Being a meanie I'm trying to sort them. Starting from one end I tested each lamp socket for current, replacing each dud bulb as required. Got to the last one, one bulb short but there is at least current to its holder. Have tried sticking bits of foil, metal etc inside to complete the circuit, but nothing. Would have thought that would bring on the others at least.

Any ideas for an electric dunce please?

Cheers!

Get a replacement bulb?

get leds, they will last ages and none of that faffing every year.
These are the ones, and they can be used in the summer for the garden.

Stereotyping sarcasm not PC here, thank you very much. You knew perfectly well that to suggest to a Scot that he replace a bulb, at great personal expense, would be racially inflammatory.

Unlike my response, which was intended specifically to calm things down.

Any tips about reusing wrapping paper, tags and/or ribbon?

Try Stan?

See you've been tuning in to Diane Abbott, Brian

Sooooo, none the wiser judging by the comments about porridge-gobblers

Just wait, some wise guy [or gal?] north of the tartan curtain will know the answer even if it means cutting out the last bulb holder and jointing it

Anyone got spare bulbs?

With the demise of Woolworth's it's not so easy to get replacement bulbs. I went thro' this exercise *before* I put the lights up (good tip for you there ). Some of our lights came from B&Q and you always used to be able to buy packets of spares, but not any more, or at least, not so easily. I hung around waiting for someone to ask, off they go and bring out a cardboard box with loads of packets in, and then they ask for the bar code from the original packet which I don't have so despite knowing the voltage and wattage I want, they're not interested in helping me. Went on eBay in the end armed with the volts/watts and got something close to what I wanted, ie: not necessarily the colours I wanted, or the wrong base (but you can pull out the new bulb and put it in the old base), or bulb not quite the right length but fits OK.

There are getting on for 30-40 different types of bulbs with different voltage, watts (and colours of course). Only way to be sure is to read the label that should be attached to the wires close to the plug.


But for the price you pay for just a couple of spare bulbs, it's almost cheaper to buy a set of new-fangled LED's (in the sale after Xmas of course) like bockers says.

That's useful Dave and emulates some of my experiences. No labels left on the plugs but am guessing therefore that it's quite important to have as near the wattage of the other bulbs as possible as maybe the ?resistance/balance is crucial?? I already had some spares with a different size holder and swapped the bulbs over as you describe.

My local hardware store didn't have any and suggested Dobbies.

I don't like throwing stuff away if it can be salvaged with a wee bit of application and avoidance of unstitching my pockets

LED's........fair point but find them too bright - have a hankering to fit some in the heater control wheels though'

You might be able to figure it out from the plug socket thingummy if the rating is shown, and from knowing how many bulbs there are and how many separate circuits, ie: are they all on one circuit connected in series?

The bulbs can be 1.8, 2.4, 3, 4, 5 or 6, 7 or 12 volts with a range of wattages, have a look here for example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Christmas-Light-Replacement-Bulbs-BNIP-Huge-List-/120628904274 (seller bigbestdeals, I bought some from there)

Wilkinson's do bulbs I think, also many garden centres too , if they still have the stock out, otherwise you might need to wait until next Xmas.

As for LED's being too bright - put shades on

Ok it seems that a 20 set which I have has a different voltage of bulb to a 40 set etc. Or a 200 set probably needs very low voltage bulbs.

I've traced a Christmas shop in Preston that does bulbs which I'll phone tomorrow

If it has no transformer, just a pair of wires disappearing into the plug, divide the number of bulbs into 240 to get the voltage for each bulb.

However, that will not apply if there's a controller that makes them flash in sequence or similar; that could be wired any old way.

You'll also need a similar wattage rating; too high a wattage you'll probably get away with; too low and it will dim all the others (again, assuming it's a straight series link).

Yep, after digging around the web at some length I'm certain these are an old set without "shunts". No transformer either so each bulb should theoretically rate at 6v as it's a 20 set. I've replaced at least 3 lamps with spares by changing the holders but there's no way of telling what rating they are and how they are affecting the overall performance.

Worth a last shot at resuscitation before allocation to file 13....

[the lights that is]

Huh I thought 240 divided by 20 was 12, not 6?

And is "file 13" the same as "room 101" or "area 54" ?

Ah, the website referred to 120 volts, and I've just noticed it was American right again Dave.

File 13 is a receptacle filled with objects which immediately become irretrievable

This is probably so simple but hate to be beaten

The new pack of spare lamps for a 20-set arrived and the missing spare fitted.
I've checked every socket for current, even swapping lamps around, and each one is live. That means I think that all are sound and completing the circuit.

Why the is it not working!! Is it something to do with the balance of 240v and the lamp voltage......btw there is no indication on the pack what voltage/wattage they are and the girl I phoned at the shop hadn't a clue.

Hate throwing stuff away!

These silly little lamps often (normally?) have a tiny wire near the base between the two long wires that go up to the main filament, so if the main filament blows, the tiny wire completes the circuit for the rest. Do your bulbs look like that? Also, some of the bulbs could be "fuse bulbs" (usually with a white tip) How have you checked for current, by poking meter probes into the sockets...? Perhaps you inadvertently shorted it and allowed a large current through blowing some (all?) of the bulbs? (But I guess you might have noticed that?). If you use a tester thingummy that "beeps" when it makes a circuit, that's not a foolproof way to test as I found out because of those tiny wires. If they are 12V bulbs, can't you rig up some wires from the car battery to test each bulb?

I know where you're coming from about throwing stuff out but at some stage you will start to have spent more trying to fix it than it costs to replace...

But good luck anyway!

Hot off the press where you are

Ok any lamp could be knackered, I see that now. Didn't realise there was a bypass.
No there is no fuse bulb, know what you mean.
Yes, poked a current testing screwdriver into the sockets and who knows maybe I shorted it

Think this is going to cause more bother now than it's worth but I've learnt something at least.

Cheers anyroads





Hmm, maybe the For Sale section.......

I've always found that if you buy bulbs with the same plug-in ending as your own they tend to be OK.

you could use something called a volt stick which electricians use to see if a cable is carrying voltage with out having to cut into it. it works by detecting the magnetic field emmitted. simply run the volt stick along the cable. where there is a duff lamp/ or a break in the cable it will let you know. easy.

But if the lamp is able to create a circuit by means of the tiny wire that DaveG described then I don't see how running the volt stick along the cable would know any better Good idea for cable checking but don't think that's a problem.

@Enforcer: these bulbs come in a variety of holders all looking fairly similar but not necessarily fitting the socket. It's advised on the packet and the websites in this case to remove the bulb with its two trailing filament wires from the holder and put it into the one you already have. That's easy, I'd already done it

I'm not sure what you determine as your personal hourly rate for fixing things ( I use £20) but at this rate you could have bout countless new sets. How attached can you get to a string of lights to give them this mutch intensive care

We were so impressed with LED string, nice colour not too bright, that we bought 3 more setes to string together and use in the garden this summer, if we get one!

I did find a load of bulbs in the loft, left overs from past attempts to re-surect various strings. They were blizzard nomads and there were 5 different types with different voltages, and holders. I bought back the nightmare of finding replacements, scouring the shelves of Woolworths and local Garden centres. Never again!

I'm being convinced perhaps that the way out of my OCD is LED

BUT - DaveG is the winner as he suggested the whole darn lot had been shorted out - found a working string and tested each one; I've just binned nearly 20 dead lamps and have my answer Thanks folks!

thanks, my invoice for £20 is in the post

That's a quid a lamp!

Lol I can't even afford to take the rest of last week off Dave

Hey I thought you were in Dubai or the like