Step 5 Installing the Lights

Roundwire Lighting Tutorial

Entry posted by christinee August 4, 2008

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Plug in your soldering iron so it heats up while you are doing the next few preparations. While your soldering iron is heating, make sure the area around it is clear so it does not burn the work surface or anything nearby. Use the stand that came with the soldering iron to protect the work surface.

Test light to be installed - OPTIONAL

Even though this step is optional step, it's a good idea to test the lights so you if they don't work after installation, you know the light was working beforehand and it could help with troubleshooting.

To test the light, using the socket strip, attach the prongs of the strip to the transformer with a screwdriver and plug the light into the strip. Turn on the socket strip and the lights should work. Turn on the socket strip and the lights should work. If the lights don't work, first try replacing the fuse in the socket strip. If the fuse is good and the lights don't work, you may have a bad bulb. Try replacing the bulb in the light. If you don't have a socket strip, you can test the light when you remove the plug to prepare it for soldering.
- Remove plug from the end of the light.
  
  The plug needs to be removed feeding through the dollhouse walls and for soldering to the tapewire. To do this, take your tweezers and gently pull off the brass points that are on the end of the plug. Push the bare wire through the plug head and pull the plug head off the wires.
  - Thread the Wire to The Tapewire
    Feed the wire through the hole you made in the dollhouse until it reaches the tapewire. If the wire is too long, trim it to take up any slack. You don't want to have too much excess lose wire that could get caught on something. Make sure you do not pull the wire too tight however.
  - Lay the Wire in the Grooves
    Place the wire in the grooves but do not glue it in. Use masking tape to hold the wire in the grooves. Use masking tape to hold the light fixture in place at the point where it will be permanently installed. Do not remove the adhesive backing from the light fixture and attach it permanently yet.
  - Secure the Newly Threaded Wire (If you are using the socket method, proceed to Step 5 A)
    Using masking tape, secure the strands of the wire near, but not over the tapewire. Put one wire over the blue copper tape and one wire over the orange copper tape. Make sure the wires are not too long. If the bare wires are too long, cut them to about 1/4 of an inch long. If the white wire is too long, trim that and remove the insulation on the wires to expose the bare copper wires.
    
    Make sure the bare wires from one strand covers only the blue side of the tape and bare wires from the other strand cover only the copper side of the tape.
  If the wire is too short and needs to be lengthened, click here for an article on how to splice wires together to lengthen them.
  
  [*]Test the Light
  If you haven't already done so, you can test the light by plugging in the junction splice and transformer. Make sure both ends of the wire touch the tape. You may have to hold the wire down with your fingers by pressing lightly on the insulated (white) part of the wire. The light may flicker, this is ok, since the connection is not secure. You just want to make sure it lights up. When it does, remove the wire, unplug the lead in wire and transformer and move onto the next step.
  
  [*]Prepare for Soldering
  You are now ready to begin soldering the ends to the tapewire. Plug in your soldering iron and wait for it to heat up if you haven't already done so.
  
  DO NOT let the ends of the wire touch each other when the electricity
  is going to the dollhouse - this will cause a short in the wires!
  
  Move onto Step 6 - Soldering the wires