Electricity to a house

[Thimble Hall]

Something just dawned on me. going back it time when I did more mini work my husband was was my mini electrician, after he got sick I built but didn't electrify.. Now I am on my own I want to put ligting in what I make but am totally dumb when ti comes to how. I know there are 2 ways, flat copper and wire, we always went the wire route ad I do have some stuff here, plus I bought a kit recently online. However I could do with a really good book that can eduacate me. I have looked in all the mini books I have, they all mention both ways but they only seem to do "how to's" on te copper tape. All the light I have habe tiny plugs on them 

 

Can someone suggect a book I could get pleaae.

[Mid-life madness]

I cannot recommend a specific book, but there are tons of videos on the subject.

 

[genemini]

“ Dollhouse Lighting, Electrification in Miniature”  by Barbara Warner is a very good one.  She shows how to do both tape wire and round wire.  The book was published on 1986 and is out of print now.  However I still see it for sale.  When I built my first dollhouse I knew nothing about building one.  I chose the tape wire system and it has worked beautifully- everything still works after 25 years.  I owe it to this book because I did it all by myself.

[Thimble Hall]

I have a few questions.

When you buy lightfittings, do you buy different ones for copper tape versus wire..mine have tiny plugs on them.

Ditto if you buy a kit with transfomer etc is it different if copper tape/wire

Whenever I look something up it seems to come back to coppertape and am wondering if  I can usethe electrical stuff I already have.

Is there one method that is favoured over another .

The reason I want a book is so I cn study it and thoroughy understand the concept of both types before I decide what to do.

[Thimble Hall]

21 hours ago, Mid-life madness said:

I cannot recommend a specific book, but there are tons of videos on the subject.

 

This made no sense to me at all.it seemed he elecrtified a piece of wood . I watched it three times but was none the wiser afterwards

[Mid-life madness]

Jeannine,

I recommend that you go on you tube and look at many videos as possible

 

[Mid-life madness]

58 minutes ago, Thimble Hall said:

When you buy lightfittings, do you buy different ones for copper tape versus wire..mine have tiny plugs on them.

Ditto if you buy a kit with transfomer etc is it different if copper tape/wire

Whenever I look something up it seems to come back to coppertape and am wondering if  I can usethe electrical stuff I already have.

Is there one method that is favoured over another .

The reason I want a book is so I cn study it and thoroughy understand the concept of both types before I decide what to do.

All  lights  for dollhouses can work for both systems. The typically run on 12 volts....the size of the transformer determines how many actual bulbs (not fixtures) you can run.

A round wire system means you channel all of the fixture wires to a main plug in power source. It looks like the picture below.

[Mid-life madness]

 

[Mid-life madness]

 

Edited April 7, 2021 by Mid-life madness

[Thimble Hall]

1 hour ago, Mid-life madness said:

 

This clip was good, it made sense. It is starting to become clearer to me now. I really appreciate the help. I never had to worry about this before. John always did it, and when the houses went to thier charities there was just a thumbroll switch and the whole house lit up. I remember laying floors etc over wires , so he obviouslly didn't use the copper option.

 

Just one question, I suspect but don't know that 1/12 and 1/24 would need their own fittings, I have a box full of both so need to sort them out. I guess the 1/24 wee plugs will be smaller so it should be easy to seerate them..

 

I watched a lot about the copper tape and am finding myself definateley leaning towards the wire version.

 

I really do appreciate the help. I am determined to do this by myself now but he did more than I thought,bless him. He was always there if I got stuck on something.

[Mid-life madness]

Just ask Jeannine,

That being said, I haven't done the round wire system.

I always try to help people with electrical because I find it one of the most frustrating things to do, yet it makes such a statement to see a house all lit up.

I haven't done 1/24, but @fovcan tell you about 1/24 lighti fixtures.

[fov]

The 1:24 light fixtures come with small plugs, but you can remove them and use big plugs if that makes it easier for you. Just keep in mind that you can't mix the 1:24 scale plugs and 1:12 inch plugs on the same power strip because the pegs that fit into the holes are spaced differently.

I've only used tape wire, but in my Rowhouse I ran all of the wires to the bottom of the house and plugged them in there, which is similar to using a power strip.

I did put 1:24 scale outlets in the bedrooms (under the beds) to plug in table lamps. I used outlets that pound into the tape wire but there are 1:24 versions that connect to a power strip like the one Carrie showed: https://myfavoritedollhouse.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25

 

[Thimble Hall]

Thank you may I ask what made you dedide to  choose one sytem over another.. copper tape versus round plastic wire. The copper tape does seem more complex to install.

 

If I have this right re 1/24. I can simply change the plug to a 1/12 size plug and then can mix them if I need to. 

 

I seem to have a ton of lights, but not many I will use. I must have bought them during my spending spree when my common sense took a vacation when John died. It is crazy though, someone must have had a big sale as I have about a dozen or so floor standing lamps all the same,eithet that or I put 12 in a basket instead of 2.  Similar situation with some hanging and table ones too. Maybe I bought them for charity houses.Oh well I guess  I can donate them to something.

[fov]

Honestly I use tape wire just because it's what I've always used. But I've had connections go bad under the floor when they're hard wired into the tape, which would require ripping the floor out to fix it, so that's why I decided to install the outlets under the house for the Rowhouse. I'm working on a similar house now and just bought a bunch of lights but haven't decided yet how to install them.

[Thimble Hall]

Thank you I think I am leaning to the round wire My replacement Fairfield is coming timorrow so a big dry fit coming I did not do that first time/

[Thimble Hall]

On 4/7/2021 at 2:40 PM, Mid-life madness said:

All  lights  for dollhouses can work for both systems. The typically run on 12 volts....the size of the transformer determines how many actual bulbs (not fixtures) you can run.

A round wire system means you channel all of the fixture wires to a main plug in power source. It looks like the picture below.

I will have to get them all out but I think the kits with transformers have round wire and all the lights have little pkugs on them I bought the biggest kits.

[Thimble Hall]

Drat it, I just got a shipping update and looked to see what parcel it was. It was the Minature.com one with the lighting kit in and it is the copper tape one. I thought I hd bought the round wire one but no..  oh well I will have to learn that system first, it is too expensive to not use.