How do you fix a string of Christmas lights?

Answer 1

The break is usually one of the lights themselves. Take another set of lights that work and one at a time test every light in the string that doesnt work until you find the one that is broken. Its a pain in the backside but there is no shortcut for this.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

the best way to string lights on a Christmas tree is to have two people on opposite sides of the tree and start wrapping the tree with the lights from the top to the bottom. Lay the lights on the branch ends. Depending on how many lights you have you will have to guess how many times you wrap the lights around.

Answer 4

If you've noticed how pre-lit trees are wired, they begin from the base of the trunk, and move outward to branches, then back in again to the next branch, and from there "out and in" again on the next branch over, repeating the process from the bottom of the tree to the top.

The general rule of thumb is that you should have 100 lights for every foot of tree height, so if you have a 7' tall tree you should use 700 lights. Using the process above produces a very fully-lit tree that glows from the inside as well as out.

The color of the lights you use is, of course, a purely aesthetic choice. One thing: you should always be conscious of how many light strings you can attach in a row (to each other). The box the lights came in should tell you how many can be attached in sequence. If you have a pre-lit tree and are "re-stringing" it, you can probably use the multiple outlets that are already provided in the trunk of the tree. If you're stringing a real tree, you may want to run a multi-socket extension cord half-way up the tree, and plug several groups of lights into the (usually) three outlets at the head of the extension cord.

If you want to get inventive, as I did, you could try something like this. When several strings of lights failed on my pre-lit tree, I removed them all and bought new strings. But my new strings are not all the same. I bought several long strings of red, white and green standard midget lights. I wrapped them around the tree, but more loosely than my original lights. In other words, I left space on the tree to add other lights.

Then I bought several strings of "globe" lights. These are the ones that look like pearl-type beads. I got these in red, white and green also. I strung these lights in-between the ones I'd already put on.

But I wasn't done yet. I still left a little space for a few more strings of lights that look like clusters of holly berries, with little fake holly leaves around them. I filled in the remaining spaces with these.

If you do it right, the result is a beautiful multi-faceted look with different types of lights that really complement each other all around the tree. Much more interesting than your typical pre-lit tree!

The only bad thing is, if you want these "specialty" types of lights, you really have to get them around, say, Halloween. I'm not kidding. They sell out fast and stores don't re-stock until the following year. The first Christmas I wanted to try this, I went shopping for lights the second week of November, and they were already almost all gone.

Answer 5

You can try to reconnect any wires that have broken or use electrical tape to repair any frays. It is possible to replace burnt-out bulbs, too. Other than that, new lights need to be bought.