How to Fix Christmas Lights

Last Updated on September 10, 2023 by Ellen Christian

Do you know how to fix Christmas lights? Find out how to find the bad bulb on the string and repair Christmas lights with these simple tips.

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Reducing Christmas Waste | How to Fix Christmas Lights

How to Fix Christmas Lights to Reduce Christmas Waste

I love Christmas. I really do. It’s one of my favorite holidays. I love the Christmas carols. I love the tree. And, I love the presents and food. There is only one thing that I don’t like about Christmas and that’s the waste.

 I like to think that I’m a fairly green, eco-friendly person. I recycle everything I can and I try to keep my carbon footprint as low as possible.  Even for someone who tries to make green choices, reducing Christmas waste is something that’s a challenge.  But, I had no idea you could fix Christmas lights.

There are a lot of things that get thrown out around the holidays. Gifts seem to come with so much extra packaging that a lot gets thrown out. Even if you try to re-use the wrapping paper or gift bags, there is always something that needs to be thrown away or recycled when possible.

We try not to buy many disposables in order to reduce waste but one thing has always frustrated me. What do you do with a string of Christmas lights when it stops working properly? I hate that. Do you know how to fix Christmas lights?

a woman holding a string of lights

How to fix Christmas lights that won’t come on

I’m sure I’m not the only person that goes through a new set of Christmas lights every year. I swear there are little gremlins that secretly break them when I pack them away.

Why do they stop working? I learned that Christmas lights can stop working for a number of reasons: a loose bulb, broken bulb, contact issue or a break that keeps the electricity from flowing through the entire light set.

Do you know how to know which bulb is out on the Christmas lights? You need this.

Reducing Christmas Waste | How to Fix Christmas Lights

How to find the bad bulb on Chrismas lights

If you plug in the lights and one bulb is out, it may simply need to be tightened or replaced. You can remove and test the bulb and see if that fixes the problem.

Most of the time, it’s not that simple. If that doesn’t fix the lights, the problem may be that there is a shunt issue or broken filament.  

When that’s the case, I generally give up and toss the whole string of lights and buy a new one. NOT an eco-friendly option but I had no idea what else to do to fix Christmas lights. Until now.

How to Fix Christmas Lights to Reduce Christmas Waste

Repairing incandescent light sets

The LightKeeper Pro is the complete tool for repairing incandescent light sets.  You can use it to remove bulbs, test fuses, pull bad bulbs, check for shunt issues and broken filaments and then fix the problem.

It’s a voltage detector, a bulb remover, bulb and fuse tester, and a shunt repairer all in one unit. There’s no more need to throw away Christmas lights that aren’t working properly. You can fix them!

Reducing Christmas Waste | How to Fix Christmas Lights

How to fix LED Christmas lights

I love knowing that the LightKeeper Pro can fix my incandescent lights and I learned that the LEDKeeper can fix LED light strings!  It’s a much more eco-friendly choice to repair the lights than it is to throw them away.

The LightKeeper Pro is fast and easy to use and these tools pay for themselves in no time at all. Before you plug in the lights this year and find out they don’t work, make sure you LightKeeper Pro on hand to fix Christmas lights that won’t work.

Find the LightKeeper Pro on Amazon. Check out the video above for more information. If you do need to recycle your lights, you can find out more about recycling here.

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30 thoughts on “How to Fix Christmas Lights”

  1. Sounds like a great tool! This past Halloween, the Halloween lights that I put around my home's front door stopped working. It would be great to fix them!
    Reply
  2. WOW!!! Awesome! About time! Every Christmas I dread plugging up the lights in fear that they will not work! I must have one of these! Thank you for the post!
    Reply
  3. I will confess to being THAT family that strung ALL three sets of lights on our tree.... only to find the middle set didn't work. UGH. This could've saved us SO much time and money!
    Reply
  4. This is my least favorite thing to do, most of the time I throw the lights away and buy new ones so I do not have to deal with it! This is a great device I am so going to get one of these!
    Reply

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