bschilz Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I'm using 3 strands of C-9 lights on my 2nd controller (red, green & white) on channels 1,2 & 3 and until yesterday, all three worked flawlessly. Today the green strand on channel 2 stopped working. I suspected something wrong with the strand, so I unplugged it from the LOR controller and plugged it directly into a 120V outlet. The entire strand lit up fine. So I pulled both fuses from the controller and checked them on my VOM and the fuses are fine. So I plugged the green strand into channel 1 which the red strand was working on and got nothing. Plugged the red strand back into #1 and they worked fine. I tried putting the green strand into about 6 different channels in the 1-8 and 9-16 range and nothing. Plugged them directly into 120v outlet and they worked. Now I'm completely stumped. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Check the fuse HOLDER built into the strands plug. The fuses need to be snug at both ends. UNPLUG before messing with the fuses in the plug The AC outlet may flex the prongs differently than the extension cord type pigtail ends. With the fuses removed, gently nudge the clips closer to each other at each end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschilz Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 Thanks TheDucks! I don't use fuses with these strands as I build them to length with C-9 off a bulk roll and I use vampire plugs for connectivity on strands and extensions, so fuses aren't an issue. Besides that, the strand is working just fine as a static line directly into an outlet bypassing the controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 (edited) Here's what I had to do to one of my plugs on a light strand that gave me similar issues. The plugs prongs had worn down and were not making a good fit in the LOR Controllers dangle, not in any of them. Got out my old trusty soldering iron and added some solder to each prong, clean them with fine grit sandpaper first, make them nice and shiny, then coat with solder, you'll need to build the solder up just a little. Just enough that the plug is snug in the Controllers channel dangle. After that, no issues with the light strand for many years afterward. Sometimes the plug prongs just get worn down or they are sometimes not thick enough when they come directly from the factory. So this trick works great when a plug works in a standard outlet, but seems to have issues in a LOR Controller channel dangle. Edited December 9, 2020 by Orville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschilz Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 Thanks Orville... I'll try and let you know!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 22 hours ago, Orville said: Sometimes the plug prongs just get worn down or they are sometimes not thick enough when they come directly from the factory. So this trick works great when a plug works in a standard outlet, but seems to have issues in a LOR Controller channel dangle. I run into this from time to time as well. Sometimes you can get lucky and just bend the prongs out a little or twist just slightly and it'll be just enough to make a better contact in the controller plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 41 minutes ago, Little_b said: I run into this from time to time as well. Sometimes you can get lucky and just bend the prongs out a little or twist just slightly and it'll be just enough to make a better contact in the controller plug. I've done that too. But most often, it doesn't last very long, maybe a day or two. And that's why I started adding solder to my plugs that had this type issue. Then I can plug it in and forget it for the rest of the season, otherwise I may be re-bending or twisting the plug every several days, which in turn will WEAKEN the prongs and could cause them to break off. Then it's an entire different repair issue. To me, soldering was the best and quickest fix to keep the strand working through the season. If the plug is an easy replacement, I'd just remove it and replace with a new one, trashing the bad one so I never used it again. My fix is usually for commercial/retail bought lights, vampire or replaceable plugs are a much easier fix by just rep;lacing the bad one for a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogan Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 If it's vampire plug, why don't you just try a new plug? Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to test that theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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