Motion-Reindeer lights! HELP!!!!

18 years ago

I'd HUGELY appreciate any help on this "trivial" matter!!

>>> I'm almost incoherent with things electrical!!

I've got 2 lighted/head-moving outdoor yard reindeer.

* 60 mini-lights on each (3 "groups" of 20).

* ONE section (closest to plug), won't work.

* Both fuses work in the plug-in.

* ALL bulbs in this section WORK however...on my tester.

* Plug-'em back into socket...nothing.

* There are 3 sockets of the 60 that have 3 wires going into them. All others have 2.

* The VERY FIRST socket is one of the "3-wired" ones. Again, this 1st section is dark. One wire "in", & 2 going out to other sockets...1 going to next light, the other is a "runner" to the 2nd 3-wire socket.

* There's only 2 wires going into the actual male plug-in, so the 3 "loops" of 20 lights reduce back down to 1 wire, by the time the 3 loops end.

The key must be in one of the 3 "3-wire" sockets?!?!

How can I test/fix?!?!?

Thanks bigtime!!

Faron

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Comments (4)

abnorm
18 years ago
"Ace is the place for the helpful hardware man....."

The "plug" has a small removable cover that contains two small glass fuses.....one fuse is fried......

Get out of the paint dept......at my local ACE I found this tester......

http://lightkeeperpro.com/default.asp
Faron79
Original Author
18 years ago
Yeah, I thought I spilled paint in it!!!
Anyway...
* Both fuses ARE good,
* I have shot pulses through with my Lightkeeper. It's NOT the PRO however; but I unplugged the string & plugged it into my Lightkeeper, and clicked a LOT of pulses...both with a bulb or two taken out of lit & non-lit areas.
* Our very good Elec. guy is stumped by this!!! He's wired more homes, etc. than you can shake a stick at...
* Something must be wrong with one the "3-wire" sockets?!?!?

>>>> I DID try bypassing the plug/fuses. I cut both wires behind plug, stripped some covering, & put both stripped ends into female plug-end.
NO CHANGE. 1st section still dark, all others lit. It HAS to be out in the wires/sockets somewhere?!?!?

Faron
(Good in Paint...BAD in electrical!)
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andrelaplume2
18 years ago
maybe just pull all the lights off and replace with a 50 light set?
thewgp
18 years ago
Just had a similar problem with a "motion-head" moose from Target. The head and antlers didn't work!

I just went to Target, they had me swap the head-antlers with a new one, and they damaged out the one from the floor - just an exchange. For maximum ease, just buy it, take it to the parking lot, swap the part and take it right back in.

In your case, if the dead segments aren't "removeable" as mine were (the head unplugs and detaches) then you probably, if all else fails, need to toss the whole thing in the trunk and exchange it at the store. There are worse alternatives...

These light sets are so cheap and manufactured so cheaply that they're really not worth a TON of time to troubleshoot, IMO. Definitely not worth paying an electrician to look at, in general! Usually easiest to just go buy a new string of lights if you've done some basic troubleshooting and bulb checking and think it's something in the wires or base. They are possible to fix in some situations, but not really worth it. I realize you've got a reindeer setup, but this is lights in general ;) Hope you get it sorted out, via exchange or otherwise!