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Showing results for tags 'battery'.
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Help! I started my first dollhouse and FINALLY got to a finishing point after about a year and a half. There are still a few minor things that need done but it’s finished enough for now (I needed to finish it by Xmas for my daughter). I have made dozens of little 1:24 models in the past and am a little knowledgable in electrical (aircraft electrician over a decade ago) but have since become rusty in the topic. I opted to install 6, small LED lights into the dollhouse, connected by a series of 9v batteries. Since my other smaller models have included similar setups with the LEDs and batteries, I didn’t think this would be an impossible task. I have ordered 9V lights and hardwired them into the house, connecting them in series to 6, 9v battery housing and a switch. It had seemed a bit of overkill to me, since the smaller models often used a single AA battery for often up to 4-5 bright lights. Except, it was very dim (which I don’t mind too much, as it’s more for effect anyway) and lasted maybe 30 minutes before dying. I’m lost now on what to do. I would have to completely cut into the house and moulding to replace the wiring. Thoughts? Did I completely mess this up? Help!! I will try to post pictures of the setup.
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I picked up a poorly constructed dollhouse from a friend about a year ago. It was missing a few pieces and was completely glued together without first sanding and painting the wood. I'm about 100 hours into rebuilding this thing - its both therapeutic and stressful at the same time. The rooms are pretty deep making them poorly lit, I figured adding lighting would really spruce things up. While searching for lighting kits pretty much everything out there is made to plug into the wall for power. I plan on giving the house to my daughter, currently 3 years old (likely to be 20 before this thing is done) - plugging it in would be an accident waiting to happen. I decided the only safe way to light the house up would be with a rechargeable battery. After some careful research I decided to go with an IMR Li-on 18650 Battery. Being lithium it can hold plenty of juice and is "IMR" which is somehow safer. My knowledge of battery chemistry is greatly lacking. I built a simple circuit to connect the battery to surface mount LED lights. The LEDs were then inserted into the ceiling of each room. I hid the wiring by chiseling grooves into the walls and spackling over them. All the wires terminate at a single point in the roof at which I'm going to build some sort of a box to enclose everything and somehow make it look like its supposed to be there. I still have hours of spackling and sanding to do, but i figured I would share my progress.