I need your help. I've never wired a dollhouse before. I don't even know where to begin!?Cir-Kit Concepts has several kits. Do I need to buy one of these? If so, which one?
I would like to have lights in my new house/restaurant. I guess this needs to be done before I start working on the exterior? I would appreciate any advice you may have.
I've promised myself to finish cleaning my work room, finish my sofa, finish the staircase AND finish my new bed before I start on anything else! I just keep getting distracted!
Hope you have a lovely day!
7 comments:
I know wiring can be daunting, but it isn't all that difficult, just a bit fiddly. I've done a complete wiring tutorial on my website (written with the help of my expert dad), unfortunately for you it is in Dutch and I am hesitant to translate it because of all the technical terms etc.
Personally I would go for round or hard wiring, as it is cheap and easy. You can rout out grooves in floors and walls to hide the wiring , or hide it beneath the carpet.
You will need a transformer which transforms from the voltage in your country down to a maximum of 12 volts (which is what most dolls house lights work on). It needs to have enough power to handle all of the lights you want to use. As each lightbulb (so not the fitting! One fitting can have several lightbulbs!) is about 50 to 60 milliAmpere (mA), you need to add them all up to find out how 'big' your transformer needs to be. So let's say you want to run 10 lightbulbs, you'd need a transformer of at least 600 mA. I am sure any dollshouse shop or Radio Shack type shop can help you with this.
For more info on round wiring: http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/FEB2009/dollhouse-electrical.html
Good luck! ~Josje~
Thanks so much for the Greenleaf link Josje! I can see this will be very difficult! Glad I have some other projects to do before I try this! LOL
PS: I just looked at the CirKit kits. I'm sure they are very good, but I must say they're very expensive. A good transformer (with circuit breaker) should be easy to come by and the wire and one of those plug collectors'' (sorry, don't know the English word for that) can be bought from any dollshouse shop, at considarably less cost than the CirKit sets!
Go with LEDs: easier, cheaper, last longer & don't heat up.
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html
Just email & tell them what you're doing & how you want it to look & they're figure out what you need & how to do it.
hugs Karin
I bought a kit in the beginning before I knew how to wire (I do round / hard wiring), and I don't think it was necessary in my case. You need a transformer, lights (obviously) and some extra wire to lengthen the wires as needed (I use heat shrink tubes or electrical tape at the connections, but I've heard there is liquid electrical "tape" at the hardware store, too). I use a power strip attached to the transformer and plug my lights into that; you may need to buy additional male plugs if your lights don't include them. I think the Greenleaf site is a wonderful place to start. I just started building dollhouses last year, and I was surprised how easy it was the first time I wired a light! It was so easy, in fact, I swore I did it wrong - but it was lit, so I was happy. :D It just seems overwhelming, but you'll be going in no time!
P.S. LEDs are great - much better light and longer life. I've been making my own lamps with them, too (I have the process on my blog, if you're interested)...try NovaLyte.com in addition to Karin's suggestion. :]
Es una buena decisión lo de poner luces, no te arrepentirás. Todas las formas que te han dicho son muy buenas.
Yo estoy haciendo un experimento con las luces de navidad. Ya están todas unidas y con el tranformador, sólo tienes que ponerlas escondidas en falsos fondos, lámparas que hagas tú de papel. Es una pena que lo tenga tan abandonado y no te pueda enseñar fotos.
Pero planteatelo, es barato y fácil, aunque las tienes que saber distribuir y por lo menos hay 20 bombillas.
Si las coges de colores puedes hacer una casa de señoritas de poca moral :) :) :)
Besos Clara
Post a Comment