The heat gun vs soldering iron debate for fixing fairy lights

I spent 2 hours trying to solder a broken connection on a set of 50 lights from Target, and the wire just kept melting on me. Then my buddy told me to try a cheap heat gun from Harbor Freight instead, and I fixed the same spot in 3 minutes flat. But I have to wonder - does a heat gun risk damaging the plastic bulbs on older sets, or is it fine as long as you keep it moving? Anyone else had bad luck with one method over the other?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul23328d ago

Wait, you actually turned bulb sockets into droopy taffy? That's wild, I would have lost my mind if that happened to me. I gotta be honest, I didn't test the heat gun on a spare bulb at all. I just went straight for the repair like a dummy. The wires on this set have that thin rubbery coating, so they were melting easy with the iron, but the plastic bulbs seemed okay when I waved the gun over them. Still, now I'm paranoid about that droopy taffy thing you mentioned. I bet if I had wrecked one bulb the whole string would've been trash, you know?

blair_davis28d ago

Was this a newer set where the wires have that thin rubbery coating or an older one with the stiff plastic? Ive wrecked a whole string trying to heat shrink the connections because the gun turned the bulb sockets into droopy taffy. The trick is keeping the gun moving, but on old bulbs the plastic gets brittle way faster than on new ones. Did you test the heat gun on a spare bulb from the set first or just go right for the repair?