troubleshooting non working led lights...

[rcktpwrd]

Checking bulbs to find the bad one and why part of the string was out and came across this:

completely missing socket! 😮 glad I didn't touch it while up on the ladder!

The power was disconnected in this pic and during repair. I used one of the Pods from the LED Light Keeper to connect the wires.

[Speedster]

How does that happen?   Squirrels?

[TheDucks]

I just threw away another C9 style LED string due to rusted contacts (I think this is #5). I started looking and most sockets had rust coating near the socket pins, then I found the LED with no leads.  I have also had that issue, where the wires pull free. Cheap construction, also relies on the bulb to keep things in place. Less power, but how is this better for the environment?

Note: I brought all strings inside the heated portion of the house and left them on for 48hrs. The still rust out in dry storage.

I had many strings of  C9 incans that I used for decades

(I removed the bulbs at season end, stored the strings. Next season, I hung the strings, then tested every bulb, before putting them in the sockets.  I made a screwless bulb socket jig, so the test was quick. I might fail 4 or 5 bulbs out of 100's

[rcktpwrd]

no idea how the socket went missing...

 

I have replaced a bunch of leds where one of the leads was missing/broken off. I have not seen too many with rust on them.

[Orville]

I've had that happen with replaceable LED strands, the sockets over time will become brittle, crack or split and break off, sometimes they'll just drop off due to heat expansion if the bulb is hung upside down {wires up, socket toward ground}.  If It's only one LED that has come off I usually will just solder those 2 wires together after cutting them down to space the remaining bulbs the same, but I mark the strand so I don't keep doing it if more fall off.  One or two bulbs you can get away with, but after that you might start letting the magic smoke out of the remaining bubs and they smell bad when they POP! LOL

However, there is a help that can prevent the rusting process, takes time and a lot of time depending on strand size and how many you have, but automotive dielectric grease will prevent the corrosion of the terminals in the socket.  I even had it to the male prongs as I've had them corrode INSIDE the plug, but the dielectric grease is NON-CONDUCTIVE, so it's safe to use in your LED strands with replaceable bulbs.  Otherwise your cars lighting system would short out, since this is used in vehicle lamp sockets and electrical connectors.

Now for the sockets, it's a pain to do, but if you paint them with a UV resistant black paint, the cracking, splitting and breakage is cut down to almost none.  trick is keeping the inside where the contacts are from getting painted.

Once I started doing that, I had less failures with my strands that are replaceable store bought brands.   Like said, time and lots of it to keep the strands working for a long time.   I just gave mine away to our church last year because I wouldn't be using them any longer after moving to sealed RGB lighting from LOR and these strands were never cut down, just added the aforementioned steps and these LED store bought strands were purchased in 2011, 7 years later all are still working 100%, just an occasion LED bulb burns out.

Otherwise if you don't want to spend time and lots of effort, don't buy replaceable store brands, go online and buy sealed strands, where this issue rarely happens with a socket splitting, cracking, breaking or just falling off the strand.  Although sealed strands still have LED's burn out, so yu may still have to cut and splice a new bulb {pod} into the strand.

Each has their advantages and disadvantages, up to the end user what they want to use and whether or not they want to spend extra time and effort to keep them working for years and years.