Great tool you have here and this video is exactly what I needed to get the most out of it. Thanks for taking the time to cover all the parts that might come up. Excellent!
Holy cow. I’ve spent hours troubleshooting my prelit tree with three strands out. First pull got one strand on then several pulls and checking voltage got the others on. I then replaced about 30 bulbs. Saved me a $150 tree.
Excellent informative video! Took a while, but I managed to fix a very large set of net lights that had two points of failure and many burned out bulbs! The voltage detector does work but does take some practice. Changing the polarity at the plug helps to further isolate I've found.
Great tool! I went to set up the tree this past weekend and low and behold... Some of the strands of lights had sections not working. All I kept thinking was time to buy a new set... I stumbled onto a similar video show how to use your tool to repair my light strands. Simple and easy to use. You have to have a basic understanding of how the lights stands work so you can better use the tool to trouble shoot the lights. Works like a charm!!! My hats off to you guys...Thanks for making my Christmas set up less stressful!!!!
Oh yeah. Works great when the wire strand is laying on the table. Good luck with a pre-wired tree. You will be doing some very creative contortions and acrobatics just FINDING the lights and wires, much less finding the bad one. I wasted $20 on this gizmo and it's best use is as a kids make-believe ray gun.
We are always here to help and even have a couple of pre-lit tree repair videos because we agree working on a pre-lit tree does include other factors to be considered in comparison to a light set that you can easily navigate through. If the Quick Fix Trigger did not do the trick, we also recommend viewing our Audible Voltage Detector video on our website. Please don't hesitate to give us a call if we can be of any assistance! 888-858-2548
I bought one of these just today to repair a $369 pre-lit tree that is 3 years old. I have an electrical background in aviation and use principals of ohms law often in my daily work but I knew nothing of how incandescent light strings work however. After watching this and a few other videos and understanding the series/parallel circuit used on many of these lights and the shunt feature of these bulbs, I went out and bought this device. Using the “quick fix” (shunt fixer) and the voltage detector of this device I got it fixed pretty quick. The bulb checker is also handy to verify the bulbs condition before replacing it. If you have three wires running together it will always detect voltage, on my tree there was a line between each branch on the tree. It was pretty simple to check each of those first. The branch before the lack of voltage would be the problem area, one of five lights on each branch. The antenna on the device doesn’t read well through you hand so hold each bulb just below the socket, covering the wires with your hand and check for voltage. The first on that doesn’t have voltage is the usually problem, on a couple of mine it turned out to be the one before the no voltage bulb. My light’s wall plug WAS polarized so once I got the procedure down as far as which way to go around the tree, it went pretty quick. I ended up replacing almost 50 bulbs on a tree with 450 but almost every bulb I pulled was bad. After replacing a few bulbs I’d try the shunt fixer again and several times more of the lights would come on and I could just replace the ones that didn’t light. Even with the time and expense of the tool, I save the $350+ for a new tree. It is pretty cool to get an inductive power checking device for this price even if it doesn’t have a meter. It isn’t a toy at all and could actually be useful for other basic troubleshooting work around the house. I have no plans to tell anyone in my family that I know how to do this now. 😉
I have had the same issues as Deputy276 with my pre-lit tree. To start though, this has worked well on a strand I can layout. But on the tree? My pre-lit tree wiring looks nothing like what they talk about in the video. A rat's nest or bowl of spaghetti would be a better description of how they ran the lighting. There are so many places where wires cross each other, or are wrapped around a branch at the base of a socket that it renders this tool almost unusable. Sure, they're all the same strand on a set of branches, but you'll have wires from the non working group of 50 overlapping the wires from the working group of 50. And getting them far enough away from each other in some spots has not been doable because of the way they are wrapped. This tool just does not work well under those circumstances. Useful tool, but not under every circumstance. A crappy job of running the wires can not be fixed by this tool. 😉
For the most part, at 5:10 he's talking about how the LKP has restored the flow of electricity through the shunt of the bad bulb where ever it is located on that section of non-working bulbs. Now, with current back on the string the location of the bad bulb is easy to find - at 15:14 it's the one that isn't illuminated. So you replace it with a good bulb to solve the issue.
I bought a LightKeeper Pro yesterday and had great luck fixing old strings. I also have a 9 foot GE pre-lit tree. It seems some of the lights are brighter than others. I have found three bulbs that are out. If I change the bulbs will that prevent that section from going out?
I worked on strand of lights for an hour. The strand did not light up. I've got my doubts about how simple this appears when in reality it takes a lot of time and a lot of bulbs to fix a strand.
I know this is two years old but use the voltage tester to find where voltage is then where it stops (or close). Give several pills then recheck voltage. You’ll probably find it now goes further down the strand. Do it again until it turns on then replace the bulbs. I figured out this after several attempts and went much faster.
I not only bought two of these ( I forgot I had already bought my first one ) regardless it doesn't work !! I don't like having to go to my computer to watch yet another video to learn why it didn't work in the first place etc. it's not worth my time for things not to work. No thank you.
Great tool you have here and this video is exactly what I needed to get the most out of it. Thanks for taking the time to cover all the parts that might come up. Excellent!
Holy cow. I’ve spent hours troubleshooting my prelit tree with three strands out. First pull got one strand on then several pulls and checking voltage got the others on. I then replaced about 30 bulbs. Saved me a $150 tree.
Excellent informative video! Took a while, but I managed to fix a very large set of net lights that had two points of failure and many burned out bulbs! The voltage detector does work but does take some practice. Changing the polarity at the plug helps to further isolate I've found.
Great tool! I went to set up the tree this past weekend and low and behold... Some of the strands of lights had sections not working. All I kept thinking was time to buy a new set... I stumbled onto a similar video show how to use your tool to repair my light strands. Simple and easy to use. You have to have a basic understanding of how the lights stands work so you can better use the tool to trouble shoot the lights. Works like a charm!!! My hats off to you guys...Thanks for making my Christmas set up less stressful!!!!
We squeezed another year for some of Christmas lights. I wish I would had bought this when it was first out.
It works! Awesome product.
This is the video I really needed so thorough and informative thank you!!
Thank you!! It worked for me. I hate I had so many bad bulbs. But your tool works great!
Oh yeah. Works great when the wire strand is laying on the table. Good luck with a pre-wired tree. You will be doing some very creative contortions and acrobatics just FINDING the lights and wires, much less finding the bad one. I wasted $20 on this gizmo and it's best use is as a kids make-believe ray gun.
We are always here to help and even have a couple of pre-lit tree repair videos because we agree working on a pre-lit tree does include other factors to be considered in comparison to a light set that you can easily navigate through. If the Quick Fix Trigger did not do the trick, we also recommend viewing our Audible Voltage Detector video on our website. Please don't hesitate to give us a call if we can be of any assistance! 888-858-2548
I bought one of these just today to repair a $369 pre-lit tree that is 3 years old. I have an electrical background in aviation and use principals of ohms law often in my daily work but I knew nothing of how incandescent light strings work however. After watching this and a few other videos and understanding the series/parallel circuit used on many of these lights and the shunt feature of these bulbs, I went out and bought this device. Using the “quick fix” (shunt fixer) and the voltage detector of this device I got it fixed pretty quick. The bulb checker is also handy to verify the bulbs condition before replacing it.
If you have three wires running together it will always detect voltage, on my tree there was a line between each branch on the tree. It was pretty simple to check each of those first. The branch before the lack of voltage would be the problem area, one of five lights on each branch. The antenna on the device doesn’t read well through you hand so hold each bulb just below the socket, covering the wires with your hand and check for voltage. The first on that doesn’t have voltage is the usually problem, on a couple of mine it turned out to be the one before the no voltage bulb. My light’s wall plug WAS polarized so once I got the procedure down as far as which way to go around the tree, it went pretty quick. I ended up replacing almost 50 bulbs on a tree with 450 but almost every bulb I pulled was bad. After replacing a few bulbs I’d try the shunt fixer again and several times more of the lights would come on and I could just replace the ones that didn’t light. Even with the time and expense of the tool, I save the $350+ for a new tree. It is pretty cool to get an inductive power checking device for this price even if it doesn’t have a meter. It isn’t a toy at all and could actually be useful for other basic troubleshooting work around the house.
I have no plans to tell anyone in my family that I know how to do this now. 😉
I have had the same issues as Deputy276 with my pre-lit tree. To start though, this has worked well on a strand I can layout. But on the tree? My pre-lit tree wiring looks nothing like what they talk about in the video. A rat's nest or bowl of spaghetti would be a better description of how they ran the lighting. There are so many places where wires cross each other, or are wrapped around a branch at the base of a socket that it renders this tool almost unusable. Sure, they're all the same strand on a set of branches, but you'll have wires from the non working group of 50 overlapping the wires from the working group of 50. And getting them far enough away from each other in some spots has not been doable because of the way they are wrapped. This tool just does not work well under those circumstances. Useful tool, but not under every circumstance. A crappy job of running the wires can not be fixed by this tool. 😉
For the most part, at 5:10 he's talking about how the LKP has restored the flow of electricity through the shunt of the bad bulb where ever it is located on that section of non-working bulbs. Now, with current back on the string the location of the bad bulb is easy to find - at 15:14 it's the one that isn't illuminated. So you replace it with a good bulb to solve the issue.
Wow, thank you this was the most informative video I’ve watched in a long time!
I bought a LightKeeper Pro yesterday and had great luck fixing old strings. I also have a 9 foot GE pre-lit tree. It seems some of the lights are brighter than others. I have found three bulbs that are out. If I change the bulbs will that prevent that section from going out?
I worked on strand of lights for an hour. The strand did not light up. I've got my doubts about how simple this appears when in reality it takes a lot of time and a lot of bulbs to fix a strand.
I know this is two years old but use the voltage tester to find where voltage is then where it stops (or close). Give several pills then recheck voltage. You’ll probably find it now goes further down the strand. Do it again until it turns on then replace the bulbs. I figured out this after several attempts and went much faster.
I just don't have the patience for all of that. Christmas tree lights are the worst part of Christmas decorating in my opinion.
I not only bought two of these ( I forgot I had already bought my first one ) regardless it doesn't work !! I don't like having to go to my computer to watch yet another video to learn why it didn't work in the first place etc. it's not worth my time for things not to work. No thank you.
Oh My God . . . Get OVER Yourself!!!! Do you hear yourself?