LED Keeper® - LED Holiday Light Set Repair Tool

Did not use had no LED light but keep anyway may is use in the future

There are some things that are predictable karma rules - 1) A flock of Pigeons will gather immediately after you have just detailed your car 2) The wind will blow just after you have raked the fall leaves into a nice pile, and 3) It will rain the day after you finish stringing up the Christmas lights. The first two problems are dealt with through a little more effort, and perhaps some sort of crystal therapy....but the third problem means that at least one or more of your Christmas lights will short out as the water finds its way into the light set. In the old school non-led world of Christmas lights, this was not much of a problem. But since I switched to LED, the problem has gotten much worse, and it seems that every year I wind up replacing several strands of those expensive buggers. So, enter this device which promises to find and fix the trouble LEDs. Yay! I watched the video, it seemed simple enough, so I ordered it, and collected my strands of dead LED lights to finally get some control over the spiraling cost of replacement. Or at least, that was the plan..... So by now, you are probably getting the idea that this is a negative review. It is probably a 3 star product, but I took away an extra star because it also broke my heart...never giving me the satisfaction of salvaging my light strands. Heres why: 1) The directions on the package are pretty useless., there are all sorts of gizmos and do-dads on the device, but the only one that is explained is the little hook thingy that you use to test the wires. 2) The product works by trying to short back to the plug, causing the lights on the string to light up, and then uses ptotato chip bag clips to mark the spot to replace the bulb. But heres the thing, to do the test, you must unravel the twisted strands of the wires leading to EACH AND EVERY bulb, and test it one at a time. It is tedious, and since the device pierces through the strand wires to make contact, a negative reading occurs frequently, even if the bulb is good. What is the fix? CUTTING OUT the bad bulb and attaching a shorting (shunt) bar - which is like a fancy wire nut. You are given 2! I had more than 2 on the first string alone! 3) Testing on a net light, I could never even FIND the problem. Had to call the technical service - who suggested it might be the transformer - and then informed me that it is probably beyond repair. Nice! I could have bought two new strands of lights for the cost of a device that tells me to go buy strands anyway... Each of the 4 net lights I tested (each taking about 30 minutes each to test) had the mysterious transformer problem. Sigh.

Couldnt get to work at first, and almost threw it in the trash due to frustration. The video tutorial was helpful, but could get no lights to light up at all, on a working or non working strand. Decided to change the 9V battery, even though the red indicator light turned on when I squeezed the trigger. So CHANGE THE BATTERY before you get mad and throw it away. Was fairly easy to work after that. Although still required some effort because I found I had multiple bulbs out and a bad socket on a single section of strand.

Love this product! Saved me from throwing away my LED Christmas lights strand. I was able to locate the faulty led light bulbs and replace them. Voilà, lights are working again. Highly recommend this if you want to save money from having to buying more light sets!

Very easy to use and even finds multiple failures in one section. The only problem is after a few years outside, hanging in loops that sway in the wind, I get a lot of failures! The leads corrode and break with the wind. When I purchase a new string, I may squirt weatherproof electrical sealant into the sockets. I also bought a pack of 500 3mm LEDs. I can swap out the bad bulb and put a new one into the plug part. Just remember, the long lead goes towards the end with the little latch tab. It wont work the other way.

As we slowly switch our home Christmas lighting to LED strings, some LED based strings, after only a couple of seasons have stopped working. Sure, they are relatively cheap sets, but I thought they would last longer than a couple of seasons. Right now LED strings are more expensive then filament bulb strings, so repairing them makes sense. The LED Keeper worked great. I was able to quickly identify the failed LEDs, and fixed three out of three strings, with multiple failures in each string, in about 90 minutes. In all cases, because the strings are relatively new, the cause was a broken lead at the point where the LED leads are bent around the socket. Probably jammed in quickly by automated machines which overly stressed the pin. I am a little apprehensive about the insulation piercing mechanism the Keeper uses, but so far it is effective and reliable, and is just a pin prick. Whether it will lead to premature wire failure remains to be seen. An issue only peripherally related to the Keeper is finding replacement LEDs. Big Box stores sell packs of five, but when you figure the price, you realize you are better off getting a cheap LED string on sale and use it for replacing bulbs in other strings. If the socket type is the same all the better, if not, just be careful about not stressing the pins when you unbend and re-bend them when switching sockets.

There are some things that are predictable karma rules - 1) A flock of Pigeons will gather immediately after you have just detailed your car 2) The wind will blow just after you have raked the fall leaves into a nice pile, and 3) It will rain the day after you finish stringing up the Christmas lights. The first two problems are dealt with through a little more effort, and perhaps some sort of crystal therapy....but the third problem means that at least one or more of your Christmas lights will short out as the water finds its way into the light set. In the old school non-led world of Christmas lights, this was not much of a problem. But since I switched to LED, the problem has gotten much worse, and it seems that every year I wind up replacing several strands of those expensive buggers. So, enter this device which promises to find and fix the trouble LEDs. Yay! I watched the video, it seemed simple enough, so I ordered it, and collected my strands of dead LED lights to finally get some control over the spiraling cost of replacement. Or at least, that was the plan..... So by now, you are probably getting the idea that this is a negative review. It is probably a 3 star product, but I took away an extra star because it also broke my heart...never giving me the satisfaction of salvaging my light strands. Heres why: 1) The directions on the package are pretty useless., there are all sorts of gizmos and do-dads on the device, but the only one that is explained is the little hook thingy that you use to test the wires. 2) The product works by trying to short back to the plug, causing the lights on the string to light up, and then uses ptotato chip bag clips to mark the spot to replace the bulb. But heres the thing, to do the test, you must unravel the twisted strands of the wires leading to EACH AND EVERY bulb, and test it one at a time. It is tedious, and since the device pierces through the strand wires to make contact, a negative reading occurs frequently, even if the bulb is good. What is the fix? CUTTING OUT the bad bulb and attaching a shorting (shunt) bar - which is like a fancy wire nut. You are given 2! I had more than 2 on the first string alone! 3) Testing on a net light, I could never even FIND the problem. Had to call the technical service - who suggested it might be the transformer - and then informed me that it is probably beyond repair. Nice! I could have bought two new strands of lights for the cost of a device that tells me to go buy strands anyway... Each of the 4 net lights I tested (each taking about 30 minutes each to test) had the mysterious transformer problem. Sigh.

Heres the deal, I have these lights that I brought last year for my pagan winter solstice display from the Homeless Despot. They arent the greatest lights, but they are LED and they can switch from warm white to multi-color. Anyhoo, one 12 foot section was out, I stood on a ladder and checked every bulb in that sector...no dice . Oh, Mylanta! Went ahead and looked on the Homeless Despot website, and they were out of said lights. Fack! Got on my phone, opened up the A-Zon app, and blammy! Found this puppy. Worked like a charm. Cost less than a new string of lights. Highly recommend.

I go all out with Christmas decorating. My husband knows to leave the house when I’m decorating, as nothing pushes my buttons worse than lights that don’t work! I went to put my outdoor lights up a few weeks ago, and EVERY strand had a least 1 section that wouldn’t light. At $25 a strand, I decided to try the LED keeper and see if by any chance I could repair them. This morning, in less than 20 minutes, I have easily repaired 4 strands of lights! It’s easy to use, works great, and reduces my blood pressure!!!

I was easily able to repair 3 - 25 ft sections of dual color LED Christmas lights. If I had to replace these lights, it was going to cost me $58 each set with today’s inflated prices. This tool is well worth the money. I would recommend watching YouTube video on how to use this if you are a beginner like I was. I feel like a pro now!