Cheap LED xmas set burned out?!

CanadianGuy

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 31, 2002
Messages
134
Location
Canada
I was given 2 strings of LED XMAS lights earlier this year. They have red yellow and green LED's on them. They are flat (as opposed to the regular "5mm" round LEDS, i think) Well, I turn them on one day, and one set doesn't work. What's the deal? None of them are dark colored. How are these wired to run on 110V? (The first and last LED on the string have 3 wires going into them...the rest only have 2)

I know these are probably cheap, and I don't care if I can't fix them, just want to find out for interest sake.
 

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
19,414
Location
Federal Way WA. USA
I'm guessing that one of the "bulbs" has wiggled loose, which would probably make the whole set go out.
Sounds like a series-wired set if you plug them straight into 110VAC. Plug the miscreant set into a wall socket and push in each "bulb" one by one - hopefully it's just a loose one somewhere and the whole set will come on once you find the loose one. Hopefully you won't find any empty sockets and no LED bulb inside the vacume cleaner bag.

Otherwise, get out the Christmas bulb tester (the kind that works by waving it around the plugged-in string) and find the bad bulb that way. (If the thing buzzes at both ends of the string, unplug the string, turn the plug 180° and plug it back in - most Christmas light sets have non polarized plugs, so you might have to reverse the hot and neutral (by turning the plug over) in order for your light tester to work right).

Usually, an LED in an LED Christmas light set fails shorted, rather than failing open. So the whole set would stay lighted, and the bad bulb would stay dark. That's why I think you have a LOOSE bulb, rather than a bad one.
 

K A

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 3, 2002
Messages
336
Location
Kansas
I agree with Craig here. It sounds like you have the first run of ForeverBright's (or someones knockoff). I also had the same problem. I had to go along the entire dead length of lights, pull every bulb out one by one, and make sure the bulb wires were not bent off to the side. I also checked inside the bulb base, making sure THOSE contacts were'nt askew either (at least 1 was).
 
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