Lights stay on - 2 channels

[TheDucks]

For my AC strings, I have been using Big Box store strings. They only last a few seasons even though I brought them indoors and left them ON to dry out.  The leads on the LEDS rust off at seasons end . If it had been only 1 or 2 LEDs, I would fix. But it was 75% (the leads don't survive bulb removal when rusted).  My first few fails were $20 strings. Now I use $5 strings and just bin them when they fail

[a31ford]

as The Ducks said "A resistor is just a small non-polarized load. You could use a4W  C7 Night light, or a Glade plugin... "

The solution is to get a resistor, a small incandescent light bulb, a glade plug-in (to act as a resistor), what ever, use a cheap 3ft 2 wire extension cord (you know, those ones with a 3 way outlet on the female end they sell in Walmart) plug it into the channel, plug the light string into the 3 way end, along with a real bulb nightlight (not the ones with a light sensor, the old school ones with a thumb switch.) (or you could use the resistor in one of the 3 way outlets (tape it all up with electrical tape so the bare wires are not showing) ), or you could use a male end vampire plug and solder the resistor to the backside teeth, epoxy it (so there are no bare wires, and plug it into the 3 way end along with the said problem string.

 

Bottom Left, is the back side of a male vampire plug, solder the resistor across the pins, epoxy over (so no bare wires), plug into 3 way cord along with light string.

 

[Santas Helper]

15 hours ago, Trasher74 said:

 

Santa's Helper....... I appreciate the information about Creative Displays Inc. but that is outside my budget.  They might call it a sale, but way too expensive for me.

Why do you guys think these lights stop functioning properly at some point?  They aren't that old.  

CDI might be expensive but with 40% off, it's worth it for me. I'm still using LED lights I purchased from them back in 2006.

Keep in mind your basic store bought (half wave) lights weren't originally designed or built to be faded up and down like the (full wave) lights from HLE or CDI. That could explain the failure right there.

So which is more expensive? Buying lights every year or buying lights every 10 years. Hummm

But I do understand about the budget thing. 

[Trasher74]

2 hours ago, Santas Helper said:

CDI might be expensive but with 40% off, it's worth it for me. I'm still using LED lights I purchased from them back in 2006.

I'm not as blown away by the prices at CDI now that I read the small print and see that the price is per case, not per string!

Thanks guys.