

Next, insert the tool into the bulb’s socket and squeeze the trigger to activate a piezo circuit. Simply plug in the light strand and remove a bulb that’s in or near the dark section. If you dont have a light tester, you can check each bulb on the string for. A faulty shunt may sound like a catastrophic failure, but you can often fix it with the LightKeeper Pro. Suggested Fix: Use a light tester to identify and replace loose or burnt out bulbs. If a bulb’s filament breaks, the shunt redirects current through the base of the bulb, maintaining the electrical circuit. In incandescent holiday lights, shunts are small wires wrapped beneath the filament.) (A shunt is a device that allows current to continue flowing through a circuit by creating a path of lower resistance than the original path. If all or part of a string of lights is dark, the problem may be a broken filament or a faulty shunt. Just be sure it has the proper voltage rating or you risk damaging the whole light set. If you discover the bulb is burned out or damaged, replace it with a new bulb. You can also test the bulb using the LightKeeper Pro, or a multimeter. When you push the bulb back into its socket, the wires complete the electrical connection. Plus, each wire should be laid flat against the outside of the bulb. They should be firmly attached and not touching each other. It may just be loose and needs to be pressed down more firmly into its socket.Īlso, remove the bulb and look closely at the two tiny wires protruding from its base. If you’re lucky, the “bad” bulb isn’t actually bad at all. You may be able to reveal the bad bulb by simply plugging the lights into an electrical outlet. It combines a voltage detector, bulb remover, bulb and fuse testers, and shunt repairer in one compact tool. The best option is to use either an electrician’s multimeter or a tool specifically designed for repairing Christmas lights, such as the Lightkeeper Pro. Locating the one faulty bulb that’s causing the problem can be tricky. In most cases, simply replacing one bad bulb will fix the entire set or one darkened section of it. Larger light sets often have two or more circuits wired in parallel, which explains why sometimes just a section of the string goes dark.
