Hi, I have one of those old (1970s/1980s) circular christmas light window hangings. It's commonly referred to as a "santa plaque" or a "tree topper." It has 32 lights, with three circuits. Each circuit has a blinker light so that it looks like it's spinning. If you search google for "Vintage Santa Plaque tree topper" you'll see photos of it. One of the circuits no longer works. It's not just the blinker, but every light in that circuit has died. Problem is, when I try to replace them with bulbs i have from other (100+ strand) sets, they flash/burn out immediately and so it's not working. I suspect it's a voltage issue, but don't know where to start looking to fix this. Does anyone have an idea how to restore this? What voltage replacement lights should I go look for? Has been in my family for decades and I'd love to keep it working, if possible. Advice appreciated. Regards, Theodore.
Repairing christmas window plaque/tree topper with "spinning" lights
Dec 26, 2021
Last reply: 4 years ago
6 Replies
From the age I'm guessing they are incandescent, not LED. Do they look like this?
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Yes, 100% definitely incandescent.
This?
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Would you want to make 2 into 1?
Yes, that is EXACTLY the kind I have. One of the three circuits in it has burned out every lightbulb in the circuit. I don't know the voltage replacement for these bulbs, but it's certainly not the same voltage as the 100light strands i have, because those keep blowing out immediately as well. Any thoughts?
Maybe start at the beginning. Are you sure you're getting 120 vac from the receptacle? There are receptacle testers available for a small price. Can you plug something else into the outlet to see if it works? Table lamp, maybe. Take Santa to an outlet you know is ok just to see what happens. My parents had an old Christmas light set wired in series. All the lights went out just because one bulb was bad. Bulbs usually go out because the the element has burned in two. Suppose the bad circuit has a dead short instead of an open at the end of it. The upstream bulbs would in effect be acting like a fuse. This isn't very likely but one has to start somewhere.
This might be worth reading.
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I accidentally learned something again. There are similar explanations about Christmas tree lighting in other places. Maybe you should just replace all of the bad bulbs in the bad circuit at one time.
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