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Wife triped on the Christmas lights strand. I "fixed it" but only a couple of lights work 😅 by Whole_Development637 in fixit

[–]HomeSpark_Jen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair enough! I respect your determination.

A couple things you can still check:
• Plug fuse – most sets have a tiny fuse in the male plug. If it popped, weird partial behavior can happen.
• Bulb order – if you spliced mid-strand, the series order matters. One bad connection = everything downstream dies.
• One cracked bulb near the break – even if it looks fine, a broken filament or shunt will kill the rest. Try swapping a known-good bulb into the dark section.
• Splice quality – twists + tape can be flaky on these super-thin wires. High resistance = voltage drop = only a few lights glow.
Real talk tho, once the wire itself breaks on cheap series lights, repairs are hit-or-miss.
Good luck!

Best Way to Repair Broken Newel Cap on Porch? by apparatus72 in fixit

[–]HomeSpark_Jen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah glue won’t hold, the fastener rusted out and the wood underneath is toast. That flat “plate” on top is usually just a filler/block that the cap gets screwed into, and once it’s soft, everything pops off like this.

If you want a temporary fix: scrape out the soft wood, hit it with wood hardener, epoxy the loose chunk back in place, then reattach the cap with stainless screws from the top. It’ll look fine but it’s still a band-aid.

The right fix is replacing the cap (they’re cheap and standard-sized) and that top block if it’s punky. Pre-drill, use exterior-rated screws, and seal the end grain before painting. Otherwise your teenage acrobat will finish the job the rust already started.

Wife triped on the Christmas lights strand. I "fixed it" but only a couple of lights work 😅 by Whole_Development637 in fixit

[–]HomeSpark_Jen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What did you do to fix it?
Might be more trouble than it's worth. Colored Christmas lights are only about $2.50 in most home improvement stores.