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My fuses keep blowing; can I replace the fused plug with an unfused type?
Running mini-lights without 3 amp fuses is extremely risky. These strings require 3A fuses because they use lamps designed to short out when they fail. And if all the bulbs short out, that would be a direct short across the AC line. The little fuses protect the wires, and that protects us.
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12/3/2013 3:05 PM
http://www.ciphersbyritter.com/RADELECT/LITES/LITESFAQ.HTM
12/3/2013 3:05 PM
http://www.ciphersbyritter.com/RADELECT/LITES/LITESFAQ.HTM
reading on the socket wires. A single bad bulb will be "hot" on one side, and cold on the other, which is fairly easy to detect. But if multiple bulbs are out, the wires between bad bulbs will be neither hot nor cold, which can be tricky to diagnose. A good approach is to find one problem, fix that, and move on. Often it is easiest to find the first problem on the hot line. Often one can reverse the AC plug to work from either end of a circuit. When working on incandescent mini-lights the best tool I know is a Lightkeeper Pro: Take one of the bulbs out of the dark circuit, plug the newly-open socket onto the front of the gun, then pull the trigger a few times. Often, that will light up the dark circuit, then just replace the dark bulbs. Typically, job done in a few minutes, much easier than stringing a new set of lights.
12/3/2013 3:05 PM
http://www.ciphersbyritter.com/RADELECT/LITES/LITESFAQ.HTM
When replacing bulbs in a series circuit, even knowing the intended operating voltage is not sufficient. Bulbs operating at a particular voltage can produce a wide range of light depending on operating current and resulting power. Bulbs are designed for a particular current at a particular voltage. But the operating current may not be listed for replacement bulbs, or may not be understood if it is listed, because it is not needed for ordinary house or flashlight bulbs.
I have an old decoration that uses 10 bulbs; can I use modern replacements?
In these series circuits, the 120V line divides equally across each light. So in 50-bulb circuits, the bulbs run at 120V / 50 = 2.4V. Similarly, 35-bulb circuits use 3.4V bulbs, and a 10-bulb circuit uses 12V bulbs. We cannot expect to replace 12V bulbs with 2.4V bulbs. However, modern, fairly-cheap 10-light, 20-light and 30-light sets and replacement bulbs have been available on the net. My approach would be to get 2 or even 3 new strings each having the same number of bulbs as in the decoration. Then I would replace all the old bulbs with new ones, and keep the remaining string(s) for future bulb replacements. Terry Ritter, his current address, and his top page.
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12/3/2013 3:05 PM