Safety and Care Instructions for Christmas lights.

The majority of Christmas lights today use a parallel wiring system. Parallel wiring provides more than one path of electricity for each light bulb to follow. After the current leaves the light bulb it follows two or more paths before returning to the electrical source. The parallel lights have two wires and each light bulb has its own positive and negative wire connection so if one light bulb burns out the rest of the lights remain lighted. To reduce the risk of overheating the lights, you should replace any burned out light bulbs promptly. Use the same wattage replacement bulbs as the original strand of lights. The voltage of the lights does not change when another set of lights are added. What does change when adding additional sets of lights is the number of watts. This  increase in wattage increases the amount of current that passes through the light bulbs. To much current flowing through the electrical wires and the light bulbs will cause excess heat causing the light bulbs to burn out sooner. Select this link to view our power strips and power protection supplies. Most Christmas lights today have fuses to limit the amount of current that will pass through the lights. Over heating of electrical wires can cause electrical fires. When using Christmas tree lights, basic precautions should always be followed. Do not use the holiday lights outdoors unless the holiday lights are marked suitable for indoor and/or outdoor use. When outdoor Christmas lights are used in outdoor applications, connect the outdoor Christmas lights to a ground fault circuit interrupting [GFCI] electrical outlet. If one is not provided, contact a qualified electrician for proper outdoor lights installation.

• Do not mount or place Christmas lights near gas or electric heaters, fireplaces, candles or other similar sources of heat.

• Do not puncture the insulation of the holiday light sets with staples or nails.

• When hanging the holiday lights do not place the insulated wire on sharp hooks or sharp objects.

• Do not let the Christmas holiday light bulbs rest on the light string supply cord or other electrical wires.

• Unplug the Christmas light bulbs when leaving the house, when retiring for the night, or if the Christmas tree lights are left unattended.

• Your holiday lights are not toys! To avoid risk of fire, burns, personal injury and electric shock the Christmas holiday lights should not be played with or placed where small children can reach the holiday light bulbs.

• To reduce the risk of fire or electrical shock do not mount or support the Christmas tree lights in a manner that can cut or damage the light sets.

• Do not close your doors or windows on the Christmas holiday lights or extension cords as this may damage the wire insulation.

• Do not cover the Christmas holiday light bulbs with cloth, paper or any material that is not part of the light set when in use.

• If your Christmas lights are equipped with push-in type light bulbs, do not twist the holiday light bulbs. Pull the party light bulbs straight out of the light bulb socket.

• If your Christmas tree lights are equipped with threaded screw in holiday light bulbs. Make sure that you do not over tighten the light bulbs causing the protective glass covering to break or crack.

• To reduce the risk of overheating, replace any burned out light bulbs promptly. Use the proper Christmas holiday light bulbs with like volt and wattage replacement light bulbs.

• Always unplug your Christmas holiday lights before installing or replacing the Christmas light bulbs.

• Do not overload the electrical wiring by adding additional light sets together. Only connect the recommended amount of light sets [usually three sets if not stated in instructions] on one continues light string.

Christmas holiday lights with overload fuses:

A blown fuse indicates an overloaded circuit and you need to reduce the amount of wattage that is flowing through the electrical wire and bulbs. You will need to reduce the number of light sets that are connected to the circuit. A blown fuse may also be caused by a short-circuit and the light set with the short-circuit should be discarded. Select this link to view our power strips and power protection supplies.

1.) Always unplug your Christmas lights before installing or replacing the Christmas light fuses.

2.) Slide open the fuse access cover on top of the attachment plug towards the plug in metal blades.

3.) Remove the fuses carefully.

4.) To avoid the risk of fire replace the blown out fuses with like amp and volt fuses that were provided with the Christmas lights.

5.) Slide closed the holiday light fuse access cover by sliding the cover closed so that all fuse metal tabs latch.

6.) To avoid the risk of fire do not replace the factory Christmas light plug itself. The factory holiday light plugs contain a safety device (fuse) that should not be removed. Discard the light set if the plug is damaged.

Tips On Lighting Your Christmas Tree With Miniature Light Sets.

Start at the top of the Christmas tree and work your way down. It is easier to work in extra left over lights at the bottom of the tree. Your tree lighting will be much easier if you use string to string Christmas lights (has plugs on both ends.) Start with the female plug end and hide it near the tree trunk. Your goal is to set a light bulb on the tips of the tree branches. Work on one branch at a time. Wrap the light cords around the branches hiding as well as you can the light cords. Work from the inside trunk of the tree to the outside branches. When you reach the end of the branch, wrap your way back toward the trunk of the tree. When you reach the trunk jump to the branch next to the just completed branch. When the recommended number of light sets are used, and the last bulb is used weave the extra runner cord down the trunk of the tree. Now run a house hold extension cord up the trunk from the bottom of the Christmas tree and plug in the male end of the light string into the house hold extension cord. Start with a new section of lights where you left off. As you reach the end of the second set of lights leave enough of the light string to reach the house hold extension cord you ran up the trunk of the tree earlier. When all the plug in sockets are filled on the house hold extension cord run another extension cord as you did earlier.  

Note: If you are lighting an artificial Christmas tree that is in sections you can stop lighting at the end of each section so you will not have to take the lights off the tree. Just unplug each section after Christmas and store your tree. Select the following link to see our Christmas tree storage bags.

When you plug too many lit strands into one extension cord or wall outlet, a large amount of electrical power is created. This overloading of electrical power will lessen the life of the Christmas light bulbs. The safest way to plug in all your household extension cords is to use an outlet power breaker strip. Do not piggy back or put more than one extension cord into an outlet opening. When you use all the openings in one outlet go to the next nearest outlet. This will reduce the risk of overloading the light strand wires with too much electrical current and will extend the life of your lights. Select the following link to see our Christmas outdoor lights safety electrical outlets.

My Lights Went Out !

If one light on a strand burns out the rest of the of the lights will remain on. To lengthen the life of your light sets replace all burned out lights as soon as they go out because they will put stress on the remaining bulbs. When a bulb is about to burn out they become dimmer and a little yellow in color. If all of the lights should ever go out it means there is a break in the circuit. If a group or strand of lights goes out you should check to make sure that all the plugs are plugged in tightly. Next check the fuses that are usually located in the plug-in part of the light strand. If the fuse is blown out it is a good idea to use another household extension cord as suggested above. Then check each of the unlit bulbs to make sure that they are in the socket correctly. If the problem is not found discard the light set and replace it with a new set. You might want to save a few bulbs to use as replacement bulbs in the future. Select the following link to see our selection of indoor Christmas light.

Select this link to read additional information on Christmas lights and holiday lights.

Always be Safe!

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