REPLACING A NON-FUNCTIONING LED
LEDs last so long that no one seems to have invented an easy way to replace one that ceases to work, and that does happen from time to time.While I feel quite comfortable in taking a scene apart and replacing a wired-in LED, many dollhouse miniaturists may not feel so comfortable.
And then there is the question of what happens with a scene that is a gift? How does the recipient of that gift replace a light emitting diode?
Also, I have had my dollhouse for over 30 years. I see it lasting another 30 years (longer than I may last). How will the inheritor of my dollhouse handle the replacing of an LED that fails some year?
I am totally rewiring my dollhouse for LEDs because my tape wiring failed. This will involve some pretty unusual ways of hiding wires since every single LED gets its own wire snaking from, say the globe in the ceiling of the second floor bathroom, all the way down to beneath the dollhouse where the wire is tied in with many other wires and connected to the adapter. What do I do if one of those LEDs fails? Have recently learned that wires from LEDs can be grouped. One room or floor of a dollhouse might have several lights, say five LEDs, with all the reds soldered together and all the blacks soldered together with one red and one black which leads down to the power source.
Right now, my plan is to run my wire over the top of a faux ceiling to the nearest edge of the ceiling and then hide it with crown molding. I'll run the wire around the top of the room until I get to an outer (open side of dollhouse) edge where I can run the wiring down to the underside of the dollhouse. This I will eventually cover up with u-shaped trim which I'll need to make so it can be removed if needed.
I've found a solution for an easy change. PLUGS. http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/pin-connectors.html , the pin connector. These are fantastic and really small. They can fit above a light fixture in a false ceiling, or under crown molding. They can be tucked behind a sconce or inside a piece of furniture. They can also be the lead to a table lamp's LED. AND (a bonus) the female part can be installed in the wall as an outlet while the wires snake down to the baseboard and, tucked behind it, follow it around to the open edge of the room.
MAKING OR FINDING LIGHT FIXTURES
The world of miniature lighting appears stuck in the 12v systems. And the solution to fitting LEDs into the 12v systems has come through Novalyte where the LEDs have been wired so as to connect into a tape or hardwire system without destroying the LED.
This works well for a system that is otherwise working, and these lights are bright. However, if your dollhouse is set in the Victorian era, these lights are much too modern as can lights or bar lights. http://www.novalyte.com/index.php
I have seen the Novalyte used as a hidden bar in the front of a room to light up the interior where the ceiling fixtures and other lights in the room do no produce enough light to show off exquisit details. I applaud this solution.
Evan Design has another solution seen here: a universal LED
Evan Design has another solution seen here: a universal LED
Another solution is the independent fixtures, each with its own 3v battery in the base. Because these are intricate and small, the amount of light (lumins) given off is low, not enough in my humble opinion, to show off beautiful detail in a scene. I am not denegrating these lights as they have their uses, but if the object is to have great and bright, natural looking light, these won't do it alone.
No one, as yet, is producing what I would like to see, a fixture with a nano LED installed. The DC wires, red and black(green) would be hanging out and available to be wired into a pin connector.
Here's one I made from an old 12v lamp. I was able to remove the non-working wiring and insert an LED in the upper globe.
It is rare to find lamps or fixtures that can be taken apart to rewire with an LED. I am hoping for someone to begin making these... someone with glass blowing and metal-forming skills (with the quality of Ray Story or Jim Pounder).
