Repairing festoon lighting

[scbk]

Got a festoon string, it was originally a 110v set but I use it on 240v with a 13amp plug.

There's a dodgy connection inside one of the lamp holders. If you twist the flex where it goes into the lampholder the power to that one lamp comes and goes (rest of the string is fine).

Can't see any obvious way of opening it up, I assume it's moulded. Don't know if you could cut it open and reseal?!

Only other ideas is not use that one lamp (annoying) or cut it out and rejoin the flex without it?

 

[SUNRAY]

Got a festoon string, it was originally a 110v set but I use it on 240v with a 13amp plug.

There's a dodgy connection inside one of the lamp holders. If you twist the flex where it goes into the lampholder the power to that one lamp comes and goes (rest of the string is fine).

Can't see any obvious way of opening it up, I assume it's moulded. Don't know if you could cut it open and reseal?!

Only other ideas is not use that one lamp (annoying) or cut it out and rejoin the flex without it?View attachment 149030 View attachment 149031 View attachment 149032

I can't tell from your pic but some of these fittings moulded, other are 3 parts, you unscrew the shroud and the rest becomes obvious.

 

[333rocky333]

some of them just just spike into the 2 core flex if you hit the back of it with a hammer it might bite in enough to stay on stable

 

[securespark]

hit...it with a hammer

universal solution!

 

[SUNRAY]

some of them just just spike into the 2 core flex if you hit the back of it with a hammer it might bite in enough to stay on stable

Indeed most of them are terminated that way but my experience is that once there is a problem, it's only fixed by removing the fitting and moving it along the cable a few mm, so the original puncture holes are still inside the fitting. Unless the fitting is a clip on, and not clipped on properly, I don't see how the hammer will effect a repair.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

some of them just just spike into the 2 core flex

I've always wondered how those work. My experience of flex is that there's a twist on the inner cores, but even if there weren't, with round flex how do you ensure that a pair of spikes end up in the right place? With flat festoon cable I can understand it, but randomly poking into round flex surely means you might miss, or create a fault?

 

[scbk]

Yes this is a round flex - and quite a fat one at that, I assume it was once a longer set, it only has 12 lampholders now

 

[333rocky333]

I've always wondered how those work. My experience of flex is that there's a twist on the inner cores, but even if there weren't, with round flex how do you ensure that a pair of spikes end up in the right place? With flat festoon cable I can understand it, but randomly poking into round flex surely means you might miss, or create a fault?

Good point, I don't know the answer, I should have looked closer, I wrongly thought it was like the flat black stuff.
I often see old cut off yellow stuff so next time I will get a bit and dissect it