Christmas tree lights troubleshooting 🤬

[theblet]

So it’s time to check all of our Christmas stuff, and of course, two sections of my tree don’t work. The sections are plugged Into the tree in various sockets. Here’s what I know

1. A burnt bulb doesn’t shut down the section
2. Have 115 volts AC at the female socket
3. Fuses in the male AC plug are good.
4. Ohming at the male plug shows open circuit. Good sections test 0.000
5. Fused bulbs are good, bypassing them doesn’t change anything
6. Using my non contact voltage detector, I have voltage at every bulb.

does the non contact tester detect on the hot wire only? Could it be that the neutral on the section is the issue?

Trying not to spend $800 on another tree.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Redz72]

The neutral shouldn’t be hot and setting off your tick tracer (meter). So that’s not the issue. Unless the neutral was lost somewhere in the circuit. But you’re getting 115v in that circuit you said. Is that across the neutral or 115v to ground?

 

[Redz72]

I would check the sockets on each section of the tree. If both the hot and neutral male and female ends are not making sufficient contact, that could be your problem.

 

[Scap]

Ohm the male end to female end, if you can get the leads to reach.
That will test your neutral.
If the hot is open, then ohm male end to middle socket. Keep dividing in half until you isolate the break.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

WTF? Christmas? Now? Darn, need to change your screen name to Clark Griswald!

It's not even Halloween yet. That stuff is a job for Thanksgiving weekend or later.

 

[TNRamGuy]

My sure fire fix for Christmas lights
1. If bulb goes out, try switching it with the next one in line
2. if section goes out, stomp that $..t into the sidewalk and have new ones delivered tomorrow
I have not been frustrated by lights in 20 years

 

[theblet]

The neutral shouldn’t be hot and setting off your tick tracer (meter). So that’s not the issue. Unless the neutral was lost somewhere in the circuit. But you’re getting 115v in that circuit you said. Is that across the neutral or 115v to ground?

Yes, getting 115v at the female socket hot to neutral (same as you would get in a standard receptacle).

I would check the sockets on each section of the tree. If both the hot and neutral male and female ends are not making sufficient contact, that could be your problem.

All the female sockets have power. The light sections have the male end (looks like an exertion cord).

Ohm the male end to female end, if you can get the leads to reach.
That will test your neutral.
If the hot is open, then ohm male end to middle socket. Keep dividing in half until you isolate the break.

Do you mean from the end to each individual bulb socket? The fun part is trying to find the end of this light string. I’ll prob have to cut some zip ties I guess.

Thanks

 

[theblet]

WTF? Christmas? Now? Darn, need to change your screen name to Clark Griswald!

It's not even Halloween yet. That stuff is a job for Thanksgiving weekend or later.

Tell that to the wife! She wants to start getting things ready!

 

[HSKR R/T]

So it’s time to check all of our Christmas stuff, and of course, two sections of my tree don’t work. The sections are plugged Into the tree in various sockets. Here’s what I know

1. A burnt bulb doesn’t shut down the section
2. Have 115 volts AC at the female socket
3. Fuses in the male AC plug are good.
4. Ohming at the male plug shows open circuit. Good sections test 0.000
5. Fused bulbs are good, bypassing them doesn’t change anything
6. Using my non contact voltage detector, I have voltage at every bulb.

does the non contact tester detect on the hot wire only? Could it be that the neutral on the section is the issue?

Trying not to spend $800 on another tree.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Went through this last year with one of our prelit trees. Bought one of these

LightKeeper Pro® Incandescent Light Set Repair Tool https://a.co/d/fmQEnVC

The voltage testing really didn't help much. As with yours it showed voltages even on the parts of the string that were out. Eventually just started using the "fix" function(plug into one of the bulb sockets and pull trigger) and was able to get some sections back. The rest, just went through one bulb at a time. Ended up finding multiple bad bulbs. And these were supposed to be strands that wouldn't go out with one bad bulbs. But multiple bulbs caused issues. If we have same issue again this year, may just get a new tree. Luckily it was one of our smaller ones

 

[Scap]

Do you mean from the end to each individual bulb socket? The fun part is trying to find the end of this light string. I’ll prob have to cut some zip ties I guess.

Thanks

End to end. Continuity Test hot, then test neutral.
If one line shows open, then half it to see if you still show open. If yes, your break is between the leads. If no, the break is outside the leads. It keeps you from having to test each socket.

Like was mentioned @HSKR R/T you may find that you show continuity on the meter, but have multiple bad bulbs.

 

[theblet]

Thanks guys. I’m really close to going buy a short string of lights at the dollar store

 

[Darksteel165]

I use a 25 year old fake tree and LED lights from Home Depot.
Pre-lits disgust me.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

I use a 25 year old fake tree and LED lights from Home Depot.
Pre-lits disgust me.

You could be cheap like me. We milked the old $35 "pre lit" (tree some kid in China wrapped Christmas lights on already) for over a decade. Last year I broke down and spent about $50 for a similar tree. Hang enough crap on it and you will never notice the cheesiness.

 

[theblet]

I just spent another house to find 2 burnt bulbs and still no lights. this tree.

Makes me appreciate the 10 ft one with LEDs.

 

[theblet]

Screw it

 

[Redz72]

Holy smokes I just saw how expensive Christmas trees can be. Since I’m about to buy new tires, this will have to do for this Christmas season

 

[Insanity]

This Christmas tree is a bit pricey but has easy to replace bulbs.

 

[Darksteel165]

You could be cheap like me. We milked the old $35 "pre lit" (tree some kid in China wrapped Christmas lights on already) for over a decade. Last year I broke down and spent about $50 for a similar tree. Hang enough crap on it and you will never notice the cheesiness.

My tree is from my 90 year old grand parents in law.
I think I spent $20 on LED lights several years ago.

 

[theblet]

Got one from Lowe’s for $300. Not too bad for a secondary tree

 

[jimothy]

Each year, we get a real tree that we cut down from a local farm. They usually cost us around $70 each, and I’ll bet this year, it’ll be even more. I love real trees and will stick with them, but the cost does add up.

The other day, I saw some new “smart” Christmas lights (from a brand called Nanoleaf) and for some reason, I decided we just have to have them. $120, but hey, I had a coupon so “only” $100.

They have not arrived yet, and of course we don’t have the tree yet, but I’m already having almost daily thoughts of, “what were you thinking? You’ve already got perfectly good lights and they sure as heck didn’t cost $100!”

Then again, I also had perfect good wheels, tires, and shocks, and I didn’t let that fact stop me, did I?