Christmas is the most wonderful time of year… until your entire Christmas lights strand suddenly shorts out and you can’t figure out why!?!? Well, if you have broken strand of lights, don’t throw them away before trying this…
Old Christmas light strands used to turn off when one light was bad. Luckily the newer (I’m talking ones made in the last 15ish years) won’t do this, but they WILL short out if the strand blew it’s fuse. Yep, fuse. Some of you reading this are like, “of course light strands have fuses” and the rest of you are like, “are you kidding me?” This post if for the latter. The great news is a fuse on a light strand is the easiest thing in the world to fix.
Replacing the fuse will work for all light strands, big, small, and LED! You’ll just need the right fuse.
Materials:
- Something to open the box with, I used a small screw driver from a glasses repair kit
- a new fuse, you can buy them anywhere:
Mine cost $2 at my local Ace Hardware. Often there is an extra fuse in the light strand already, check before you head to the store. And make sure you have the right size or bring the strand with you to make ensure you buy the right size fuse.
Here are the steps:
- Unplug your strand, electrocution no esta bueno
- Open the box, found on the male end of the strand (dumb term I know, but it’s the part that plugs in)
- Pull out the burned fuse, if your strand has an extra, remove the fuse that is secure between the metal plates, the loose one is your extra.
- Pop in the new fuse, close the box.
Yep. Easy peasy.
Your lights should go from this:
To this:
Oh, I can hear those sleigh bells ringing now… time to hang up the lights!
***If you have replaced the fuse and the entire strand shorts out, you might have too many strands connected together on one plug. Consider using more than one outlet and cord.***
Happy Creating! And man, I’m gonna go find lotion.
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