
Voila! you’ve found the malfuctioning bulb, sockets or wires.ĩ5% of the time you can insert a new bulb and the problem will be fixed.

Start out with the lights closest to the plug and work your way through the string of lights.
One section of prelit tree not working pro#

I began unplugging bulbs one by one and trying to replace them with a new bulb. This year we had a TON of burnt-out lights on our Christmas tree. The Ultimate Troubleshooting Tool to Fix Your Christmas Tree Lights Replace with a new fuse and plug your lights back in. Next, slide back the fuse cover on the plug and pop out the damaged fuse like a battery. To check your fuse, start by unplugging the lights. The fuses are located in the plug(s) of your Christmas lights.

Reseat the plate(s) by pulling them towards the bottom of the socket while at the same time applying pressure with a pointed device like an Exacto knife.ĬAUTION!When reseating the connector plates make sure to unplug the power to your Christmas tree lights! Dead FuseĪnother possible issue may be a burnt-out fuse. If either of your connector plates (gold part of the green wires in photo #1 below) have become unseated you’ll need to reseat them. In a malfunctioning socket, you may find one of these connector plates unseated. Inside of a working socket, you will see both connector plates tightly seated to opposite sides of the socket wall like in the photo below. In that case, you’ll need to remove the bulb and inspect the inside of the socket. This issue can be easily identified if you see the metal plate sticking out of the bottom of the bulb socket as you see in the photo below.Īn unseated connector plate may not be this apparent. If one of these plates becomes loose, it will break the circuit causing your strand of lights to go out. Also, each bulb has two prongs that when inserted into the socket touch these plates and help carry on the current. Malfunctioning Bulb SocketĪgain, there are two connector plates inside of every bulb socket. These shunts are somewhat delicate and often malfunction causing the circuit to break and the entire strand of lights to go out.Ī burnt-out bulb can easily be identified by the black ring on the glass around the filament as shown in bulb #3 in the photo above. The shunt ensures the circuit is not broken and electricity continues to flow to the next light. When this happens, a part of the lightbulb called the shunt is activated. When a bulb burns out the small filament breaks. Bulb #2 in the photo above could have issues as the wire lead is bent out of position and may not touch the connector plates. When a bulb is inserted, the two bulb prongs touch these plates connecting the circuit.

Inside each bulb socket, there are two connector plates. Similarly, even a slightly bent prong can break the circuit. If either of the wire leads on an individual bulb are damaged or missing (Bulb #1 in the photo above) the circuit is broken and electricity can not flow onto the next light. Christmas Light Bulb Issues Missing Bulb Prongs
