Precaution: Identify the lighting circuit or power source and test it before installing the Christmas light strands. Having a helper will help prevent the lights from being tangled together. Tools Required: Basic Electricians Pouch Hand Tools and Voltage Tester and a fiberglass or non-metal ladder.Įstimated Time: Depends on personal level experience and ability to work with strands of outdoor holiday lights and work from a ladder. Depends on the extent of the outdoor lighting that will be installed, however this electrical wiring project is best performed by a Licensed Electrical Contractor. How to Fix Christmas Lights that are Not WorkingĪpplication: Troubleshoot Christmas Light Problems. Thanks for your electrical question Mike.īackground: Mike, a Handyman from Virginia. What can I do to get them to work by Christmas? I can replace the first string and they will burn for a while then they go off again?.Every time I plug the extension cord to them they burn for a few minutes then they go off.I have 13 boxes of 100 lights and 3 boxes of 300 lights to put on top my home.My questions is I bought some icicle Christmas lights at a dollar store.We bring cheer to our DFW electrician customers all year round.Electrical Question: Why do my Christmas lights burn for a few minutes and then go off? If you notice issues with your circuit breaker or outlets during this whole process, take a deep breath and call us. Sometimes trying to fix your Christmas lights means discovering more problems with your home’s wiring. LED Christmas tree lights are more durable and efficient, and they often come in cool colors or with fun features. If you need to get some new lights, we recommend upgrading. If it doesn’t light up, throw it away and replace it with a brand-new bulb. If it lights up, take it out, and place it in a separate bowl to use when you’re done testing the others. Plug in the strand and insert each bulb, one by one, back into a socket. While you have all the bulbs out, check the sockets for corrosion or debris you can clear out. ) Take out each bulb from the problem area and place it in a bowl. If the previous steps didn’t help, it’s time to test each bulb separately. Make sure all the bulbs are tight, so you don’t have to go over the strand again! You’re looking for any bulb that is loose in its socket, darker than the others, or has an apparent break in the filament or casing. Start at the problem area and inspect each bulb.Identify the affected area, which will either be the whole strand or part of the strand, depending on the kind of lights you have.Others have multiple strands, so only half your lights go out. Some lights have a single circuit, so the whole strand goes out if a single bulb isn’t working. Depending on the lights, you might not know where the outage actually begins. This is probably the most time-consuming step. Pop open the fuse cover and replace the fuses with those of identical size and rating. They look like tiny glass cylinders with internal metal filaments like a lightbulb. If you don’t want all your hard work to go to complete waste, you can take off all the bulbs to use as replacements in the future! Step 3: Check the FuseĬhristmas lights usually have little cartridge fuses inside the plug. If you find any, it’s time to toss the lights and get a new set. Look for any broken strands with wires poking through them. You might have noticed this when you were doing all that untangling, but check again. You can also test the outlet with a circuit tester. If that appliance doesn’t work either, find your circuit breaker and check for a flipped switch. (We know it’s silly, but we’ve all done it!) If you’ve plugged in your lights and nothing happened, unplug them and plug another appliance into the outlet. Step 1: Check the Outletįirst, make sure your lights are really plugged in. So, let us give you an early Christmas gift! Follow these steps to find a bad bulb on your Christmas tree lights. We want to take the stress out of your holiday season. (Or you just buy them online, but it’s still a hassle.) Plus, you then have to brave the cold weather, crowded stores, and close calls in the parking lot to get new strands of lights. The first-place winner? When you’ve gone through all that hassle, undone all the knots and kinks, and you plug in your beautiful lights to find them totally dead. Detangling your Christmas tree lights is the second worst thing about the holiday season.
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