This is weird....Christmas lights failing

I have some branches in a vase with mini Christmas LED lights strung through them. Same two strings for 2-3 years.
But all of a sudden the second line failed....I replaced the second LED line and it failed after a couple of months.
So, I changed brands and used just one line of LED lights.

Guess what? The second half of the line started to flicker, go off, flicker again.
I had a weird thought to switch out the power strip.
And the line works fine now.

So, why would the power strip have that effect?
It's a puzzle to us.

Any ideas??????

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Aliens.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
... So, why would the power strip have that effect?
It's a puzzle to us.

Any ideas??????

No mystery there. There was probably a bad connection in the power strip. It could have been a switch on the power strip or a wire broken somewhere along the cable, maybe a the plug or where it made contact with the strip's outlets.

Really, a failing power strip is not a big mystery.

I have no idea why it would do that. Usually when a power strip fails, nothing works. It may be that it is corroded inside on one of the fine connections or in the switch itself and it isn't putting enough voltage in to fire off all the lights, but those lights take very little power but they are actually sensitive to low voltage. So, I am not sure what is going on there.

a reply to: incoserv


I pitched the strip, and yeah, it must have been bad. Brand name, and not that old.

originally posted by: myselfaswell
a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Aliens.

Two ways a power strip/supply can go out :
1) Quietly in the night . No fuss , no muss . (the best way)
2) With a bang that takes out everything plugged in .(the worst)

You got number 2

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

How hot did the power strip feel when in use? Heat could have been a factor with cheap components making up todays leds.
Maybe a lose wire connection in the strip produced enough heat for failure.

Was there any thing else plugged into the power strip besides the lights?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

When it was flickering it was carol Anne from the other side trying to say “let’s go Brandon”

a reply to: TheLieWeLive

No, did not notice heat.

We also had a boom box type CD player plugged in, but it wasn't used very often.....good thing as it turns out.

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

When it was flickering it was carol Anne from the other side trying to say “let’s go Brandon”

ROTFLMAO

originally posted by: Gothmog
Two ways a power strip/supply can go out :
1) Quietly in the night . No fuss , no muss . (the best way)
2) With a bang that takes out everything plugged in .(the worst)

You got number 2

See, I didn't KNOW that.
Better to lose inexpensive lights, and not the CD player.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe
It's Morse code. Probably a creepy message.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I'm not an expert in electrical matters, but I've used dozens of power strips and a big problem tends to be power surges.

Most cheap(er) strips don't have any protection and so pass on the power peaks to the equipment attached. Something like a stereo system will not be affected because it should have built in mechanisms to cope. Also, the power strip won't necessarily fail silently or with a boom, it will just continue working, passing on the current directly, unhindered and uncontrolled.

However, simple things, like your LED lights are at the mercy of a power spike. I now buy power strips with built-in power surge protection. Some even have a breaker that trips during power fluctuations and has to be manually reset to get it working again.

Beware, though, too many power fluctuations could be an indicator that there is a deeper problem with your home electrical setup. If the system is old it may be wise to have an electrician check it out, at least the power outlet where the power strip is connected.

We nerds switch ours out more than the average person. They should be replaced yearly in my business of collecting pollution data at remote locations that are subject to weather events causing huge power surges.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: incoserv


I pitched the strip, and yeah, it must have been bad. Brand name, and not that old.

a reply to: Justoneman
It appears nerds have a bigger carbon footprint than us average people...but we should just ship it back to China from whence it was poorly made instead of filling our landfills...
and then they could burn it for energy!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Electricity doesn't flow at an even rate, it surges sometimes. Kinda like hills and valleys. This can harm your electric devices.

Most power strips have protection from this. Perhaps your power strip lost this function during its use. This is a common issue with surge protecting power strips.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
Any ideas??????

Being that it's you my first advice was to unplug it from your computer.

The bad power strip is probably not sending a steady stream of voltage to the LED drivers which could cause them to do many things like flicker, strobe or outright fail. LED's are very susceptible to 'dirty' voltage unlike older incandescent lamps which will just brighten or dim and then return to normal.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

HAH!!!

I actually have a battery backup for my desktop.

A warning from God maybe ?