Janie Grace Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 This is driving me crazy. I have several strands of white lights with mini-lanterns on them that I use to decorate inside. I got them at Pier 1. One strand went out and I found ONE bulb that is burned out. I pulled it out and tried to replace it with a Christmas bulb (which looks exactly the same). However, it does't work. If you squint, you can see that the Pier 1 bulb is maybe a millimeter or two longer and has little grooves on the edges of the plastic that the other ones don't. ARGH. I don't want to spend $15 on a new strand if it's just a burned out bulb. But where does one find "special" white strand light bulbs? Why does Pier 1 have to be so difficult and use stupid rare bulbs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Designate that strand as a source for spare bulbs for the others and use one less strand :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Are you trying to replace the bulb in its plastic bottom, or just the bulb? I used to toss all the burned out bulbs and never could figure out why the replacements didn't work, but then I realized all the little bases were different. Sigh. If you have a steady hand, grab a pair of tweezers and unhook the wires from the bottom of the base, slide the bulb out, stick a new bulb in, and re-hook/bend the wires to the base. It's easy once you get the hang of it. Of course, I could totally be misunderstanding your thread, in which case, listen to kiana's advice. :coolgleamA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I don't know the answer but I hear you... it's pretty aggravating. I've done with kiana suggested, but it does burn me that companies do this...what a waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Yep. The little green base thingies that go into the strand of lights are all different, but the bulbs themselves are not. We replaced a bunch of burnt out bulbs this year on our regular light strings just the way Wildcat suggested. Take the bulb with base out of the string, remove the bulb from the base, slip a new bulb into the base, and stick it back into the string. It was actually pretty quick and easy after we figured out the first one. Sometimes it feels like a full time job keeping everything fixed and working around here, but I would have to get a full time job to afford to replace everything that stops working! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Oh, I had assumed that that had already been checked and the bulbs were actually different. Changing bulbs to different bases is easy-peasy once you have done one and with a little care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Are you trying to replace the bulb in its plastic bottom, or just the bulb? I used to toss all the burned out bulbs and never could figure out why the replacements didn't work, but then I realized all the little bases were different. Sigh. If you have a steady hand, grab a pair of tweezers and unhook the wires from the bottom of the base, slide the bulb out, stick a new bulb in, and re-hook/bend the wires to the base. It's easy once you get the hang of it. Of course, I could totally be misunderstanding your thread, in which case, listen to kiana's advice. :coolgleamA: Why did nobody ever tell me this before????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Why did nobody ever tell me this before????? I only discovered that little secret while attempting to buy replacement bulbs and the store was out of the ones with bottoms and all they had were packets of bulbs with the wires sticking out. I wondered what use those would be because I needed the bottoms! Boy, was I mad when I grabbed a packet and took them home and started experimenting. I was mad because I had thrown out so many strands of lights over the years!! But, now you know, and you can help spread the word. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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