On Tue, 26 Dec 2017 05:08:41 -0600, wrote:

Thanks for the help. This is an outdoor display, but I use it indoors.

To the best of my limited knowledge, indoor and outdoor Hannukah
lights are the same.

Incidentally, look for the UL 588 label:
https://industries.ul.com/wire-and-cable/seasonal-lighting

So no animals have chewed on the wires.

Assumption, the mother of all screwups. Just inspect the wiring and
see if there's any damage. You got used which means it could have
been abused in a multitude of ways.

I dont hasve whole sections out,
just two or three bulbs that dont light.

It could be a parallel wired affair with built in current limiting
resistors as mentioned in the patent:
https://www.google.com/patents/US8007129

I could just leave it alone,
but if it's series wired, I know it will eventually overload other
bulbs.

Look at the way series arrays are wired. There's no way to overload
them, unless you're into shorting out the LED's that died.

(Yea, I need to get a better look at the way it's wired).

You need to get a better look at the way it's wired.
You need to get a better look at the way it's wired.
You need to get a better look at the way it's wired.
You need to get a better look at the way it's wired.
I thought it would help if I repeated that a few extra times.

Plus
this was a very costly and very pretty display, so I want to keep it in
tip-top shape. (Which is why I only use it indoors).

Costly or overpriced?

The reason I got this, was because it was a store display, and I got it
at a much reduced price.

Yes, but you're suppose to do that AFTER the holidays, when the stores
unload all their holiday paraphernalia. Are you sure you got a good
price, or did the store just unload something broken which they
couldn't sell?

So, running it in the store for weeks probably
killed the weak LEDs.

Unless overheated or run a unusually high current, LED's should last
thousands of hours. You're thinking of the bad old days of
incandescent lights, where replacing bulbs was a regular exercise.

Before you replace any LED's,
You need to get a better look at the way it's wired
and determine if there's an internal ohmsistor or current limiter.
Replacing one of those with an ordinary LED is going to produce a very
bright flash before the fuse blows.

However there was no box or instructions.

If anything were included in the box, it would be a wholesale
repudiation of responsibility and various legal disclaimers in a dozen
foreign languages.

I originally suspected that if I did the research, I would find that
there are a few giant factories in China making both the quality and
the junk lights, which are then packaged, private labeled,
distributed, and sold by a multitude of disreputable vendors. Well,
more than a multitude. This list shows 863 manufacturers:
http://www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-products/Tree_Light.html
and 535,000 vendors in China:
https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/christmas-light.html
Identifying your lights may be difficult.

I'm sure
it was NOT made in the US, so finding the manufacturer is not gonna help
determine the proper bulbs.

There are no Hanukah light manufacturers left in the USA.
https://www.christmasdesigners.com/blog/made-in-usa-christmas-lights/

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558