Christmas tree light issue - if u dare

OK, one section of the lights stopped working. It's not hi-tech, but I sketched the wiring layout. the wiring goes to a fuse light (not working), then branches to 2 lines of regular lights that don't work, BUT the fuse light and lights downstream of light #1 works in that direction??? Fuse lights and some lights have 4 wires going into/out of them, the rest are 2 wires. Having the wires the same color doesn't help.
Maybe splice the 2 wires from the outlet and wire directly to past the #1 and 2 line and into the second fuse? The lights are attached firm to the tree, so it's a pain to deal with.
If u don't want to deal with this I understand. Merry Christmas.

 

Hi, through the hole mess out and start over, don’t make splices.
Geo

 

What is a fuse light ?
These are incandescent lights..... not LED's.... correct ?

A basic light string is 35-50 lights...... so usually you'll see multiples of that.
A 150 light set is three strings of 50 all wired together.

 

Another vote for "throw them out and start over" !!

Those lights are not made to be spliced and if they are UL approved, splicing them compromises them and can and probably will cause a safety and more than likely fire hazard especially if the tree is real and starts to dry out a bit.

If the lights are not working then there is already an issue with them. The cost of lights now are very low so starting over by investing in new lights is well worth it.

And as asked already - what is a "fuse light"? Never heard of that before. Are your referring to a string of lights that in the plug is housed a very small fuse?

 

I would also chuck them.

My daughter also had a tree like this with the lights already on it.
Ran great for a couple years and then sections went out.
I spent hours getting them to work it became a challenge to my pride.
Yes I was able to get them all lighting up.
Next year same thing happened.
This time I fixed them with side cutters.
I may be proud but I am not totally stupid.

 

I empathize with your situation because it is frustrating when something so simple can be so complicated, but a number of years back I adopted a 3-5 minute policy in regard to Christmas lights. If I can't figure out the problem in that amount of time they go in the trash can. And although I have spliced a lot of wires on various things over the years, no way I would do that with Christmas tree lights. In my opinion, the risk and the reward are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

 

If a tree branch is out, chances are that more than one bulb on that branch or a neighboring b branch are loose or burned out.

While the description on the box says, "If one bulb goes out the rest stay lit," this is not foolproof.

If several bulbs burn out and none are replaced then the remaining bulbs become overvoltaged and will burn out in quicker succession.

After a few seasons of heavy usage, if the lights have not failed, they are more vulnerable to "burnout" from vibration as you take the tree down to the basement in January.

Although the lights may be intended for outdoor usage, oxidation of the contacts where each bulb fits into it socket can occur and cause the lights to not work.

Wires are crimped to the contacts inside each lamp socket. Once in awhile a crimp comes loose or might have caught only one strand of the wire and consequently breaks unexpectedly.

Very true. We have many simple situations each slightly different from the next so a one size solution does not fit all or might not even fit two.

Using a multimeter to test continuity between sockets can give misleading information. For example a string, let's number the bulbs 1 through 10 in linear sequence, might be wired plug-1-3-5-7-9-10-8-6-4-2-plug. Oh, yes, I found one wired plug-1-4-6-8-10-9-7-5-3-2-plug. Two way, three way, etc. sets and also sets with an add on (female) plug at the far end are wired in ascending order so that there can be a common wire as a "home run" back to the supply (male) plug, but they have their own wiring idiosyncrasies that can cause confusion.

 

Sorry, these are LEDs. They are newer Balsam Hill indoor trees. They are high-end trees with plugs in the stem and multiple connectors. I just can't figure out the wiring/connectors, but prob the best advice is as stated above... don't mess with it. I bought a small strand of lights to fill in the dead areas.
...and Pedro, I love your 3-5 min investigation policy on those things... I should use that with more fix-it stuff.

 

Do the plug in connectors at the tree trunk disconnect easily by pulling apart? Try undoing each one and replugging it, this usually cleans and improves the contacts.One at a time so you don't get them mixed up which goes where

Don't tug on the wires. Carefully use a knife blade to begin separating the two mating parts..