Do battery Christmas lights break after a week in storms?

[Jumpingjackandjill]

I bought a boxes of battery lights for outside. I put them on trees and bushes the week before last. Then I put another box of lights on a statue outside. We had a storm and the lights held up. Then another storm came.

I wasn't at home since the storm last weekend but the lights were working after one storm.

I noticed tonight that all the lights were off. I went to the statue and I turned on the button and the lights were working but somehow the lights were turned off.

I live at home with an aging mother and she's paranoid. I will ask her tomorrow did she turn off the lights while I was away. She is utterly paranoid of fires. They are battery packed lights. They are going to be no fires from them.

Then I went to the trees and bushes and I traced the line of lights. The battery box wasn't really in the place that I left it in. I had the battery box located in a hole in the wall and there was plenty of flex in the wire. I tried to located the battery box and I found the wire just to find that the battery box was completely gone and unattached.

Do storms do that? Do storms smash of battery boxes at the end of the light wires?

We have no close neighbours and they were not flashing or very bright so it wasn't a neighbour getting angry at them.

This was my first year having lights.

I don't know if my mother had paranoia and went to turn off the lights outside and broke the battery box. I find it odd how two sets of lights were all off. One set of lights was off and the other broken.

It's completely unusual.

The lights were advertised as outdoor lights too and also had a function - 6 hours on, 18 hours off automatic timer.

Ime the batteries don’t last very long. The box could have smashed blowing about in the wind if it’s been wild. Have you tried new batteries in the other one? All it would take is for the slightest water ingress though and they’d be gone. We had some solar outside lights that filled with water in heavy rain & so broke.

I didn't leave the battery box to blow around in the wind. I know my mother was paranoid about neighbours stealing the lights so I hid the battery box in the wall. Unless if the tree branches blew the wire out from the battery box but there was plenty of wire and flex to the battery box so it's completely unusual.

One set of lights is working fine. They were turned off but I never had them in the off position.

The other lights broken.

Is it a clean break like the wire has been 'cut'?

It was night time when I found it. I don't think it was a clean break. It looked like the wire was pulled.

So the box came apart from the rest of it? That sounds odd. I have two sets of battery lights wrapped around a tree out front and another on a wreath and other than needing to replace the batteries after a couple weeks no issues.

Did you have any storms?

I do find it odd. One set of lights were turned off and then the other set of lights the battery box was gone.

I think my mother was paranoid. The lights that were turned off the battery box was there on the ground.

The other lights and the battery box was gone. I will check again in the daylight to see if it's outside but it was either the wind blowing the lights even though the lights remained on the trees or maybe my mother got paranoid and started pulling at the wire.

It is odd.

I asked my mother if she was outside turning off the Christmas lights at any stage when I was gone and she said no. So it must have been the storm.

I still find it odd. One set is still working but they were turned off and when I pressed the button they turned on. Even though I had them on. Then the other set the wire was detached from the battery box. Maybe the storm did that. It was stormy last week on Sunday but it calmed again just as quick as the winds picked up. It was windy at about 1.30 pm and then it wasn't as windy by 6.30.

I will check another neighbours lights because she has battery lights too and I will see if they are on later.

Unless if my mother was outside turning off lights and she forgot about turning them off.