Bad node in 100 count ray's string

[doubleeaz]

So pulled out my smart strings and one of them has a bad node.  I tried replacing it, being aware of which way the IC was facing and just twisted the wires together to test.  It was working but then after soldering and wrapping the connections, the node is not working any more.

Is there anything that I need to be aware of?  What I am missing?

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

[taybrynn]

Make sure the wires at the end of the string are not touching each other.   Makes sure the input side is on the big black chip side.  Make sure you didn't accidently leave the tester on a smaller # of nodes by accident ... increase back to 100 if needed.  I've never had a spliced in node not work, except sometimes the problem can be in the OUTPUT from a node (some nodes don't pass it on for some reason) ... if thats the case, the node prior is actually bad and may need to be spliced out (which might also mean the one your replaced was fine).  Again, just throwing stuff out there to try/think about.

[doubleeaz]

Thanks,  Will recheck the connections and then change out the node before.

[duane.mosley]

a practice that I have been taking is when I have a bad node, I replace the one before it as well. never know if the node is not receiving data, or  the previous node is not sending data. what really stinks for me this year, I had mine connected in the garage and was testing and sequencing before I put them outside. soon as I get them outside, several bad nodes showed their ugly face. gotta love it!

[doubleeaz]

I have not had a chance to replace the node before the bad one, but for some reason the whole string is now working.  I will take your advice and replace the node in front just to be sure.  Don't want to tear it down once I put it up for Christmas.

[lonewolf41]

I had the exact same thing.  I cut wires between a working and non-working node.  I hooked a few working nodes to the last lit node to see if it was passing the signals and the new nodes lit up fine.  I assumed the first non-lit node was then bad.  Just for grins, I reconnected the rest of the original string back using jumper wires and the string worked fine.  I assumed a broken wire or something that I bypassed when I cut the wires.  I cut a small length of wire and soldered it to the last lit node and twisted it to the rest of the string and the string worked fine.  I soldered that last joint and the string quit working again.  It is the darnedest thing I have ever seen.

I know it is not any help, but you are not alone in trying to troubleshoot wacky nodes.

Good luck,
-Keith