Well we have been in a drought but we have now had rain for 3 days straight constent rain day and night.The water is of course standing on the ground.I have had my display up for a few weeks now which is good since now my lights won't work in the rain.The only ones working is the ones I have pluged in the house for the lights in my landscaping beds and around the porch.The major ones won't I messed with them for 2 hours electrical taping the plugs the only ones I didn't get was the ones on top of my archway.They are all outdoor lights-and spots.My extension cord is a heavy duty one that hubby says is for outdoor.Anyone have this problem and what did you do.My partys tommorrow I would like for them to work.TIA.
Is it possible the lights not working are coming off a different circuit breaker of your panel? Maybe something tripped? If an extension cord has shorted, every time you reset your breaker, it's just going to trip it again.
I have had the experience where 1 bad extension cord in a string of them can shut the whole thing down. With all the rain, it's possible something shorted out. I take a light that I've verified works, then starting at the root house plug, start unplugging and plug in the light at every junction until I find the culprit.
BUT, IF ITS STILL WET AND RAINING -DONT DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!
Handling live electrical cords with wet hands on wet ground is a very bad idea.
Check you breaker panel first and see if anything has tripped. If the end of a cord was sitting in standing water, it could have easily flipped a breaker. If so, turn it back on and see if it stays.
Most likely, everything will work again once it all drys out.
If not do what was mentioned above and find the bad cord or light socket.
__________________
Living as if every day were Halloween!
Man, be careful! You do not want a live electrocution as part of your display. For electric connections in the yard we've used gallon ziplock bags that we've cut holes in the sides of to feed in each end of the plugs. Once the ends are together, seal the holes up with glue (we've used Elmers) and zip close. After Halloween just cut up the bags. Everything's stayed dry so far - good luck with your set up!
__________________
55 days left 'til The Holiday, 55 days left 'til The Day; take another box down, strew the decorations around, 55 days left 'til Halloween!
We are having the same rain issues here and my lights went out yesterday. It ended up being a tripped GFCI breaker. Go around the house are reset every GFCI you haveand see if that helps.......
The rain is causing a short and something should be thrown out. If this was a company and I saw electrical tape on an extension cord, I would report it to the safety person to have it disposed. - To repair it properly is usually just as expensive to just replace it. (electrical tape is not repairing it properly - I am an electical engineer and I work in Quality)
Despite what some cheap husbands want to claim, ext cords do not last forever and need to be replaced when damaged. This can be from general use, friction from cement removing the insulation, running it over or pulling it out of the wall improperly. Even though it may be heavy duty outside ext cord that does not mean it has a 100 year life.
Tell him to buy a nice outside extension cord - not a cheap one and your problems should go away. If not, give him a kiss, say your sorry, and return the new ext cord the next day. But that wont happen, you will have power of knowing you were right and your party will be great.
Oh and if its shorting out thats a good thing! That means no one will get a shock when they step in your puddles. Next time, dont do any rain dances until after halloween.
You're probably popping a GFCI, either in your breaker box or at the outlet where your lights are plugged into.
I ran into this last year. With 60 extension cords on 3 15A circuits, it's really, really tough to diagnose. This year I used a 4"-5" piece of bicycle tube around each plug/socket held on by a tie-wrap at each end. The only GFCI pop I had this year was due to a permanently mounted flood on the front of the house, which had its drain hole plugged with pine needles from a tree right above it. Had I gone bare, like last year, I'd be going crazy by now with all the recent rain.
I agree with Ross, it is a GFCI breaker, it happens too me every major rain and once it dries out everything is always fine. You should be good to go on Halloween as long as it does not rain. Should it rain hard on Halloween, I doubt you would see any traffic so you should have no problems. Happy Haunting!
Problem fixed.The outside outlet is on the same circuit as the bathroom so when it gets wet it is tripped kind of dumb since it is outside.I ended up putting it on my pool outlet no problems.working great so no shorts(everything is brand new so there shouldn't be.
All my extension cords are new and heavy duty the thick orange kind-I was only using electrical tape to seal the ends.The only tape on the cord was a seal not repair.
Thanks to all who replied.I am just so happy they are fixed.
National electric code says that outside outlets and bathroom outlets must be protected with GFCI (ground fault circuit interruption) breakers. It's for your protection. When there is a voltage leak from either leg to ground, the circuit will trip. That you changed it to your "pool outlet" and it no longer trips makes me wonder if the "pool outlet" is similarly protected. It DEFINITELY should be if it isn't. All GFCI's have a "test" button. I strongly suggest you try it, if it's there on the circuit protecting the "pool outlet". I can only shudder to think what might happen if that "pool outlet" is actually connected to a swimming pool pump, not protected with a GFCI, and it shorts while people are in the pool.
Rain=lights not working
For electric connections in the yard we've used gallon ziplock bags that we've cut holes in the sides of to feed in each end of the plugs. Once the ends are together, seal the holes up with glue (we've used Elmers) and zip close. After Halloween just cut up the bags. Everything's stayed dry so far - good luck with your set up!
Linear Mode
