christmas light upgrade

Ya know when you open up a brand new set of christmas lights, and they come with that little bag of replacement bulbs? KEEP THEM! They saved me 50 bucks this year ALONE! I use these for making a normal christmas light sets flash on and off. The best part though is that all you need is the replacment bulb bag (and its contents) from a random flashing icicle set.

Step 1 This might be all you have to do!

This step can either be the first, or last depending on you light sets. If you are lucky all you have to do is pull out the entire bulb and replace it with a "replacment bulb" from your twinkling light set, and make sure it has to red tip and a wierd looking filament. It usually takes 2 flashing bulbs to get string of lights to work completely

Comments

[ac7ss]

Over time, you will notice that the lights are in different voltages! A good plan is to label the replacement bulb bags with a number that matches the number of lights that go out on a strand when you unplug one of the lights. (Frequently this is 1/2 or 1/3 of the total number of lights on the string. It will always be a 1/x fraction of the string.) I saw 2.5v (50/string) 3.5v (30/string) and 6v (20/string) with a quick search. another tool to have is a no-touch voltage sensor, this may help with identifying the bad bulb.

[vodo]

no, you need to use the replacements

[wolf555hound]

i just pulled out a bag of bulbs lol, i like 9v with them, day wight.

[wolf555hound]

dey bwight, soz for *mis*spelling

[zachninme]

Thats... brilliant!!! Is it possible to just take the normal ones, or do you need to use the replacements?

[GorillazMiko]

Wow... cool Instructable. Thanks for showing, maybe I'll save $50 like you did, maybe more. Mwahahaha! :-)