LED Christmas Light Inline Resistor Enclosure

thingiverse

An old strand of LED Christmas lights lost half its lights, only to find out after replacing nearly all of them that they were still not lighting properly. The problem turned out to be an inline resistor that had scorched its PVC container, overpowering the LEDs and burning them out in the process. Its container was destroyed, so a replacement suitable for the 1/2W 2500 ohm resistor was put together to replace it. Warning: While this new container appears to stay cooler than the ones that originally shipped with the strand, I expect that as the condition of the LEDs degrades, so too will that of the resistor. It already gets hot enough to noticeably soften the PLA/PHA plastic being used where it makes contact with the resistor itself. I don't expect that the container is very well suited for outdoor use where it could be exposed to moisture, so make sure to adequately seal up the splices with heatshrink, as demonstrated by the fact that the wires and heatshrink will still fit in the holes even unshrunk.