Twinkly Festoon - There's a MASSIVE problem with mine! Fix it Friday

Over time my Twinkly Festoon Lamps in my garden have started to fail, and before I started to attempt to fix them, I got in touch with Twinkly and they were super helpful.
So in this video I show you the issue I had, and Twinkly's solution for repairing it... does it work? Well you'll have to watch and see! I'm going to be sending the poorly lamps off to @bigclivedotcom soon for an autopsy and as you'll discover, they are quite interesting!
Clive looked at them! Here's his video - • Fixing Twinkly festoon...
If you want the same lights as me (hopefully with the repaired gaskets) you can get them here ( UK - amzn.to/3vhUwck )
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00:00 Disclaimer
00:30 Introduction
00:42 My Twinkly Festoon Lights are BROKEN!
01:12 Twinkly Festoons are showing the wrong COLOUR!
01:26 Why are Twinkly Festoon Lights Breaking?
02:37 Taking down my Twinkly Festoon Lights for Repair
02:48 Water Ingress caught on Camera!
03:23 A quick look at the power and wiring of the Twinkly Festoon Lamps
05:25 Cleaning the water damaged connectors
06:41 Looking at the damaged Twinkly Festoon Lamp
07:19 The hidden 'numbers' on Twinkly Lamps
08:09 The replacement gaskets for Twinkly Festoon lamps
08:20 The replacement lamp PCBs from Twinkly
11:38 Removing the Twinkly Festoon Lamp PCB
12:16 The extent of the corrosion in the Twinkly Lamp PCBs
13:06 Replacing the failed Twinkly Festoon Gasket with an uprated one
13:56 Comparing the failed and NEW Twinkly Lamp PCB
14:57 Can these run with a lamp PCB missing?
15:15 The corrosion is causing a bigger issue..
16:45 Have I fixed them all now?!
17:03 Three of the damaged lamp PCBs
17:50 ANOTHER ONE IS DEAD?!
19:01 Inspecting and maybe fixing the faulty one
20:28 WAIT! One MORE dead one?!
21:05 There's a MASSIVE problem with these lamps
21:55 What Twinkly have done to make it right
23:47 GAME OVER!

[@bigclivedotcom]

That will be a harsh lesson for Twinkly about the perils of outdoor electronics and how water will always find a way in. I'm guessing the cover wasn't quite reaching the o-ring. From the minimalist circuitry I'm guessing that they may be using a small microcontroller and WS2812B style addressable LEDs.

[@kiphakes]

My parents have a newer set that came in different packaging- next time I see them I’m going to see if they have the red o-rings! The original ones just flap around.. be interesting to see how they work! Thanks for watching- really do appreciate it buddy!

[@davebrooks993]

I design and test the electronics in a prominent environmental test equipment company in Canada, and can say without a doubt that water will find its way to a circuit board if the seal is not perfect. Conformal coatings only delay the inevitable.

[@KendraShuman]

I have been having problems with my 3 strands of Festoon lights and although Twinkly sent me the new red gaskets and one replacement lamp - I was so irritated that I had to be the one to fix a problem that should have been resolved before they ever sold outdoor lights. It took me a LONG time to pull out the old black gaskets partly because I have them outdoors on a slope and attached to a huge tree so it was cumbersome to take the lights down. Removing the black gaskets wasn't easy - I am not someone who has professional tools so I had to use a small screwdriver on 60 lamps. I had 20 lights that were visibly corroded. When I originally told Twinkly I had 1 bulb that wasn't working - I had to supply videos and a variety of pics. All of this takes a LOT of time, but I love the lights so I didn't want to give up. I am waiting on Twinkly to respond to my email where I explained I have more lamps that have corroded. This video was so helpful in explaining the issues and I am so sorry that I am not alone in having this massive problem!

[@ralphj4012]

Well done. It may be worth looking at the top of the lamps (where the cable entry part meets what looks to be a knurled ring). Water is likely to pool there.

[@ciprianwinerElectronicManiac]

Can't wait to see BigClive video about these things. Because i was pulling my hair out trying to understand how Twinkly can control their Christmas lights with only 2 wires and the after a lot of thinking and searching around the deep corners of the internet, I found out that these are individually numbered at the factory so each led has an unique address which is crazy. The way they control them is by Power Line Control, go figure.

[@kiphakes]

He’s done it! A week or so ago now

[@ciprianwinerElectronicManiac]

@@kiphakes Omg, I'll go watch it ASAP, thanks for the quick response. Cheers.

[@budgetmerch]

Nice that you will end up with some spares to maintain the ones you are using - can't fault that. You can probably fix quite a few of them by swapping any faulty components so you should have a good stock of spares.

[@kiphakes]

Yes.. I’ve got at least a run of 20 that work perfectly

[@sammyh2506]

Same issue, just checked several lamps and i can see the corrosion on the boards! Lets see what Twinkly say to me, currently 6 lamps not working.

[@kiphakes]

Good luck!

[@ellisgarbutt1925]

Even though the repair wasn't Successful at leaat twinkly aent out the parts to fix them rather than sening them off or throwing them away

[@kiphakes]

Yes exactly! Very good point Ellis!

[@daveelphick2485]

Good vid kip ❤hope the problem gets resolved soon at least it will get sorted ❤

[@TharkysOlafson]

I love that Steve and Vince are reading your disclaimers. Excellent choices! (Yes, I am new(ish) to this channel)

[@kiphakes]

I’m going to try and get a variety of fixers from around the world to do them.. that’s the plan eventually!

[@TharkysOlafson]

@@kiphakes Too bad Jack Riley is dead, it would have been awesome to have him read your disclaimer. (He's the guy who voiced the disclaimer on Beavis and Butthead.)

[@sean9595]

That’s what I call good customers service Kip.but poor design

[@kiphakes]

Absolutely 👍🏼

[@josephdoiron8376]

Poor design. Those boards should sealed in some sort of epoxy or sealant. It seems they've done zero product testing.