Category: Frequently Asked Questions

There are a couple of reasons your Christmas light string is flashing on and off. You have a red-tipped flasher bulb installed in a socket. The flasher bulb will only cause the circuit it is a part of to flash on and off. If your light string has multiple circuits then that’s the reason only…

We hear this question from folks who are puzzled that their lights worked fine last season but are half out when they pull them out of storage. Or their lights suddenly half go out during installation.  What gives? Incandescent Christmas tree lights (aka mini lights) are wired in series so if your lights go partially…

Any electrical device or appliance can start a fire if it is damaged or used in poor operating conditions. That being said, LED Christmas lights do not heat up under operation so they are less likely to start a fire than lights that get hot when plugged in. Safety things to remember when installing Christmas…

LED lights do not “burn out” in a classic sense the way incandescent lights do but they can go out. Most of the time, folks ask this question because they are concerned with the underlying question: If a bulb burns out the others will go out? LED bulbs will go out if the semiconductor circuitry…

Wonder why your LED lights seem to flicker or flash on and off in a weird Japanese seizure-inducing way when they are moved? That’s a visual effect known as “flicker” that occurs due to the frequency of the electricity that comes out of your outlet. For a more in-depth discussion of the cause of flicker,…

So, why are you asking? Did all the lights on your light string go out? More than likely, a bulb has come out of the socket. Visually inspect the light string and replace the bulb with one of the replacement bulbs that came with the set. If you don’t have a replacement handy, you can…

Traditional incandescent Christmas tree light bulbs use about .5 watts of electricity per bulb. This is a great number to use if you need to estimate how many light strings you can run in series or are calculating the total number of watts the lights strings installed on your tree use to prevent overloading an…

We hear this question a few times a month and every so often when folks order LED light strings with the plan to use bulbs from our LED strings in sets purchased from another vendor or big-box store. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work. LED light strings aren’t fairly standard like incandescent Christmas tree lights that all…

Most Christmas light strings have little plastic envelopes of replacement bulbs with an extra fuse as well. In the event that you accidentally blow a second fuse before realizing that there is a maximum number of Christmas light strings that can be strung together you may have the question: Where can I find a fuse?…

If you’ve been shopping for Christmas lights for a couple of Seasons, you may have noticed that most measurements on Christmas lights are followed by approximate, or approx. And you may be asking yourself, “Why is that?” Interestingly enough, the answer is simple. There is a large human component to manufacturing Christmas lights and sometimes…

Short Answer: No, not really.  Like all electrical appliances, Christmas lights must be operated under supervision. While accidents and electrical malfunctions are rare, common sense dictates that turning off Christmas lights when not in use makes good sense. Like not running the dishwasher or washing machine at night like moms have been suggesting for years….

Short Answer: No, you can’t lengthen or shorten standard series-wired incandescent and LED Christmas tree light strings that are made with 2 or 3-wire harnesses. Even if they work at first, they won’t last long. If, however, you are installing C7/C9 18 AWG Christmas light cords with sockets and screw in bulbs that are wired…