Christmas Light Repair

[MossRoad]

O.K. So I have this 35' spruce tree that I hang lights on each year, plus some other strings on the fence, etc... Last year I took all the lights down, replaced any bad bulbs, wrapped them up nice and neat and put them in a rubbermaid tub in the garage. All strings were working.

So last week I pull out the tub and start testing them... 1 string out of about 30 works. There is a burnt smell in the storage tub. Any ideas as to what happened? I'm guessing close by lightning strike, as we had a couple tremendous lightning storms and even saw sparks on the water pipes while hiding in the basement one evening.

Anyhow, I was ticked off, to say the least. However, I have this cool little tool called the Lightkeeper Pro. I bought one last year and it really works well. I was able to revive about 25 strings of bulbs. Had to replace several hundred bulbs, which I salvaged off of the other strings. Most folks would just chuck the strings at that point, but 25 strings is $75.00 and I did it while watching T.V., so I had the time.

As I understand it, the miniature lights have a shunt in it that is supposed to energize when a filament burns out. The shunt lets the current pass through the bulb when it is burnt out so the rest of the string gets power. If the shunt in a bulb fails to energize, the entire string appears dead. So, you plug in a string of lights and it doesn't work. All you have to do is pull out one bulb, slip the socket into the Lightkeeper Pro and start pulling the trigger. It sends a high frequency pulse (I'm thinking similar to a grill ingniter) down the line and resets any shunts that are not working. All of a sudden, the lights will come on. Sometimes it takes only one or two pulls of the trigger. On some of my sets with 20-30 bad bulbs, it took 20-30 trigger pulls. But it worked. I revived one string that had only 7 out of 50 good bulbs. Man, those 7 bulbs wehre bright! I chucked that string.

It also has a continuity tester. If the pulse thing fails to light the string you try the continuity tester. You plug in the dead string and put the tip of the tool next to the first bulb. Then you push a button on top and wait for a beep. If it does not beep, revers the AC plug in the outlet to change the polarity and try it again. If it beeps, you keep the button held down and run it down the line. It beeps at each bulb until you get to one that is bad. It then stops beeping. Replace that bulb and keep testing continuity, or blast it with the pulse thing and it usually lights. I found that on strings of 100, you have to check the first 50, then reverse the plug to check the last 50, as the two sections are wired opposite polarity.

Anyhow, you can repair dead strings pretty well with this thing. I bought 8 of them on clearance after Christmas last year for gifts this year. Check out the website that I linked to. The little tool really does work and for under $10.00 on sale, it is well worth it.

 

[VABlue]

Interesting... I've seen these in some stores and paid no attention to the odd little light bulb puller. I didn't realize it actually did useful stuff! I assumed that it just pulled bulbs for you, something I can do myself. This is what happens when one assumes...

Thanks for advancing my learning curve!

 

[Bird]

I used to spend a lot of time "repairing" strings of lights, but year before last I very carefully put away the strings of lights, all working of course, then last year, I strung them out on the lawn to check them and the majority of them were not working. After spending a few hours, I got some working and some still were not and were discarded. So then when I took them down after Christmas, I didn't even try to put them away. I took them down straight into the garbage can. And this year, bought all new ones to start with. Of course, that's the outside lights. The inside lights were put away last year by my wife and daughter and all still worked this year.

 

[MossRoad]

About half of the sets were only a few weeks old when I put them away.

Today, I pulled out three sets of clear bulbs wrapped around garlands that were stored in the same garage in a different container. None of them worked, either. The first set I just zapped two clicks and all but two lights came on. I replaced those. The second set has about a half dozen out and took about 10 zaps to get it going. Third set has the first 50 out. I got the second fifty going after locating where the voltage stopped and replacing that bulb entirely. I think the socket is flaky, so I reseated the prongs inside the socket with a tiny screwdriver(with power off, of course). It was lunch time so the last 50 will have to wait.

Now I have to figure out how to get a star on top of the 35' tree from the ground. I'm thinking of making a Tee out of conduit about 2' long with 1' arms on the Tee. The star will go on top of that. It is lightweight plastic. If I can get it up there and lower the down leg of the Tee down into the high branches, I think it will stay O.K.

 

[tallyho8]

Now I have to figure out how to get a star on top of the 35' tree from the ground. I'm thinking of making a Tee out of conduit about 2' long with 1' arms on the Tee. The star will go on top of that. It is lightweight plastic. If I can get it up there and lower the down leg of the Tee down into the high branches, I think it will stay O.K.

Why don't you just do it the way we've seen it done here the last few years:
(Sorry, I forgot the name of the original poster)

EDIT: I tried to post the famous "XMasAnime.gif" but it was too large too post and I can't find the original thread. Maybe someone here who remembers it can post it.

 

[RobertN]

Why don't you just do it the way we've seen it done here the last few years:
(Sorry, I forgot the name of the original poster)

EDIT: I tried to post the famous "XMasAnime.gif" but it was too large too post and I can't find the original thread. Maybe someone here who remembers it can post it.

The one from HARV with the tractors etc?

 

[Bird]

Go to this post by Harv and click on Happy Holidays in his post.

 

[RonMar]

I have a little Fluke 1AC VoltAlert probe that I use to trouble shoot light strings. It is an AC probe that is about the size of a large ballpoint pen and has a pocket clip. It has a flat plastic probe tip that can plug into a standard wall receptical and is used to determine if a circuit is live(hold it near any hot wire with AC in it and the probe tip glows red). I just plug in the light strand and, starting at the plug end, work my way down the strand measuring at each socket untill the probe no longer detects AC. You then back up one socket and that is where the circuit is open/bulb is bad. Way quicker than leapfrogging a known good bulb from socket to socket.

Mine was given to me, but they only cost about $20. I never thought I would use the thing too much, but it is pretty handy for safety checks(did I really turn off the correct breaker?) before working on a outlet or switch and it is even pretty handy for torubleshooting(where are we loosing AC?). Kinda like using a RF probe for troubleshooting the stages of a radio.

I don't think I have ever seen the shunt type bulbs described above. All my experience is with bulbs that either light, or are a bunt out open circuit. I have on rare occasions seen bulbs that are shorted, with that single bulb out, but the rest of the string on.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't think I have ever seen the shunt type bulbs described above.

They are just standard mini Christmas lights like these:

Mini-Lights - Christmas Lights, Etc

They have a shunt in them that allows current to pass through the bulb after it burns out so the rest stay lit.

Here's a description.
Lightkeeper PRO

 

[Bird]

I see this thread is 7 years old, but I finally bought one of the Light Keeper Pro tools a couple of weeks ago; $19.98 plus Tax at Walmart. And I watched a 40 minute video on their website. It's been an interesting toy to play with. I guess it's worth what it cost.