How to fix Christmas tree lights in series?
I had the problem Good Brain mentions a few years ago with outside lights. I tested all the strands individually with success, then mounted them on the house in series and plugged them in from one end. The fuse in the first plug kept blowing, so I ended up having to run two extension cords to reduce the number of strands in series. LEDs are much lower-power, and you can run thousands in series with no problems. There’s not really a quicker method than testing the strands individually, and then once you find the bad strand, checking the bulbs.
You can narrow it down to the defective strand by getting an extension cord and testing each strand. Start at the top/last strand and work your way down the chain. When you get to the point where it doesn’t work anymore, you’ve located the defective strand of lights. Also, most newer lights will still work even if the bulb burns out, but not if the bulb has been removed from the strand of lights. Sometimes it’s just a loose bulb. So when you find the “dead” strand, make sure each bulb is pushed firmly into the bulb socket. If this still doesn’t work, you can try replacing bulbs/fuses, or do what I do and replace the whole strand.
After all the wonderful comments I’ve looked through, I’m thinking of getting a proximity type bulb tester. This should light up an LED on the tool when we have live current and stop lighting the LED just past the bad bulb. That seems to me to be the easiest way to find bad bulbs in a string of Christmas tree lights. p.s. I am using friction fit 2.5v mini bulbs on an indoor artificial tree. Thanks everyone!
