Three Steps to Repair Broken Christmas Lights

Bright, colorful Christmas lights are often the cornerstone of holiday decorations – except when the bulbs are broken or burned out.

Problems with decorative lighting are common, but there are some quick and easy ways to repair them. Here are some tips to be aware of to keep your holiday lighting bold and festive.

Step One: Inspect the Strand, Circuit and Fuses

Christmas lights can malfunction for many reasons. The outlet or a circuit in the house might be bad, there could be a blown fuse in the light strand, or even a small cut in the wire. First, check your outlet. Once you know that is in working order, examine the fuses in the lights. To do this, pry open the access door on the plug in the light strand and then use a screwdriver to remove the fuses. If one or more of the fuses is broken, simply pop in new fuses from your local hardware store. If neither the outlet nor the plug fuses seem to be the issue, then it’s time to inspect the wire and the individual bulbs.

Step Two: Look for Broken Bulbs

LED lights run on a parallel circuit, so the electric current continues right along the strand regardless of a bulb being burned out. You can tell if this is the case if you have some lights working while others aren’t. The good news is it will be plainly obvious which bulbs need replacing.

If you have series lights, one bad bulb will cause the whole strand to fail. This is because the flow of electricity stops at the broken bulb. If you have these lights, you’ll need to inspect each individual bulb to find the malfunctioning one.

Step Three: Bulb Replacement

When you buy a new pack of lights, they often come with a spare bulb or two. First, unplug the strand from the outlet and check the bulbs to make sure their base is properly connected to its socket. If they seem tight, twist the socket and remove the bulb and then put the replacement bulb in the same way.

If the bulb is stuck inside the socket, pull it straight out, but be careful to not pull it out at an angle as this could break the bulb off inside the socket. If that happens, use needle nose pliers to pull the remaining bulb out. If the lights still don’t run properly after replacing the bulbs, inspect the wire itself for any tears and then check the fuses again.

For more repair tips, including some tools that may come in handy, check out this great video on repairing Christmas lights quickly and easily.

To find more Christmas decorating ideas and to get the right items to show off your home or office during the holidays, stop in, visit our website or call us at 815-288-7841.

Ace Hardware & Outdoor Center

900 N Galena Ave

Dixon, IL 61021