knarf180 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 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. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Wow thanks so much for sharig this info. It sounds like a great idea. Very clever and it does sound safe for a wee one. Congrats on job well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalesq Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Wow! What a lot of work you've done on the house, and it's looking really nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knarf180 Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Forgot to mention - The lighting project ran me about $15 in parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Even better !! You probably already know this but some model railroad places have great LED supplies. Evans Designs is one interesting place to poke around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 What a lucky house to have fallen into your hands! What a clever way to add lighting and yet keep the house relatively kid safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KariW Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 If you look in my sweet shop album, I bought a string of led lights at the craft store, that attach to a single battery pack with a switch. I made a sign out of plastic and bunched them behind it and I also fed them through paper straws to make it look like fluorescent bulbs. It worked out well for the little girl I made it for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knarf180 Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 If you look in my sweet shop album, I bought a string of led lights at the craft store, that attach to a single battery pack with a switch. I made a sign out of plastic and bunched them behind it and I also fed them through paper straws to make it look like fluorescent bulbs. It worked out well for the little girl I made it for. Hmm.. I see the ones where you used tape wiring. That would have saved me a heck of a lot of time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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