Adding Light to Houses.

[Tom Bricks]

I have been wondering how to add lighting to a city display for a while now and finally got around to asking it. What would I need to put a light inside some of my houses? I want to use all Lego instead of some other product so what would be the cheapest solution?

If anyone could tell me what I need to order here's the page. http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Leaf.aspx?cn=587&d=70

Thanks,

Tom Bricks

[No Towel Lint]

I'm looking to do the same thing. I'm getting ready to order the battery box (I have lots of rechargeable AA batteries), a few 20" extension wires, and some of the lights. According to lego.com, you can run "several hundred" lights off one battery box. The lights fit inside a 1x1 trans colored cylinder brick if you want to colorize the light. What I'm wondering is how bright a single light will be inside the building. Guess we'll find out.

[CP5670]

The PF lights are basically designed for trains and Technic vehicles, and might not work well for buildings. They emit a fairly focused beam straight ahead, as opposed to the old 9V lights that gave off more of an omnidirectional glow. In other words, they look bright from the front but dim from the sides, so they don't do a great job of lighting up other things around them.

[ACCURATEin]

I just got done installing some LED lights inside one of my creator houses. I found a small strand of lights that i purchased from Target which runs off of 4 AA batteries. I lodged the battery and lights inside the roof section and the lights emit downwards throughout the house. I might buy a set for each of the buildings.

[no_skill]

This is a timely thread. I was just about to start one of similar context.

The PF lights are basically designed for trains and Technic vehicles, and might not work well for buildings. They emit a fairly focused beam straight ahead, as opposed to the old 9V lights that gave off more of an omnidirectional glow. In other words, they look bright from the front but dim from the sides, so they don't do a great job of lighting up other things around them.

This is exactly correct. I bought 4 sets of PF lights in an attempt to illuminate the interior of my modular buildings. They are (very) poorly suited to the task. I played around with attempts to diffuse the light with tranparent studs and bricks, unsuccessfully . I suppose if one wanted to put many lights in each room, it may work. But unless someone comes up with a good technique for diffusion, it will take many strands for each room/floor and entail significant expence for a whole city lay-out.

I would love to hear other's input, to include successes and failures.

Good thread!

[simonwillems]

The power functions lights are indeed unsuitable for lighting up interiors.

An other option is to buy some of the old 9v lights introduced in the mid eighties, they are not that expensive on Bricklink (link here) the only expensive side of it is the many cables you need to make the whole system function.

The advantage of these lights is that they are very good for lighting up buildings, I tried it myself here and was very pleased with the result.

But the best and cheapest option would be to run off to the nearest store selling christmas tree lights and buy a few of those....

[Mr. Lego-builder]

Have you tried LifeLites?

Granted, it isn't pure LEGO, but it sure does give you much more versatility.

All of their products can be viewed here: http://www.lifelites.com/products/list/1. You can control different sequences or use the Power Functions adapter to control the lights wirelessly. For smaller projects or for more intricate stand alone details, there's the Junior kit.

The videos show the lights working like a charm. The only downside is the cost. It is pretty expensive when compared to the Power Functions lights.

[Tom Bricks]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm thinking I'll see how well the light in The Winter Toy Shop works and then maybe buy a bunch of those. If that doesn't work I'll probably have to go with a non lego solution.

[Minifig Lecturer]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm thinking I'll see how well the light in The Winter Toy Shop works and then maybe buy a bunch of those. If that doesn't work I'll probably have to go with a non lego solution.

For big buildings where u have space to hide wiring u can use a €4 box of standard Xmas lights for cheap solution :)

[Ricecracker]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm thinking I'll see how well the light in The Winter Toy Shop works and then maybe buy a bunch of those. If that doesn't work I'll probably have to go with a non lego solution.

Those don't stay on. You have to hold the button down for the whole time that you want the light on.

[Tom Bricks]

Those don't stay on. You have to hold the button down for the whole time that you want the light on.

I know but I'll probably try building something that makes them stay on.

[Carbohydrates]

I wish I could justify to myself dropping a few bucks on LifeLites to illuminate my modulars. They certainly have the smartest system, but it's just too pricey for me.