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I tried to post this question on /ELI5 /AskReddit, etc, but for some fucking reason the posts weren't allowed. SO I said fuck Reddit, I'll ask 4chan.
WTF Happened to my Xmas Lights? Electronic Engineers/Smart People, I need your help!
Some backstory:
>1) Again, there are 12 strands of lights
>2) They are about ONE year old
>3) The lights have been used once, last year
>4) Lights were carefully rolled up and stored in a dry cardboard box
>5) No signs of water damage anywhere on said box
>6) ALL of the fuses are IN TACT. I checked every single one! Two fuses in each plug and they are ALL fine
>7) In my frustration I balled them up and let the cats play in them, but trust me they were rolled up carefully before I promise
>8) Forgot to mention I tested the lights in confirmed working outlets
>9) Also forgot to mention, I did not use an extension cord
>10) Last thought, when I took the lights down last year they were definitely all working
So there you have it, I stored the lights properly, yet every single strand of these lights don't work! All 12 of them! ALL TWELVE!
I am requesting you all to please theorize about what could have happened to my lights! Can you solve this fucking mystery?
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>>8501344
Quantum tunnelling, anon, darn that quantum world.
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>>8501344
are those your feed op ?
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>>8501372
You mean feet? Yes. My house slippers.
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>>8501374
Put slipper on head.
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>>8501378
No, I'm too sad :(
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>>8501374
show us your feet
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>>8501344
They are made to break so you buy more.
String your own LEDs or cough up the cash OP
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>>8501382
B-but... a-non, I th-thought w-we... h-h-had a rapport? :'(
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>>8501400
I am going to buy new lights, that is not the point of my question. I want to know what happened.
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Is where you stored them subject to wide temperature swings, such as an attic that is not climate controlled? Any evidence of rodent activity nearby? Your power cord may have arched when you unplug or plugged them in. Do you know if they are wired in series or parallel?
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>>8501404
Basically, companies make tech with a shelve life, so you buy it, you use it a small number of times (once in this case) and then it breaks without rhyme nor reason.
Why?
To extort money out of you for new lights, anon.
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>>8501405
Thank you for your reply! I stored them in a temperature controlled, dry closet indoors. Not a basement or attic.
No evidence of rodents. Worth mentioning that I have 4 cats who hunt.
Not sure about your last question; can you explain what you mean by series/parallel? I can tell you that if you remove the first or last bulb on the string, half the string will go out for each of those bulbs.
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>>8501406
I'm sure you are right, but I am looking for a scientific answer to explain this phenomenon.
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>>8501344
>I balled them up and let the cats play in them
The wires have lead on them so you're poisoning your cat by doing that. Also, don't forget to wash your hands after handling them.
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If you take any bulb out, do they all go out? Or does this only happen with the bulbs on the ends? How many wires go to each bulb? 2 means is in series, 3 is parallel.
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>>8501344
chrismas lights are usually in series.
if one bulb in a line is out they all go out
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>>8501344
Get a voltmeter, unplug a bulb in the middle, check to see if the ends are live, repeat for the bad half until you've found the bad bulb.
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>>8501421
(I know this from when they were working last year) That if you remove the first bulb, the first half of the strand goes out. If you remove the lat bulb, the last half goes out.
There are 2 wires on the strand, so 2 wires to each bulb.
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>>8501404
>>8501416
The lights are wired in series. When one breaks, the circuit is broken.
You must have missed a broken light - a single one in each (they are made cheaply and poorly to insure you buy more every year, it would be odd but I wouldn't doubt that at least one in each has broken) - there's no other logical explaination that I can think of.
Now show us your feet please.
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>>8501431
Thanks anon, for your explanation. I guess I found it super weird that this would happen to literally every strand. I mean, not even one works. SO I guess I am unlucky.
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>>8501437
Also with that said, I'm going to Walmart now. Thanks again guys. :)
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>>8501427
>Get a voltmeter
Nah, just use a continuity tester on each bulb.
It'll take awhile, but you WILL find which bulbs are broken.
Tiny incandescants are a pain in the ass, as are multiple lights wired in series.
Virtually guarantees that your string will go dark.
Also, planned obscelesance, corperations love filling up garbage dumps for money on purposely crappy products.
Saw this video one time about printers and how they were literally engineered to be shit.
There was a small sensor on the board that counted how many times you had printed, it was designed to "Break" and be unusable after like, 1,000 print jobs.
Not even joking, these corperations are controlled by the most retarded and psychopathic people.
And then they tell YOU that you are a bad person for filling up landfills with THEIR shitty products that are designed to break so that you have to purchase more.
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the contacts inside the sockets might be corroded or filled with dirt and crap.
you can use a small file to clean the wire contacts of the socket and reply this post or your mother will die in her sleep tonight.
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>>8501445
Using a volt meter in the middle is Θ(log2(n))
Using continuity on each is Θ(n) and at that point it's easier just to look at the bulb and see if the filament is still attached
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>>8501493
sp00ky
fu
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>>8501344
Based on your lights, it looks like copper density degradation has taken effect.
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>>8501505
I don't know, man...
some of them filaments are REALLY tiny.
Thread posts: 28
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Thread images: 5