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Holidays and Parties > Christmas > Decorations > Lights on December 05, 2012

Pre-lit Christmas Tree Lights Not Working

Artificial Christmas TreeYou plug the tree in but not all the lights are shining. This guide is about pre-lit Christmas tree lights not working.
     

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Trouble Connecting Lights on a Pre-lit Christmas Tree

No one seemed to understand the problem with my pre-lit Christmas tree. Anyway my tree has a main hot wire that runs up the center of the tree. The tree also has lots of plug-in ones that will connect to the main wire on each section, then the other plug-ins that will connect to each other so each section will burn.

My problem is getting the main one plugged in the right socket so I can work my way up the tree. All fuses and lights are OK. Will someone give me some idea how to get all these plugged in? Or tell me which one plugs to the main hot wire on each section? There are no color codes on the plug-in. Thanks

By Reba from Bristol

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By Melinda E 12/04/2010

I did what redhatterb suggested, but then I made a diagram showing which branch numbers get plugged into the tree plug and which get plugged into the previous branch's plug. I keep this diagram in my tree storage container in a plastic sleeve. It's made putting the tree up each year much easier.

Pre-lit Christmas Tree Lights Keep Going Off and On

The top section of my newly bought tree keeps going on and off. It seems when they are on and I try to adjust the branches the lights go off. Then when they go on again they stay on indefinitely as long as I don't touch the branches. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

By Celeste O.

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By BlairScots 11/18/2012

Sounds as if your tree has a short in the wires. I would return it or call electrician or someone you may know to take a look at it. Don't want your house to catch fire.

Pre-lit Christmas Tree Bulbs Not Working

My pre-lit tree is 2 years old; one section is out and it seems like almost every bulb has blown at once. What causes that?

By Carmine

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Make Sure All Bulbs Tight

By Flomerch 01/09/2012

It is very important to make certain that none of the bulbs are loose. That is usually the problem. They can become loosened in shipment or just getting them out of the box and putting them up. If you have ONE bad bulb and it's still in tight, the others will remain lit, and of course check the fuses in the plug, if all else fails...


Check the Fuse

By HAPPYINHARNED 01/05/2012

It may be a fuse in the light set. They have a fuse in the line. Check what kind and most drugstores and walmart sale them. Sometimes you can get one out of another old set of lights.

Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

The clear lights on the top part of my pre-lit tree are dim. What can I do?

By Anthony from RI

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12/09/2012

I have the Trim-A-Tree9 with GE bulbs. Same problem described, except that I had three of the white-base bulbs appeared to be burned. I pulled one apart and confirmed the bulb was dead with a multimeter. I went to Ace Hardware to find a replacement. Problem is there was no data on the bulb, so I used a regular replacement bulb without a base and something interesting happened. The lights came on, but that new bulb blew out immediately.

I found two more white-base bulbs that appeared burned and did the same procedure. Same results. But, the rest of the tree lights up. I am worried that those white-base bulbs may be surge protection, but what a crappy design. The fuses in the plug are supposed to provide that protection. If this tree fails again, I'll replace it with a regular tree and then buy LED lights. Note to GE: Is this really the best you can do?

Problems Getting Pre-lit Tree to Light

Is there a certain way to plug pre-lit Christmas trees in.

By liz from Idaho

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By hafwhit 12/08/2011

I'm beginning to hate my pre-lit tree 8). But this year we bought one of those 'guns' that you can use to 'restart' the lights. They have helped with about half of the un-lit strands. It's called a "Light Keeper Pro". Can't remember the cost, but well worth it! Found it at the big box store.

Pre-lit Tree Lights Turning Off and On

My pre-lit tree has one section of lights that goes on, then off for about 5 minutes, then back on for about 3 minutes. Any suggestions?

By Donna

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Some Lights Out on Pre-lit Tree

I have a pre-lit tree and noticed that some of the lights are out and have turned black. Does that mean that I need to replace that strand? Can you do that on these?

By pj

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By margeth 12/20/2011

I have a pre lite tree that I have had for about 4 years. This year the middle section would not lite up. I just added a small string of lights to the middle and left the non working ones on the tree. You cannot even notice them once the other decorations are put on the tree.

Lights Not Lighting on Pre-lit Tree

I have a 7ft. clear light, pre-lit tree. Every year it seems there is a problem. Last year it was the top, this year the top and bottom do not light. It has 800 lights on it. Anyone have any quick fix to find the culprit bulb(s)? If I have to check every bulb I will miss Christmas and a good part of 2013.

By Moe C

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By HalfWhit 12/05/2012

You can buy a 'bulb and string light checker' at any hardware type store. It has 'saved' several strings of lights we have. It's called a Light Keeper. Works pretty good - you'll at least get your money's worth.

Pre-Lit Christmas Tree Has a Short

We have a pre-lit Christmas tree that has worked for years beautifully, but this year the whole tree has been going out on us. The first time it happened we figured it was the main 5 amp fuse. We bought another and we were right, it lit again beautifully, but only for 1 day.

We again put in a new fuse and have found that the tree will light for a few hours and then everything goes off. As soon as I change the main fuse it goes on again. Obviously we must have some sort of short somewhere but how do I find it?

By Sara from NJ

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By Gail216 01/09/2010

We had the same problem with our prelit Christmas tree. I spent hours trying to find the problem. Finally my Irish temper got the better of me and I removed the light sets (time consuming). I bought individual light sets and just placed them on the tree. The newer sets have a v in the wire that just sit on the branches. I put the tree away with the light sets still on them and they were fine the next year!

Is It Safe to Remove the Fuse Light from a Pre-lit Tree?

On the top portion of my pre-lit tree, a small strand of lights went out. I took out the white fuse light. Did I do anything bad to my tree?

By Sarah R.

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By carletonm 12/19/2011

The problem is in the fuse bulb. It is a very bad design because it is not replaceable and when it blows the entire string goes out and this is a real problem on a pre-lit tree. Why there is a fuse bulb on top off the fuses in the plug itself is beyond me. On my tree, only one year old, five of the fuse bulbs had failed!

GE sent under warranty three new strands but I really didn't want to thread them all in on top of the dead bulbs and wires, so I did this: (1) unplugged the tree (2) pulled on the fuse bulb until it came out (3) carefully, with an ice pick, levered out the white fuse bulb socket enough to use a pair of needle-nose pliers to fully remove it (4) with those pliers, molded it back into shape (5) from the spare bulbs, removed one from its green base and threaded it into the white base (6) put the bulb and white base back into the socket (7) with the needle-nose pliers, pushed it back down fully.

Result: A beautiful tree, fully lit again. Yes, this supposedly violates the warranty, but I already have three free new strands I'm now not going to use, but will keep just in case.
GE really needs to make that fusible bulb replaceable (and provide spares); otherwise, get rid of it entirely.

Pre-lit Christmas Tree from Michael's Not Completely Lit

I need to know how to plug all the tiers in, in sequence, so the whole tree lights. I have every other tier lit, but I think it's because of the connections being plugged in wrong.

It is a 7.5 foot Jersey pine by GE.

By Brad S.

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Most Recent Answer

By redhatterb 11/24/2011

It would be hard to tell you the problem, not being there, and not being familiar with the tree. What I always do when I assemble a pre-lit tree of any kind, is to plug in the base of it first, then as I add each tier, I can plug it into the base to make sure it is plugged in right. It is easier to do it that way, than wait until you have the tree completely assembled. I figured this out, after having to take a tree apart and re-assembling it.

One Mode of Pre-lit Christmas Lights Not Working

I have had the pre-lit tree for 5 or 6 years now. It has 9 different light settings eg: flashing, fading etc., but I have always used the "steady on" mode so that the lights are on all the time. However this year that mode seems not to be working, so is there anything that I can buy to correct it? The tree is in 3 sections which plug into one another and all the lights seem to be working it's just the mode "steady on" that doesn' work.


By Anne S from Wilmington, Kent, UK

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Lights on Pre-lit Tree Not Working

I have one of the pre-lit trees with the white fuse bulbs. After destroying the white base and replacing it with a regular bulb in a green base it didn't work. I cut out that socket and wired the two strands together. The strand does not work. Anyone that can tell me why? There was a third cord, but it does not have wire only a fiber like filling.

By Gayle G

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Electrical Connection for Prelit Xmas Tree

I have lost the electrical base connection to my pre-lit Xmas tree. Can I buy replacement parts somewhere?

By Jakki

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Archives

Here are archived discussions related to this page.

Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

The lights on the pre-lit tree I bought last year won't come on, except for a small section near the top. I have checked fuses with no luck, but would like to avoid checking each bulb if at all possible. Anyone else having this problem?

Gwen


RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Could you possibly check them with a multi tester? Not sure just an idea. My husband checks for low voltage. (11/20/2007)

By theseamstress

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Hi, We had the same problem last Christmas. We tried and tried, but could not find the problem. We finally took a short string of lights and put them in the tree in the section where the lights were not working. It looked fine. We were just frustrated to pay all that money and it only worked for 1 year. Loretta (11/21/2007)

By LorettaB

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I've heard of so many people having this problem that I decided to just buy a plain artificial tree and mess with the string lights still. Yet, every year as I put them up, I wish I had a pre-lit tree, then when I hear of frustrated complaints, I think I made the right choice. Then when I take the lights off, I wish I had a prelit tree, and on it goes... (11/24/2007)

By susanmajp

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

We are having a similar problem. Our tree has worked well for about 5 or 6 years now. But this year some rows are not working. And some only half the row works. I have replaced fuses without any positive results. I would love to know if any has had any luck. My next step is to go to Lowe's or Home Depot for possible solutions. (11/24/2007)

By theresa

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

After doing some research on the net, I decided to invest $15 in something called a "Light Keeper Pro." Bought mine at Walgreens because it was close to my house. I'm sure they are called by other names, but are in the dept. with the holiday lights most everywhere. BEST INVESTMENT EVER! Looks like a pistol, but the concept is, you remove a bulb from the "dead" area of the light strand. Slip the socket of the light into the opening on the pistol and click the trigger 5 or 6 times.

Sometimes the whole set will come on immediately, sometimes it will come on after you put the bulb back into the socket. I've tried this on two trees and another strand of lights with instant success. Well worth the money. I've seen them at Lowes and Walmart, too. (11/25/2007)

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Could one of the plugs come unplugged (inside the tree) that attaches to the main cord? (11/26/2007)

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

A section of my lights went out this year. The tree is 3 years old. I filled in the space with regular Christmas tree lights in the same colors. It looks good, can't tell the difference. When Christmas is over, I'll check the bulbs, just didn't have time to worry with it before Christmas. (11/29/2007)

By falldowngobump

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I solved the problem on my tree. The "safety bulbs" appear to be a "safety" for the manufacturer so the strings will all go out eventually and force you to buy another tree. They are simply bulbs without a shunt. I was able to pull the non replaceable white bulb bases out of the sockets with pliers and dental picks and I replaced the bulbs with ones that had shunts using the same white bases, and everything works fine.

If you can't get the white bulb bases out, you could just cut the socket out of the circuit and splice the wires together. The only result will be slightly brighter lights since you've removed a little resistance form the series circuit (12/09/2007)

By Dish

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Thanks for the tip, Dish. I found that if you find the "safety bulb" (the only one with a white base) and pull the bulb, then remove the white base carefully with needle nose, you can salvage the base. Put a new bulb in the base and all lights work again. Looks like each string on the tree has this safety bulb. Anyone with any electrical experience know if there is really any safety feature from this bulb? (12/15/2007)

By Formerly Angry Daddy

RE: Partial strings on Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Could Dish or Guest Post get back to this topic. Dish-I'm a first year buyer and already I have half a string not working in two weeks. Does each string have a white safety? Do you mean replace the bulb with the green one or put a bulb in the white base? Guest Post-I haven't seen the tool you refer to, but are you saying that by "zapping" the socket with the tool and then inserting a new bulb, the partial string will go on. I am frustrated to think that my first artificial tree has "bellied up" in less than three weeks! (12/21/2007)

By Maggie

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Maggie, you need to put a new bulb in the white base. I'm pretty sure each of my strings have at least one non-replaceable bulb. Make sure you unplug the string when you work on prying out the base and be careful not to damage it. Just to let you know, I've had 3 sections go out since I first posted on 12/9, and this safety bulb replacement repair worked every time. I bought one of those zappers to repair my outdoor icicle lites and it was very helpful. It hasn't helped with my prelit tree. Merry Christmas. Dish (12/23/2007)

By Dish

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Pulling out the white base "non-replaceable" bulbs in the beginning of each dead row of bulbs (using a small precision screwdriver) worked great in my case. The rows are lit again. I tried to replace the white base bulbs with the normal green ones but I did not get them to light up. Nevertheless, all but these couple of bulbs are now working fine. (01/05/2008)

By Matti

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I haven't tried my tree this year, but the Light Keeper Pro (see guest post from last Dec.) I bought last year worked great. I have a twig tree on my porch year round and go through several strands of lights a year. I used to LKP to rejuvenate burned out sections of lights several times over the summer. You don't have to replace the bulb with a new one after you "zap" it.

I was going to try the suggestions for replacing the safety bulbs, but could not locate one on my tree or any other strand of lights I've purchased. Good Luck! (11/15/2008)

By gwen

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

The Light Keeper Pro was an excellent suggestion. I asked my husband to pick one up on his way home from work a few hours ago and now have over half of our pre-lit tree lit again. Thanks! (11/28/2008)

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Took advice and bought the Light Keeper PRO and it really worked. Had to reverse the plug into outlet as instructions said but lights came on after that when I attached gun and pulled trigger a few times. Was so surprised it really worked. Am thrilled. Thanks lots! (11/30/2008)

By guest

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

A BIG THANK YOU to all who posted about the Light Keeper Pro! I had my wife pick one up from Walgreens because I was at my wits end with multiple sections out on my pre-lit tree the I have owned for 6 years now. I followed the directions and PRESTO... ths sections came on! The Light Keeper Pro will be stored in the tree box from now on! (11/30/2008)

By tsuns

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I had the same problem on my GE prelit tree. One of the non-replaceable bulbs burned out. I just wiggled the bulb itself back and forth until it came out. I then took another bulb from it's plastic base and just slid it into place. Everything is working again! (12/02/2008)

By Rusty

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

CAREFUL OUT THERE - IF you are a "doofus" like ME, and don't wear your glasses when you SHOULD, you will BREAK that FUSE BULB, the one with the white ring at the bottom of it... and render it worthless. The lights on that circuit (about 2 rows on my tree) will never light again. Calling the mfg, only gets you sympathy, since my tree is about 5 years old and no replacement parts are available. It is NOT designed to be removed. Had I had my glasses on when I started all this I would have seen that there is no separation between the bulb and the base, all one piece.

Anyway, I am going to go buy a very short string of regular lights and just wrap them around those two rows, its the top section so it very narrow anyway. I may try Dish's suggestion about removing that bulb from the circuit and sealing it with electrical tape... with my GLASSES on!

Happy Holiday's folks, glad I found this site. There are tons of other projects I need to undertake, some I messed up even with my glasses ON. Doofus PS - my original problem of two whole sections of lights not working was fixed when I replaced the FUSES in those sections.. should have done that FIRST... that adage of 'older but wiser' ain't working on me. (12/13/2008)

By Doofus

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Thanks to this forum I saw that my partially lit string was due to a burned out non-replaceable bulb with the white base. I followed the posts on the subject - wiggled the bulb for about 8 minutes till it came out - pried/pulled/ripped the white base out - and replaced it with a regular green base and bulb. Hooray - all lights work. (12/14/2008)

By Bill

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

It's been another year, and now about half the "safety" (LOL) bulbs have been carefully replaced with regular bulbs, while reusing the white bulb bases. However, I wanted to share with you that I had a section that would not light even after the white-based bulb was replaced. This was fixed by zapping the section a couple of times with the "Light Keeper Pro". Great product! I have icicle lights outside that had a dozen unlit sections magically restored using this gadget. If you own mini-lights and don't have one of these zappers, buy one.

Merry Christmas to all you thrifty-minded people like me. (12/15/2008)

By Dish


Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I bought a pre-lit Christmas tree from Elder Beerman's after-Christmas sale. The tree was a display tree, and for some reason when it was taken down all the light sets were unplugged. It has been a total nightmare in getting the lights to work. The tree was put in a different box with the wrong instructions. I have no idea how to even plug the lights up without the schematic diagram.

This is the only site that has mentioned the white bulb base. We removed them and did not replace that socket with anything and the light is still light. My problem is the correct way to connect the sets of lights. I hope I have given enough info. I have had my tree up since Thanksgiving and still not decorated, because of the light thing. Please, any help will be useful. The plug ends do have a letter and number Ex: D35. Thanks in advance.

Tammy from Charleston, IL


RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

With the pre-lit trees, sometimes you will get a pinched wire when folding it back up to store it. If you have a hinged tree, you can light it in sections with regular strings of lights and leave them on, so all you have to do the next year is plug them in. If you have to replace a strand, it's not hard. (12/20/2008)

By A guest

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I wouldn't fool around wasting my time trying to get the lights to work. I would return the tree and either have the store people figure it out, get another tree, or ask for my money back. (12/21/2008)

By Harry

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

We have a tree we purchased from Kmart last year on clearance. It's great and I love it, but the lights were starting to go out already. Found this site as a result of the google search I did, and we tried to locate the "safety" lights and ended up cutting them out of the circuits and splicing the lights together. Worked very well. I may get the LKP also, as there are still some areas which aren't lit up, but it's way better than before we started removing the "safety" lights. On our tree in particular, there was no white, the safety ones were blackish green and clearly had no way to remove the bulbs. (12/23/2008)

By Tricia

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Are there companies that service the pre-lit trees? I don't have the time or the patience to pick through 1500 lights. I love the tree, but after 4 years it is becoming more work than it should be. Thank you. (12/31/2008)

By Gene

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Sorry I don't have the answer, but I can tell you that I have owned two pre-lit trees and their lights fail after a few years. In fact, after only a couple, I found various "strings" would go out. So I spent a considerable amount of time cutting out the lights, and now am back to putting my own on each year. But the tree is beautiful and I love it! Good luck. (01/05/2009)

By NHLinda

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I noticed several posts in this area that mention eliminating or shorting out the safety fuse lamp. While it might make the string of lights work, it's not a good idea. They use small wires on these light strings and the tree is usually plugged into a circuit supplied by a 15A breaker; a lot more than the small wires can safely handle. The safety fuse lamp is in there to keep the tree from catching on fire if certain fault conditions should occur.

A better approach could be to cut out the safety fuse lamp and replace it with a splice-in fuse holder for AG type fuses. A small amp fuse, 1 - 5 amps, rated for use on a 120VAC circuit (assuming USA here) should work fine. Just so there is something in there to open the circuit in case of a fault. That's better than having the wires heat up and catch on fire. (01/14/2009)

By Terry

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Whenever I assemble my pre-lit tree, I plug the lights in and that way I can tell when I have the various plugs in the right sockets.

If the tree lights are completely dead, I wouldn't bother cutting the old lights out, I would just string other lights on the tree and proceed with the decorating. I usually add some LED lights to my tree anyway. (06/13/2009)

By redhatterb


Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

When I plug in my pre-lit Christmas tree it only lights up one half of each section. What is wrong?

By Michelle from Riverside, CA


RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I'm not 100 % sure, but it sounds to me light one or more light bulbs might be burnt out. You need a bulb tester to check each and every bulb while the lights are plugged in. They sell them at most stores in with the Christmas decorations. It make take awhile to find the bad bulb, so be patient. Hope this helps you. Good luck. (11/18/2009)

By luv2kraft143

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I had to use all the suggestions below to get our 5 year old tree to fully light, but worked out in the end. Replaced the suspect "white ring" safety bulbs to no avail. Bought the LightKeeper Pro, and it partially worked with the "Trigger". Used the broken circuit tester to locate the bad section, and used the trigger again in that section. Finally, they are all on. I appreciate all the information provided in the other posts. (12/01/2009)

By Warren

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I read through the posts last night and this a.m. and we tried everything. We have the LKP too, and that didn't work. We checked every bulb in the section that was out and the fuses, they were all fine. I noticed yesterday when putting the tree up that the non-replaceable bulb was dim, but it went out last night and took a strand of lights with it. As a last resort, we removed the non-replaceable bulb. We put in a standard green base bulb and now all lights are lit, except for the non-replaceable bulb socket. Fine with us. (12/06/2009)

By luketc

RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I solved the problem on my tree. The "safety bulbs" appear to be a "safety" for the manufacturer so the strings will all go out eventually and force you to buy another tree. They are simply bulbs without a shunt. I was able to pull the non replaceable white bulb bases out of the sockets with pliers and dental picks and I replaced the bulbs with ones that had shunts using the same white bases, and everything works fine.

If you can't get the white bulb bases out, you could just cut the socket out of the circuit and splice the wires together. The only result will be slightly brighter lights since you've removed a little resistance from the series circuit (12/09/2007)

By Dish (12/11/2009)

By StElmoQn


Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

My pre-lit Christmas tree lights don't work (two different rows). How do I fix this problem?

By I don't know


RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

Have you checked to make sure all of the bulbs are good or that a fuse isn't blown. If you can't get them to working I would use a couple strings of lights where the ones that aren't working are located. (12/14/2009)

By redhatterb


Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I have a pre-lit tree that has worked perfectly for 2 years, this is the third year I have put it up. Now since the warranty is out, half of the lights light up. Its not random, every other row of branches light up like stripes on my tree.

I had a friend check the electricity running through the wires, and on my tree I have splitters that have two wires going in and 4 wires coming out. Only half of every splitter is getting power. We have checked every fuse and spent hours looking at bulbs.

I have no idea what a safety light is or why this is happening? Should I just forget the lights and put new ones on or can this be fixed?

By Amanda from Richmond, KY


RE: Pre-lit Tree Lights Not Working

I guess if you don't want to buy a new tree this year, I would recommend just putting some strings of lights on where the ones that don't work are. I always add some extra lights to my prelit tree anyway. I like more lights and it isn't so hard to add an extra string as putting several strings on. (12/19/2009)

By redhatterb

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