If the light bulb does not light up at all, follow this troubleshooting procedure:

The problem may be a loose connection or a tripped wall outlet on the same circuit. The first thing you’ll need to do is turn off power to the light switch before handling it. When you’re sure the breaker is off, remove the cover plate and unscrew the switch.

Lights Out, Circuit Breaker Not Tripped One culprit could be a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet that has tripped. Other issues can include loose wiring or outlets. Over the years, wiring and screws can come loose. One outlet going out can impact multiple outlets or lights throughout the house.

• Check the light bulb first to see if it has burned out.
• Check to see if the bulb is tight in the socket.
• Check the metal socket tab in the bottom center of the socket.
• Check the connections at the switch and make sure that they are tight.

If one of your LED light strands isn’t working, it’s probably just because it has a bad bulb. If one bulb dies, it can cause the rest of the strand to stop working. The only way to fix the problem is to find the bad bulb. Sometimes only a section of the lights will go out, making your job pretty easy.

If you have LED Christmas lights with removable bulbs, the troubleshooting process is similar to incandescent bulbs. Starting at one end of your strand, or in the dark portion of your strand, use your voltage detector or light tester to locate the faulty bulb or dead length of wire.

You can tell which bulb is out on your string of traditional Christmas lights by looking for the bulb that is “burned out” by looking at the tiny little filaments in the light bulbs to see which bulb is “burned out” or has lost it’s filament. Many times the bulb will be “smoked” as well.

Most likely a bulb is loose, and the connection is getting lost as the bulb moves in its socket. This often occurs through rough handling or improper storage of a tree. Look to find the loose bulb, check the wires to ensure they are properly aligned, and secure the bulb tightly within the socket.

To find out about how long the pre-lit Christmas tree you are buying will last, you can check the warranty. Some companies provide a guarantee for 3-5 years.

Christmas Light Safety and Storage A loose bulb, broken socket or frayed wire is sometimes all it takes for the strand to malfunction.

Unplug it to see if the rest of the strands then light up. Often, a bad strand will cause the rest in the line to go out. Removing the bad strand should cause the rest of the strands to the outlet to light.

The fuse is a small, glass cylinder with metal-plated ends and an internal metal filament. You can sometimes tell by sight if a fuse has blown; the metal filament inside the glass cylinder will have a break in it. Replace the blown fuse with a replacement fuse of identical size and rating.

Drop ’em off at a donation bin near you or find your local store. Your local municipal waste service: You’re not the only one in the neighborhood taking down the Christmas lights. The EPA recommends contacting your local recycling service to see if it is accepting working or nonworking Christmas lights.

Bring in your old, broken or used incandescent holiday light strings to be recycled at The Home Depot® and receive a discount on a single receipt in-store purchase of LED lights.

Whether one bulb is out, or the entire string, don’t throw away Christmas lights into the trash. If they can’t be donated, consider recycling as a green alternative. These lights contain valuable materials that can be reused again without further damaging the environment.

Typically, these strings of lights have two tiny fuses, one in each side of the AC line, located inside the AC plug. The fuses are intended to melt or “blow” before the copper wires in the string could melt or cause a fire from overload.

If the bulb is burning brighter than usual this is a sign that the voltage at that bulb is high when you couple this with the bulb burns out quickly. This is a pre-wired tree which means that it would be near impossible to rewire.

Remove the fuse from its holder. In some cases you may need a small screwdriver to unscrew the fuse holder cap. Look at the fuse wire. If there is a visible gap in the wire or a dark or metallic smear inside the glass then the fuse is blown and needs to be replaced.

Short answer: Yes, most Christmas lights have fuses in the male plug end. If the entire string of Christmas lights has gone out, this is the first thing to check for troubleshooting.

Incandescent Mini Light Sets use 3 amp fuses. Heavy Duty light sets 5V use 3 amp fuses. C7, C9 light sets use 5 amp fuses.

So the bottom line is that if one bulb goes out, but it’s still intact, then yes, the light set will stay lit. But if the LED lens is significantly cracked or damaged, then anywhere from half to the full set will go out.

Indoor lights often have thinner insulation, which which can become cracked and damaged when exposed to the elements outdoors. Don’t leave Christmas lights running when you go to bed at night or when you leave the house.

Commercial LED light strings with co-axial connectors are one of the most popular styles of commercial Christmas lights among professional installers due to their exceptional durability.

When lights are attached in parallel, each light is on its own circuit to the power source. If one filament burns out, it has no effect on the remaining lights, as they each continue to be in a closed circuit with the power source.

Long Answer. When Christmas mini light strings lights were first manufactured, a string of lights would go out if one bulb burned out because breaking the filament in a single bulb would break the connection.

Though you may not know what is causing the problem, there are a couple of reasons why your LED lights keep burning out before their time. The most common reasons for LED blowing out are high voltage, bad contacts, use of incompatible dimmer switch, or recessed lighting.