Part 5 Constructing Fixtures

Constructing fixtures and attaching them to the system.

I began with the ‘fire’ in the pot belly stove:

Above is a photo of the pot-belly stove partially assembled. This is a Chrysnbon kit made of plastic and has wonderful detail. With LEDs there is no need to worry that the heat of a bulb will warp the stove.

The Base and ash collector body have holes in the bottom through which the wires are run. They exit the structure beneath and then will run out behind and through the hole in the floor in order to connect the black wires to one side of the switch and the red wires to the red wire which exits the power jack.

These are fuzzy photos, but show how the body of the stove fits over the fire lights, which will flicker.

I will be using museum wax rather than glue [recently discovered Aleene's Tack-it Over & Over] to attach the body of the stove to the base & ash collector body, so I can take these apart to replace LEDs or fix wires later, should the need arise. And no matter how long LEDs last, if you have constructed a scene or mini building that you want to keep for many years, think about that future 10 years down the road. How will you replace these lights?

All my connections will not be glued but stuck down with temporary sticky-whatever.

   

The stove pipe will be 'glued' (with sticky-stuff of one form or another) in place when I am ready to set the stove in its final position.

Since I put the pot-belly stove together before discovering that I could install a system without those pesky resistors, I was concerned about whether the 3-light fire set would still work with the new 3v adapter.

The answer was a very lovely yes “the fire will work just fine with 3 volts; no need for a separate supply” so I finished the assembly and placed the stove to see how it all looked.

This photo shows the stove in place against the rough wall of the interior of the shop.

I actually placed this little stove at first on the most visible wall of the shop. The flickering fire would have shown nicely there. However, I came across an external stove pipe and really wanted it on my building. That external pipe had to be on the wall that did not have porch roof as it was too short to go above the porch roof, so I had to place the stove facing sideways where the flame won’t be as visible. Still the flame can be seen.

Part 4 -- Getting the Correct LED Set-up

I got my initial order of adapter and LEDs but now have discovered that what I ordered and received presented problems. (There's a better way)

One of the problems I encountered along the way was the difference in size and shape of LEDs and regular incandescent dollhouse lighting.

Take a look at: http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/miniatureleds.html

These wonderful warm-white lights are bright and closely match incandescents in color. However, they present some difficulties for the dollhouse miniaturist.

1.) In the picture above, you will see a bump under the shrink tube on the red wire of each LED. This is difficult to fit into an ordinary dollhouse 1" to 12" scale lamp. When you order LEDs, you can ask (at the modeltrainsoftware site) Shelly to place the resistor farther down on the red wire.

(Above) When rewiring the dollhouse size lamp (which I got out of a junk box at an estate sale), I needed the resistor placed a good 4" away from the LED, so it could be hidden behind the table where the lamp sits. I later painted the red wire black, so it mimicked old original 1920s wires which were black.

2.) Fitting LEDs into the holes in beads or brass rods is also a problem. A fixture meant to hold incandescent dollhouse lights often has delicately curved (hollow) brass rods where small wiring easily fits through, but not easily negotiated by the post at the base of most LEDs even though those posts can be bent. 

For this, you may need to order the tiny chip LEDs.

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/smd-chip-leds.html

3.) LEDs are directional. This means that the light is produced by electrons flowing in one direction. So + (positive) and – (negative) matters. That means every LED needs two wires. I wondered how I was going to make the two wires into one where they show (as in the wires which exit a lamp fixture). Again, here the tiny wires and chip LEDs are the answer.
      You can glue the two wires flat together to mimic the lamp wires of old.

4.) The light from the LED shines forward more than out to the sides, so they are perfect for can lighting and are often used that way. You will get a focused beam on your subject. Sometimes you will want this direct light, but sometimes you'll need a more diffused light. To achieve a diffuse effect, the LED's surface can be sanded with sand paper.

5.) Another way to get the light from an LED to diffuse is to hide the LED inside frosted glass or other structures because they do not look like 'bulbs' or candle flames.

But have faith, there is a solution to all of these problems:

Shelly wrote me this when I showed her the above account of my experience:

1) If you use our new ( http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/3-volt-adapter.html ) 3 volt adapter, there is no longer any need for resistors!

or, consider the 2-AA or 2-AAA or coin cell approach. All 3 volt supplies have no resistor on the warm white LEDs.

[Caution] Most 12V power supplies that come with doll house kits are actually 12 volt AC and will irreparably damage LEDs.

For those with 'existing' power, usually Cir Kit or others, we recommend our ( http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-212.html ) 12-18v AC/DC power lights. While they are bulkier, the bump is farther away from the bulb. We even have them with the bump much farther away, here: http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/led-longer-wire.html

2) Regarding the size/shape -- I guess that is why the chip LEDs have become extremely popular for lamps in all scales.

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/smd-chip-leds.html

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/nano-smd-leds.html

If you go to both of those pages and scroll down, you will see that chips have been used with great success in LAMPS!!!  These are customer photos of lamps made with both the chip, and the nano chip.

Fortunately, Shelly was happy to exchange my 12v adapter and the ten lights-with-resistors which I had originally ordered. I will soon receive a 3v adapter and ten LEDs with no resistors. Yay!






PART 3 -- Putting the Plan to Work

My Order Has Arrived

Below are pictures of what I got from www.modeltrainsoftware.com plus what I already had. The ruler is in photo to show size relations.

I already had some shrink tubing and the flickering fire kit for the pot-belly stove. The adapter, power jack, switch and ten lights are new. Now I had to plan where I wanted all of this stuff to go.

So far, I have only put together the 3 walls on the foundation and finished the foundation outside with faux stone. The underside of this building has a very nice hollow space for my wiring, but I will need to do my soldering of wires with the building on its side, so I won’t finish all of the outside until the wiring is complete.

I began by drilling a small nail sized hole in the back left corner of my building’s floor.

[Note: later I realized that I also need a larger hole along the left side wall where the faux stone backing for the pot-belly stove will be. Fortunately, I installed a false floor, not glued down when I discovered the need for the added hole. A lot of problems can be eliminated if one builds a false interior: walls, floors, and ceiling.]

In this building, there is an attic. The floor to the attic slides into slots in the left and right wall (as seen when looking into the open side of the cottage). I want to always be able to move this floor in and out in order to make working on the interior easier. Hence, I plan to run the wires from the porch fixture through a hole in the porch roof, into the floor slot, along the top of the wall and down to the hole.

The photo below is taken at a later stage of this project. The red/black lines show where the porch light's wires will be placed.

(Please ignore the crooked piece under the window. It will be hidden. Pixies came and moved it in the night while the glue was drying. <grin>)

Planning really is important, but I've kept my options open!

The first actual installation is the power jack and hole for a switch.

  

Here is the finished installation of the power jack and switch.

=========================

Below is my first plan for wiring this project, but I learned as the building progressed that I really only needed to decide where I wanted the power jack and switch. I include the first plan here, so you can see how much changed as I began to complete the structure and saw much better places for LEDs and better hiding places to run the wiring.

So here is what I wrote back then:

Basically the power will come in to the base of the structure via a power jack placed in the far left corner behind where the pot-belly stove will be. [I later changed the location of pot-belly stove]

Think phone jack or the way you connect some laptop computers to a power cord.

From there the positive wire (red) runs up through a tiny hole in the floor. The negative wire (black) runs along the base up to near the 'open' end of the shop where it will be connected to the switch. The switch will be near where it is easy to reach instead of at the back of the building.

The switch has a black wire that leads into it from the power jack and one that exits from it. That is where the black wire from the LED attaches.

First, I will attach the pot-belly stove flickering lights to the power red and black. Next, I'll build my porch light and run a red and black wire all the way back down to the connection behind the pot-belly stove and hook it in.

I'll do the same with every other light. Each will have its own black and red wire running back to the connection behind the pot belly stove. I haven't thought through how I will hide all of these wires, but there will be plenty of places behind the bare studs of the interior.

 

Boy, have things changed!

You did not need to know all of the above, but I thought it might help you to feel better about attempting this LED wiring stuff if you knew that I had stumbled around a lot with this project. Of course, I continued to ask questions of experts while building.

Now I know that this wiring is much simpler than I had originally thought. All I need to do is decide where I want an LED installed, install it, and then run the wires back down to the wires underneath the building. I can add more lights if I wish!

Yes, that is correct. Each light will have a black and a red wire running from the LED down through a hole to the underside of the building. The only thing I must deal with is where to hide those wires. No circuits, as long as there are fewer than 50 LED bulbs.

Soldering Guide for LEDs

[While you do not have to solder your wiring, here are directions in case you want to solder]

Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, the filler metal having a lower melting point than the workpiece. Soldering differs from welding in that the workpieces are not melted. There are three forms of soldering, each requiring higher temperatures and each producing an increasingly stronger joint strength:

• soft soldering, which originally used a tin-lead alloy as the filler metal
• silver soldering, which uses an alloy containing silver
• blazing, which uses a brass alloy for the filler.

The alloy of the filler metal for each type of soldering can be adjusted to modify the melting temperature of the filler. Soldering appears to be a hot glue process, but it differs from gluing significantly in that the filler metals alloy with the workpiece at the junction to form a gas-tight and liquid-tight bond.

Soft soldering is characterized by having a melting point of the filler metal below approximately 400 °C (752 °F), whereas silver soldering and brazing use higher temperatures, typically requiring a flame or carbon arc torch to achieve the melting of the filler. Soft solder filler metals are typically alloys (often containing lead) that melt at temperatures below 350°C/662°F.

In the soldering process, heat is applied to the parts to be joined, causing the solder to melt and to bond to the workpieces in an alloying process called wetting. In stranded wire, the solder is drawn up into the wire by capillary action in a process called wicking. Capillary action also takes place when the workpieces are very close together or touching. The joint strength is dependent on the filler metal used, where soft solder is the weakest and the brass alloy used for brazing is the strongest. Soldering, which uses metal to join metal in a molecular bond has electrical conductivity and is water-tight and gas-tight.

Equipment:

1) How many different types of soldering irons are there and which are ones to avoid when soldering small wires?

There are hundreds of kinds of soldering irons on the market:

·      small craft sized irons sometimes called "pencil irons" sold at Home Depot, Radio Shack, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. are cheap and easy to use.

·      larger "heavy duty" irons (get a lot hotter than is good for LEDs

·      ESD Digital Regulated iron

                                                      ESD stands for Electrostatic Sensitive Device. Regulated means you can set the temp accurately. This type of iron is best for use when soldering wires onto an LED. LEDs are heat + discharge sensitive. (This does not mean that an ESD is necessary for the wires, only for work on the diode itself. That is why having the wires and resistors already done for you is so nice.)

I own an ancient soldering iron which gets hotter the longer it is on. For soldering of wires at the connection points: I can use my old iron, but I’ve found I need a light touch, usually soldering and then unplugging the iron, plugging it in and making the next solder, etc.

Anyone who already has the "pencil iron" can use this. However, if you intend to do lots of wiring, think about the ESD iron.

2) Is it necessary to solder on a particular surface, or is there a surface

you would recommend?

Soldering surface can be as little as a piece of cardboard or as much as a ceramic tile. Cardboard can be changed often, giving a clean surface for work. Take a look at the wire stripping video. http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/kynarwire.html  Scroll down to the second item on the page to see video. She was using a paper towel.

3) What sort of solder do you recommend?

 I get "benzomatic" at Home Depot in the tools area. It comes in a small cheap roll. It has 40% rosin core (flux already inside of it) and is a lead-tin type, which sticks better than non-lead. I researched lead in solder and safety concerns. The lead does not become airborne when you heat the solder. The flux is what is in the smoke you see. The lead stays inside the solder itself. So if you wash your hands and avoid eating or smoking or touching your eyes or nose while soldering, you will not ingest any lead!

4)I like the idea of the flux in the solder, but why is flux necessary?

Flux is a reducing agent designed to return oxidized metals to their metallic state. Rosin Flux makes the solder "stick" better by etching the metal a bit. It ‘seals’ the metal connection and prevents future oxidization and thus improves the electrical connection and mechanical strength. The two principal types of flux are acid flux, used for metal mending and plumbing and rosin flux used in electronics.

Steps in Soldering:

• bare about 1/3 inch of each wire to be connected

·      slide shrink insulation piece onto one side of wires to be connected and away from soldering area

• lay together the wires which are to be connected
• solder them by holding the solder near the wires and heating it with the soldering iron
• cool a minute
• give a little tug to make sure solder is solid
• slide shrink insulation over the connection
• hold shrink insulation over a lit match in order to shrink it tightly onto the connected wires

See a soldering video here: http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/soldering.html

How to Wire

At the beginning of this learning curve, I was still thinking that I had to have a master plan such as is needed when wiring an entire dollhouse for 12 volt AC (alternating current) lights. I was stumbling around in the dark of the DC (direct current) LED system. (See box below)

Two different sources gave me a bunch of formulas about resistors, some definitions, a little discussion about GOW lights (huh?) and much more that scrambled my brains.

When I asked Shelly, “How do I wire if I am using a transformer (adapter) with DC that will plug into the wall?” she explained this way.

Parallel Diagram

Using the above picture:

You will begin with the adapter and power jack. You will connect the red wires on all your lights to the red wire coming off of the power jack. Next, you will connect one wire of the switch to the black wire on the power jack. Finally all of the black wires on all of the LED lights are connected to the black wire of the switch. Protect all connections with Shrink Tube or with Electrical Tape.

Thus, in your diagram there will be 2 lines (a red and a black) running to each LED location, coming from the one common power supply. The porch light will probably require an extra length of red wire and extra black wire in order to be hidden in its run to the porch roof. (go back a few days and take a look at the wiring plan picture)

[Note: In parallel a 3 volt light needs 3 volts, 10 of the 3 volt lights will still need 3 volts of power. A 3v coin cell battery can run ten 3 volt lights.]

[Note: A 9 volt runs 9 volt lights, a single 9 volt battery can run 50 9 volt lights. Shelly at Evan Design tested this.]

[Shelly wrote: You also mentioned resistors. Evan Design does that for you. They figure all of the necessary resistance on the lights. No one needs to know all of the math. Yay!] 

Other questions I had that I got answers to were:

1) Are there DC transformers (later learned these are also called adapters)?

Adapter and transformer are interchangeable words we use for the black box that plugs into a wall outlet and puts out a certain AC or DC voltage. [you need to buy the transformer/adapter for the system, AC or DC, you intend to install] I guess a better more general word might be power supply. But power supply implies the device gives power without the wall socket.

There is an article about power supplies here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply#DC_power_supply

This definition on wiki uses both words interchangeably:

A transformer adapts household electric current from high voltage (100 to 240 volts AC) to low voltage suitable for consumer electronics. These adapters will warm through converting between direct current and alternating current, but are safe to the environment and can withstand months of continuous activity.

2)What about those thingies that determine the direction of the flow of electricity?

This is only a problem if you are using an AC adapter. Direct current is just that, direct. It runs in a circle from the adapter out through the red wire, to the LED and back in through the black wire to the adapter.

3) Can I use the LEDs in fixtures I make myself?

If you build a fixture, all you need to consider (if using Evan Design LEDs) is if the size of the LED and its resistor will fit through the hole in the fixture. See the sizes of LEDs.

Evan Design has a size chart here:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/led-sizes-explained.html  In addition, LEDs may be sanded when necessary. For example a "can" style recessed light can use a sanded-flat 5mm LED in it to defuse light and make the LED less like a spotlight.

Note: back when I knew nothing, this was part of the conversation and I only include it here in case you have the same question I had:

Should I use a battery for this type of project? A nine volt will only give me three lights (3v. each). I actually would prefer a little higher voltage lights (or is it amps?) to get the shop a bit brighter.

Here’s Shelly’s answer:

One thing we need to clear up first off!

You said 3 lights of 3 volts each can run on a 9 volt source. I believe you got that information from someone who wires LEDs in series where each LED is linked to the light next in line, and then a single red wire is linked to the power source while a single black wire is linked to the black line of the power source.

We wire in parallel not series. This means that each light (LED) has its black and red leads connected directly to the power source (adapter). We’ve tested series wiring and find that it does not work well. (see parallel diagram above)

What all this added up to for me was that I would install the power jack in the base of my building and make an easily accessible place to install the switch. I would then build the building to a certain point (leaving access for wiring) and finally make my light fixtures, holes for bare hidden LEDs and the flickering stove. Then I could run all their wires in concealed places down to the underneath of the building where I would take each black wire from all my LEDs, (as long as I did not have more than 50 bulbs) solder them together and connect them to the switch wire. Simple, simple, simple!

I would then take each red wire from each bulb, solder them together and then solder or twist the reds to the red wire coming out of the power jack. Thus I would have a parallel wiring system.

Hooray! I would not need to figure out a wiring diagram. No circuits! AND if I decide I need more lights at a later date, adding would be simple.

Part 2 -- Where to begin

What none of the guides tell me is where to begin. I need to know what I am starting with before choosing any of the rest of the wiring diagram, resistors, fixtures and those other  thingies that determine the direction of the flow of electricity if there aren't any DC transformers.

You can see by these questions just how little I know. When I asked people this question, I got back the following information, mostly from Shelly at Evan Design. [By the way, I have no financial connection or interest in any of the companies mentioned in these pages.]

"Your first choice," my new mentor, Shelly, at Evan Design wrote, "is between wall adapter and battery. There are advantages to both."

To plug into ordinary 110 volt outlets found in most houses, you need an adapter. The advantage of this set up is that it is permanent with no need to change batteries ever. You can leave your miniature house’s lights on as long as you like. The lights never get hot and never burn out, at least not for 10 years in most cases. The down side of the adapter is that you need to be near a wall outlet. The cord on the adapter is only 5 feet long.

Choosing the battery option means you will need to change the battery from time to time, but you have mobility with no need to be near a wall outlet. A nine-volt battery can run 50 LED lights for 4 hours, or 10 lights for 12 hours.

If you start with 9 volt and later decide to move to a 12 volt wall adapter you can keep the exact same lights. There is also a 3 volt adapter which I will discuss later.

Wall adapter info or how to plug your wiring into a house wall socket:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/12vdcadapter.html

In this picture, the power jack (1) receives the end plug (2) in the power adapter. At the other end of the power jack, you will see a 6 or 7 inch piece of red wire and the same length of black wire.

        Here's how to use it: (numbers refer to above photo)

·                  Mount this small power jack (1) inside of your model. (see photo at the end of this part marked *)

·                  Connect the red power lead to one or more of the red leads (3) on your LEDs, use shrink tube** or electrical tape to protect the connection.

·                  Connect the black power lead (4) to the black lead of the on/off switch.

·                  Connect the switch’s out lead (5) to one or all of the black leads on your LEDs, again using tape or shrink tube to protect the connection.

·                  Make your connections on the inside of the model (in a hidden place)

When you are finished, plug in the adapter and enjoy your LEDs for years and years!

Here is the battery info or how to make your scene portable:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/snco.html

•                          Twist the red leads on your lights with the red lead on this 12 inch strap. (Note: The switch works on either the red or the black side of the circuit.)

•                          Protect the connection with tape or shrink tube.**

•                          Then twist the black leads on your LEDs to the black lead on this strap. Again protect the connection.

•                          Optional: to make your connections even stronger you can use solder on the connection joints.

•                          Snap on the strap to any 9V DC battery.

•                          Press the switch and have a light show!

•                          Press again to turn off.

** Shrink tube works easily. Before making the twists to connect the wires, slide the shrink tube over the lead from the battery. After twisting all wires together, slide the tube over the connection. Then use a heat gun or match to heat it, and it will shrink around your connection.

Added notes:

You can connect a LOT of LEDs to this sturdy system. In tests at the modeltrainsoftware site, 50 flashing LEDs shone nice and bright on a 9V battery for 4 1/2 hours. 3 LEDs were bright for 36 hours. Less than 50 and more than 3 LEDs running will run somewhere between those times per battery.

The battery snap/switch can handle solid and flashing LEDs. There is no carryover flash. Up to 50 LEDs can run on one 9 volt battery. You can combine flashing and solid with no problem.

Lights that will work on EITHER system:

The links below will give lots more information about the lights, the system, and you can always ask Shelly or Dave questions.

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-214f.html

You can order the lights with 14" wires attached.

If 14" is not long enough to reach the power, some like to buy 25 ft wire spools as shown here:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/kynarwire.html

View the video on that page to see how they suggest stripping the wire. It is fine wire with a tough jacket.

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/leds-for-minis-tips.html

And this is the link to frequently asked questions.

After looking at the above mentioned links, I chose the 12 volt DC power jack and adapter for this project. I do not envision moving this project often nor in having it displayed where there is no power source.

Below is the photo I took after drilling a hole in one side of the base of the building. The jack is not fully inserted into the hole so you can see it. When inserted, it nearly disappears. And if you look closely at the underside of the building, you can see the red and black wires of the jack.


  *