

[Skidooski]

2 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

I bought a tester that looks like a gun. It works pretty good.

Test it on your brain function and see if it lights up

[Blackstar]

21 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

I bought a tester that looks like a gun. It works pretty good.

I went to buy one last night at Home Depot. They only work on incandescent bulbs according to the packaging.

 

Edit. I checked Canadian Tire and they have an LED one.

Off to Crappy Trash.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Blackstar

[Rigid1]

36 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

Test it on your brain function and see if it lights up

Epic!!

[Deephaven]

I am installing some addressable LEDs as permanent Christmas lights.  Never will have to do that again.

[Crnr2Crnr]

did someone say lights?  

volunteer opportunity... 

[ViperGTS/Z1]

Just finished my yearly 40 footer....I leave the top half of lights on year round.....I guess they are around 8 years old now and most still work. I hold my breath every time I plug them in for the first time all good this year....the ones I take down and put in a bin, several strings of those no longer work.

A few dark spots but overall looks pretty good....this will be the last year since deal on house is back on and should be moving out early February.

[Mainecat]

3 hours ago, Skidooski said:

Test it on your brain function and see if it lights up

Nice thread until you arrived. Every thread you start from now on I will respond just like you did.

 

[Mainecat]

2 hours ago, Rigid1 said:

Epic!!

The same goes for you.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Mainecat

[Skidooski]

4 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

Nice thread until you arrived. Every thread you start from now on I will respond just like you did.

 

[EvilBird]

1 hour ago, Mainecat said:

Nice thread until you arrived. Every thread you start from now on I will respond just like you did.

 

 

1 hour ago, Mainecat said:

The same goes for you.

 

[ICG]

 

Consider going real old school and use candles on the tree.... Very interesting look seeing a huge tree candle lite in the mansions 

Personally, I use the same lights on Halloween as Christmas 🎄🎁....

Black out at my home, cuts my electric 💸 bill. Keeps the Halloween goblins at bay.

 

 

[Rigid1]

6 hours ago, Deephaven said:

I am installing some addressable LEDs as permanent Christmas lights.  Never will have to do that again.

Wow, baller!!

[ckf]

Can't even have a Christmas light thread without it getting fucked up.

[Skidooski]

5 minutes ago, ckf said:

Can't even have a Christmas light thread without it getting fucked up.

Put it in General then. Everything gets fucked in in CE

[ckf]

45 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

Put it in General then. Everything gets fucked in in CE

No not everything. There is a time and place for everything. You don't feel that you get enough opportunities to bash MC in the political threads? 

You can obviously do what you want and I can speak my mind too.