HELP!! How can half a Christmas light strand go out and how do you fix it?

Question

My bro got a pre lite tree and half of a middle strand does not work. we have changed the fuses and messed with each blub to make sure they work. i am at a lost on how to get half of a strand to work. HELP!! any clue what to do

Answer 1

light strings are connected in series, but longer strands are split into 2 series. So you have a light string with 2 series (you can tell because in the middle of the string one of the lights has 3 wires going into it instead of 2).

For each series of lights if too many of them fail the electrical resistance of that string gets too big and the entire string turns off (not enough current through each bulb to light). So this means you probably have at least 4 to 10 broken bulbs on that half. It will start working again once you find 1 or 2 of the broken bulbs. Get a working string of lights and start using those to replace every bulb in the half string until it turns on. Then you will immediately see all the remaining failed bulbs.

This is why it is important to replace bad bulbs when they fail, because if you wait until the whole series goes out then it is a pain in the butt to find the culprits.

The alternative is just to buy a new set of lights (since they only cost about $10) and use this string to provide replacement lights as they fail on the new string you bought.

thx
ed

Answer 2

How To Fix Christmas Lights

Answer 3

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If the entire strand went out, that is typically caused by a fuse. There are typically 2 or more separate sets of lights in each strand, so if just a portion of the lights are out, that typically means a bulb is broken or missing (most new ones still work when the bulb is burnt out). In your case especially, I would suggest checking the fuses on the first strand that is burnt out. You should not connect more than 3-4 strands together, because they will draw too much current and either blow a fuse or cause a fire.

Answer 4

It's not always as easy as just the first bulb being bad. In the old days with the big hot bulbs this was the case, but no longer with mini lights wired in series.

Here's how i fixed my strand:

Opened a new strand bought last year, middle section of strand was out. There are 3 wires on each strand, meaning there are 3 sections to each strand. The middle section was out on my strand, with the other two sections lit up. Given that there was power coming to two of the 3 sections, i knew that the fuse was not bad.

Plugged strand in to socket. Removed all bulbs from bad section. Removed one bulb from working section. Plugged each bulb from bad section into working empty section previously removed. If bulb is bad, the working section will not have a complete circuit and will not light up. Found 2 bad bulbs. Replaced those bad bulbs, put good bulb from good section back into place. Viola! I now have a fully working strand.

Upon inspection of the bad bulbs, i noticed that each individual bulb has two copper contact wires, one on either side of the bulb base. The bad bulbs were missing one or both of these copper contact wires.

Hope this helps, as holiday lighting can be frustrating. Alcohol beverages and intake help ease the pain and frustration.

Happy Holidays!

Answer 5

OMG, this happened to me tonight, only I was hanging lights outside lol. I too changed the fuses and the lights. Only half the strand went out. Funny aint it(well not really, but you get what I mean). When you find out let me know.

Answer 6

Usually it's because one of the lights on that half of the strand is out. You have to go through the unlit ones and look to see which one is burnt out!
TRUST me ! I did this with about 100 lights!

Answer 7

One of the bulbs is messed up so u have to find it and replace it. I don't really know how to tell u. Good luck! Merry Christmas a little early.

Answer 8

well what I do is get a ohm meter check the continuity on prongs
make sure each string works ok then if one is bad or has short
replace that secton only

Answer 9

Turn the tree off for 30 minutes, and then turn it back on - if this happens again, there's a short when the wire becomes too hot. Your choice is to splice that section out and re-wire.

If you just bought the tree take it back because it's defective.

Answer 10

oh come on people, the bulb , the first one that is out, is the start of the second phase of the strand, one or more of the bulbs are loose, or briken, a strand will work if one is burnd out, but not if loose, or broke, or missing.