Lego lighting

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hoops777
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Lego lighting

Post by hoops777 »

Thought I would take a shot here you never know.
So my now 7 year old grandson and I are building a Christmas village with 5 sets for now.
Gingerbread house we built last year and will be starting Santa’s workshop, winter village market,elf house and village toy shop.
Not easy builds for a 7 year old even though he is really good and better than me.

I want to add lights but it seems like it would be a real pain and very difficult.
I found a site called brickstuff that supposedly has very high quality lights and they sell light strings that change colors and different things. I would like to just buy these and put them on the roofs after we are done building. They also have already assembled street lamps that are nice.
I think that would be enough and I just do not want the frustrations of trying to install the specific lite kits that are made for the individual sets.

Any lego builders out there with lighting experience?

Thanks
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
iamlucky13
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Re: Lego lighting

Post by iamlucky13 »

If you're interested in DIY, most white LED's are nominally around 3V, and can work connected to a pair of alkaline batteries or a single CR2032 coin cell. Battery holders are cheap and easily available for a variety of sources including Amazon. Ideally, you'd control the power level with a resistor or perhaps a potentiometer if you're feeling a little fancier, but I've used low power white LED's directly wired to the above battery options when I want to keep things simple. I haven't lit up any Lego kits.

Simple through-hole, 3mm or 5mm LED's are often used by model builders because their power level is appropriate and they are fairly easy to work with, although are usually connected via soldering the wiring together or soldering on connectors. I don't remember the types off-hand, but I think some fairly common PC wiring headers have the same spacing as 5mm LED's and can be used for non-soldered connections.

LEDsupply.com is a decent place to look for them. They've got a selection of colors, as well as warm white and daylight white 5mm LED's. The electronic supply companies like Digikey and Mouser have a huge selection, but it's too much for most people to sort through.

Looks like Brickstuff has some easy to work with kits, as well as some fancier controls. If in doubt, that seems like the better option for most people, but the cost can add up.
miamibeachdentist
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Re: Lego lighting

Post by miamibeachdentist »

There is a Lego Reddit group. You will get better responses/ideas there.
Topic Author
hoops777
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Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:23 pm
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Re: Lego lighting

Post by hoops777 »

iamlucky13 wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:52 am If you're interested in DIY, most white LED's are nominally around 3V, and can work connected to a pair of alkaline batteries or a single CR2032 coin cell. Battery holders are cheap and easily available for a variety of sources including Amazon. Ideally, you'd control the power level with a resistor or perhaps a potentiometer if you're feeling a little fancier, but I've used low power white LED's directly wired to the above battery options when I want to keep things simple. I haven't lit up any Lego kits.

Simple through-hole, 3mm or 5mm LED's are often used by model builders because their power level is appropriate and they are fairly easy to work with, although are usually connected via soldering the wiring together or soldering on connectors. I don't remember the types off-hand, but I think some fairly common PC wiring headers have the same spacing as 5mm LED's and can be used for non-soldered connections.

LEDsupply.com is a decent place to look for them. They've got a selection of colors, as well as warm white and daylight white 5mm LED's. The electronic supply companies like Digikey and Mouser have a huge selection, but it's too much for most people to sort through.

Looks like Brickstuff has some easy to work with kits, as well as some fancier controls. If in doubt, that seems like the better option for most people, but the cost can add up.
Thanks. Brickstuff looks the simplest, but they are pricey. At this point I would rather just pay extra and keep it simple.
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
alex_686
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Re: Lego lighting

Post by alex_686 »

miamibeachdentist wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:17 am There is a Lego Reddit group. You will get better responses/ideas there.
I would also look for a local group. There are quite a few Lego clubs out there. I would start on facebook.

Or maybe visit a convention. They have workshops where you can talk with people who have done this.
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JupiterJones
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Re: Lego lighting

Post by JupiterJones »

If you want the look of a string of Christmas lights, then pre-made is probably the way to go.

But if you just want some interior lighting, that could be easily rigged up with some LEDs, some basic wiring, and just about any voltage source (a battery or even a spare USB power supply). In fact, that might make for a fun learning project. You'll probably want to wire in a resistor somewhere in the circuit, although you can let your grandson blow an LED or two first so he understands why that's needed. :D

This thread is reminding me of the original, old-school Lego lighting set I had as a kid:

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