DIY street garland repair

In detail: DIY street garland repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

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Although the price of garlands is low, sometimes situations arise when you have to repair it. And there are not so many opportunities here. The following will tell you about the simple methods of repairing a Chinese New Year's garland.

Maintenance and repair tips are usually found in abundance on the back of a beautiful packaging box. The process of replacing bulbs is described in great detail, although there are no spare ones in the kit. There are also many safety warnings, instructions for using the garland.

One of the wonderful properties of such garlands is that after lying on the shelf until next New Year, they often do not want to light up, and they have to be repaired. Figure 1 will tell you how to do this.

All malfunctions of such garlands are reduced to three types: wire breakage, loss of contact in the sockets, lamp burnout. After they crumpled the garland in their hands, shook it, felt all the cartridges, swore obscene words and did not achieve results, we have to get down to business seriously.

To facilitate the procedure, the garland should be laid out on the floor, literally, as shown in Figure 1, and instrumental measurements should be taken. But first, lightly tug on the wires, suddenly it will fly out of the cartridge, try to slightly twist the bulbs.

This is best done with the garland turned on, but do not get carried away too much, do not crush the bulbs. Otherwise, you can simply get an electric shock! The method is unsafe, but quite effective and efficient.

Figure 1. An example of repairing a Christmas garland

If these actions did not help, and the garland did not light up, then you will have to go to instrumental measurements. First, "ring" the upper and lower (as shown) halves of the garland with a multimeter. The half, which turns out to be faulty, "ring" several more times, each time reducing the length of the measured section exactly by half. This will greatly reduce the number of attempts. This is the magical power of number two.

Video (click to play).

To test how magical it is, try folding a notebook or A4 sheet in half ten times. You can even fold a whole newspaper, it still won't work, because two to the tenth power is 1024! That is how many layers should turn out in a folded sheet of paper. Therefore, you can even argue with anyone on New Year's Eve about this "intellectual" exercise. All the same, the victory will be yours. If you don’t believe it, try it now!

But, before "ringing" the whole garland with a multimeter, you should make sure that the wiring is not broken off right near the outlet from the power plug. This is a fairly common defect, and not only in garlands, but in almost all forks, especially with a one-time termination.

After the faulty "half" is found, it remains to check the bulbs and the soldering in the lamp holders. From time to time and high temperatures, the soldering simply oxidizes, or the wires break off, and they are quite thin, and here you go, repair.

It happens that the microcontroller of the New Year's garland itself fails, it is already clear that there is nothing to replace it with. It happens that the output thyristors explode, leaving black soot spots on the board.

Thyristors can be changed, fortunately, they are sold on radio markets and in online stores. The price of the issue is 13 rubles apiece. And this is at the price of a new garland of 38 rubles! Although, in fairness, it should be noted that there are similar garlands much more expensive. So all repair options are reduced to finding broken wires, as described above.

Probe for repairing garlands

Checking with a multimeter is undoubtedly good, but poking the device's probes through the insulation of the wires is a thankless task. Special probes created for this purpose will help speed up the troubleshooting process. A diagram of one of them is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Schematic of a probe for repairing garlands

Working with the probe is very simple. You need to start with the garland wire that is included in the phase. In this case, if an electric field is applied to the WA1 antenna, a high-pitched sound is emitted from the BF1 speaker. When the antenna passes the break and goes over to the neutral wire side, the squeak in the speaker stops.

At this point, as they say, options are possible. If you start from the neutral wire, then after a break in the garland, a phase wire will fall under the antenna, and of course, the sound will appear. A DEM-4M capsule or similar with a coil resistance of 100… 200Ω is used as a BF1 speaker. These capsules are used in telephones.

Preparing for the New Year is an amusing, interesting and enjoyable process. The amazing time of the New Year holidays takes a lot of time from people. They begin to think about how the festive table will look like, what dishes to cook in order to surprise guests, how to properly decorate the interior of an apartment or private house. You can also decorate the adjoining territory, garden plot, flower beds, building facade, gates and wickets. For the embodiment of the most unimaginable fantasies, LED street lights come in handy.

A few decades ago, our grandparents could not afford such a luxury: interior light bulbs simply could not withstand too low temperatures and atmospheric precipitation. Modern manufacturers of LED products have learned how to make waterproof and frost-resistant devices that are used even in street diode garlands. We will try to understand the history of these devices, their classification, modes of operation and basic requirements when choosing these products.

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The United States of America is considered to be the source of street Christmas lights. There they appeared about 100 years ago. These were bright, eye-catching and unusually beautiful devices, which, due to their high cost, did not immediately become widespread.

The use of garlands on the country's main New Year tree after a while led to their mass production, thanks to which people could afford to use similar products. At first, the multi-colored electric tape appeared as a decoration on the shelves of shops and cafes, and later on the facades and adjoining territories of private buildings.

This miracle of technology was brought to Russia much later, which was associated with a more severe climate and significant frosts in certain regions of the country. Currently, various simplified technologies are used that simultaneously protect the device from the effects of severe frosts and reduce its overall cost, making it accessible to everyone who wants to decorate their home. They are not only suitable for residential buildings. Advertising signs, shop windows, banners are decorated with street garlands.

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The main criteria for the classification of LED products of this type are considered to be the power supply method and configuration. In the first case, we are talking about devices that are connected to the electrical network, or powered autonomously from it using a rechargeable battery or batteries. Solar-powered garlands are often used, but this is not permissible everywhere, but only where sunlight is abundant.

When choosing a product, you need to focus on the way of decorating the exterior and configuration:

  1. Garlands "Curtain" and "Rain" are among the most popular varieties. In the second case, a plurality of one- or multi-colored flashing lamps are used with the ability to switch to the overflow effect. An excellent option for lighting roofs, eaves of a building.Curtain is more suitable for larger areas.
  2. The linear garland comes in handy when decorating beautiful shrubs and trees. Often it is used when decorating curved contours, due to the increased flexibility of the material. A good solution when looking for an original design.
  3. You can supplement the house territory with bright glowing figures in the form of snowmen, Santa Claus and other fairy-tale characters.
  4. A standard tape consisting of a flexible board on which multiple diodes are mounted. There are models in one or different colors with a variety of operating modes and specific lengths up to 50 meters. A very easy-to-use product, from which you can create the most unusual shapes.
  1. Outdoor frost-resistant garland "Fringe" or "Icicle" is another option for decorating cornices and canopies. The length of a separate board should not be more than 1 meter. When several LED lights are connected, an unusual running light effect is obtained (like on a runway). The built-in controller causes them to fade out gradually. One lighting fixture can contain up to 10 "melting icicles", installed at a distance of about 500 mm.
  2. Garland "Mesh" is a very complex structure, consisting of several wires connecting LEDs. Well suited for decorating the facade of a building.

In addition, street lights can be made up of LEDs shaped like raindrops, balloons or geometric shapes.

The main feature of any LED string is a huge variety and many operating modes. Each of them is given specific names. Individual controllers with a unique combination of modes are built into the boards.

Let's list the main operating modes of a street LED string:

  • FIXING - static lighting, when LEDs emit the same color with the same brightness during the entire operation;
  • CHASING - the bulbs start to light up gradually, after which they slowly fade out (a great option if you want to create an overflow effect or light “waterfall”);
  • FLASH (blinking) - approximately every 4, 5 or 6 LEDs in the tape start blinking (one of the most common and demanded modes);
  • CHAMELEON (chameleon) - the product glows brightly, constantly changing its colors;
  • MULTICHASING (multichasing) - requires the mandatory presence of a controller with several modes of operation.

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The more modes of operation the LED string supports, the higher the cost of the product. Do not overpay if you plan to use one or two modes. Before purchasing the device, be sure to check its operability and make sure that all declared modes are in good working order.

There are several basic requirements and recommendations to consider when choosing an LED string:

  1. Check the quality of the plastic case. Cheap plastics will start to crack at temperatures below -10 degrees. The safety of operation of all equipment depends on this.
  2. The length of the garland is one of the important characteristics. As a standard, the tape has a length of 5 to 20 meters, but it can be extended with additional lengths.
  3. Moisture resistance. Check the product packaging. The letter N means the flex board is not waterproof.
  4. Frost resistance. It is important that the letters G and R are indicated on the packaging in the marking of the garland.

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When using the product, pay attention to the presence of voltage drops in the network. Even high-quality devices produced by trusted manufacturers can quickly fail due to critically low or high voltage. To stabilize it, you need to use special devices.

When decorating a local area, first of all, you need to decide what effect you want to get in the end. This will affect the size, shape, color choice and brightness level of the diode strip.For example, the LED garland for decorating the facade of a building should be long enough, while the "Fringe" variety is suitable for the porch. Shrubs are decorated with small items. Short sections of LED strip are used to decorate railings and tree trunks, wrapping them in a spiral.

Important! Never ignore the safety rules and do not use LED string lights designed for indoor use, outdoors. These products do not have the required protection. It will not only quickly fail, but also pose a danger to the health of people nearby.

The operating conditions for lighting devices related to outdoor lighting systems are spelled out in the PES. There is also clause 6.4.18, which regulates the use and connection of street lights.

Any architectural lighting of a country house, including New Year's illumination, must be connected to the electrical network via a separate line. The power of the product should be no more than 2 kW per phase. Do not forget that in everything, in length and even power, a margin is required. Another prerequisite for operation is protection against current leakage (overcurrent).

For self-production of an LED garland, you will need several basic components and tools:

  • LEDs (at least 20 mA each);
  • electric cable (a cross-section of at least 0.25 mm is selected, preferably 0.5 mm);
  • resistor element (100 Ohm);
  • power supply unit (6 V);
  • sharp knife;
  • silicone transparent sealant and a gun for its application;
  • marker;
  • soldering iron with rosin and solder.

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A simple electrical diagram of a Christmas tree garland with LEDs implies sequential switching of each individual element. It is very simple to make such a device. First, determine the distance at which the glowing components will be located, and then use a marker to mark the wire. Usually a distance of 20-25 cm is suitable.

Take a sharp knife and remove the insulating layer at the points of the wire where the LEDs will be connected. In length, each cut should be at least 10-20 mm. Use rosin and apply it to each area. Apply solder on top, due to which a reliable and simplest fastening of the LED to the wire will be carried out. Solder the legs of the glowing element.

An LED soldered to the wire will not be as reliable as it seems. To increase the strength of the product, additional protection is required by insulating the exposed parts of the wire. At the same time, such protection should not interfere with the glow of the LEDs; therefore, transparent materials must be used. A special electrical tape will cope with this task. Use it to wrap the legs of the LEDs and the exposed parts of the wire, and then apply silicone sealant on top.

It remains to connect a resistor and a power supply to the tape, and then test the resulting product.

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One of the most common faults of an LED string is the absence of one or two colors during operation. Sometimes part of the flex board fails. To repair the device, disassemble the power supply and make sure all contacts are intact. If you find torn items, then fix them back using a soldering iron. If the power supply is intact, then you should look for the reasons in the main wire. Carefully inspect it and make sure there are no bites and other mechanical damage. If you find any, be sure to eliminate them.

In the event that the garland does not light up when connected to the electrical network, you need to carefully study the power supply and the network cable. Check how well the elements are attached to the electronic board.

Think of an LED string as a simple electrical circuit made up of several elements. Use the following guidelines:

  1. The control unit can always be replaced with a starter used in the operation of a fluorescent lamp. Choose the right wattage so that the LEDs flash at the right speed.
  2. First, you need to check the contacts on each LED. Pay attention to the components located at the ends of the tape. If switching is done using anodes, find the corresponding wiring diagram on the Internet. One great option is to connect the LED lamps at the ends of the strip using cathodes.
  3. To replace a damaged LED, disconnect the garland from the mains. Use the unsoldering to remove the burned-out element, then install a new product in its place. Don't forget about polarity!
  4. In the event of a duralight failure, you must identify the problem area and cut it out. Pay attention to the special cuts applied to the tape. If everything is done correctly, then, having thrown out the non-working part, it will be possible to connect the 2 remaining segments together.

With the help of LED street lights, you can create a festive atmosphere and decorate your backyard in an original way. It is absolutely not necessary to do this only on holidays: all street lighting devices are reliably protected from the effects of numerous factors, including severe frosts, precipitation, heat and ultraviolet rays of the sun, therefore they can be used all year round without the need for dismantling.

To eliminate the likelihood of breakdowns, you should buy electrical products from trusted manufacturers. Do not forget before buying to make sure that the device is working properly and that the actual technical and operational characteristics are stated on the packaging or in the technical passport.

One of the most time-consuming breakdowns is considered the case when one or two colors do not work in the electric garland, for example, only red or yellow and blue, as in the photo below. This indicates that, most likely, the bulbs in the corresponding section have burned out.

To begin with, we still recommend disassembling the switch cover, it is also a control unit, and checking the reliability of all connections - contacts soldered to the board. Immediately we suggest watching a video lesson from a young master, which clearly shows what to do if the wire from the board breaks: