Articles - Lighting Guide

Lighting - an introduction

Preparations for lighting

Wiring your dolls house – Part One

Wiring your dolls house - Part Two

What if it doesn't work?

Lighting - an introduction

Fitting working lights into your dolls house is easier than most people think. Lighting will add warmth and feeling to your dolls house and give it a far more realistic look than without.

There are two basic methods for wiring your dolls house: copper tape and the twin wire or socket strip method. Although both are frequently used in dolls houses many dolls house shops and builders recommend the twin wire method as being the easiest for beginners.

Copper Tape Method

The copper tape method of wiring dollshouses uses a very thin strip of adhesive copper tape to conduct electricity around your dolls house. Running two parallel lines of copper tape right around the dolls house will form a continuous loop. If your dolls house is front opening the best option here would be to run the parallel lines right around the back of the dolls house. You can then attach the wires from each light in the house to the copper tape by drilling a tiny hole in the back of the house and passing the wire through. The normal method for attaching wires to the copper tape is to solder them on. Once you have connected your lights you can connect a transformer plug to the copper tape, plug it in and your house should light up.

This method is more often used for houses that are not front opening as the copper tape can be run around the house and hidden under flooring and wall paper. One point that’s needs to be mentioned is that copper tape can be eroded by adhesives and does break which is why it is not the favoured method of many miniaturists.

The Twin Wire Method

The twin wire or socket strip method of wiring dolls houses uses a combination of wires, plugs and sockets to connect lights in your dolls house to a power source. The transformer plugs into the mains and the wires from this are attached to the power strip, which is normally attached to the back of the house. Most lights come with 24 inches (60cm) of wire with a plug on the end, which fits as standard into this system. Simply plug your light in to the power strip sockets (a standard power strip will have 12). So that you are able to test your lights you will need a transformer and power strip to get started, but other than that you need only buy a single light (or as many lights as you want).This method is easier to modify, easier to install, is less likely to break and is cheaper than the copper tape method.

• Easier to install
• Less to go wrong
• Cheaper

For the above reasons we will now go further into explaining the twin wire method of lighting your dollshouse.

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Preparations for Lighting

Where possible it is always better to plan your lighting right at the outset of your dolls house project. The best time to prepare is when your house is still in kit form.

Firstly you must decide upon the location of your lights and the routes the wires (on your lights) will take. Will they be on the ceiling, walls, free standing or table lights? You don't have to purchase all the lights at this point but you need to decide on the quantity you will be using and where they will be situated. The quantity of lights you use determines what transformer and socket board you use for your doll house lighting.  

Ideally, preparations should be made before other tasks such as wallpapering and flooring are undertaken. This will avoid causing damage to your decorations through installing the lighting later.

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Wiring your dolls house – Part One

Once you have decided on the lights for your dolls house you are ready to get your transformer and wiring. To determine what transformer you need count up the number of bulbs that will be used in your lighting system. Remember that this is the number of bulbs and not the number of lights, so a three armed tulip light will count as three bulbs. The normal rule of thumb is as follows:
Transformer Power:
1 amp will support 1 to 18 bulbs
3.5 amp will support 1 to 60 bulbs

Now count how many lights you will be using to determine how many plug sockets you will need. The average socket board has twelve plug sockets so you may need to use more than one. You can run more than one socket board off a single transformer.

You may want to consider when lighting a doll houses if you are using a lot of lights to use two separate doll house lighting circuits, one for each side of your dolls house. You can then use a lower watt transformer and fewer socket boards on each circuit lowering the probability of a fault occurring. If a fault does occur it will be much easier to pinpoint.

You should now be ready to get your transformer, socket board and some lights. Start with the bottom floor rooms. If you are having ceiling lights the wires will need to be covered by the flooring in the above room so it's important that you have the lighting in the each room before you decorate the room above. Ceiling roses can look very attractive and complete a light fixture but these should be fitted before the light goes. You should also paint or decorate your ceiling before you fit a ceiling light.

Now decide where the socket board it will be positioned. This is the heart of your doll house lighting system and should be placed somewhere that is easily accessible. For front opening dolls houses the best place is on the back of the house positioned centrally and at the bottom. Once you have done this stick your socket board to the doll house, most boards have adhesive tape attached but you could use double sided tape.

You will now need to drill holes in the doll house for the wires of each light to pass through:

Drill holes

Drill holes should only be slightly bigger than the wires themselves. The smaller the hole the neater the finish.

Grooves

If a wire is to trail down a wall or across the floor you should cut grooves in the dolls house for the wire to sit in. Grooves should be a small V shape and can be cut out with a chisel and sanded with a V shaped file. Never glue a wire into a groove or fill the groove with anything as you may wish to move or get to the wire later.

Ceiling Lights

For ceiling lights you must drill two holes, one through the ceiling above where you want to hang the light and the second out through the back wall of the house where you want the wire to exit. This will obviously be dependant on the route, which you have chosen for your wires to run. It’s recommended to run wires across a floor rather than a ceiling. It is easier to hide wires under a floor covering rather than one for a ceiling. Ceiling roses should be fitted before the light goes on. You should also paint or decorate your ceiling before you fit a ceiling light.

Wall Lights

Lights fitted to the rear wall of a room are by far the easiest to fit but should not be fitted until the wall is papered. Simply drill a hole directly under the wall light to pass the wire out the back of the house and to your doll house lighting socket board.

For all other wall lights the wire should exit from the nearest position on the rear wall and a hole should be drilled here. Always drill a wire exit hole as close to the floor as possible and try to drill at a downward angle to disguise the hole further. Where wires are to run across a floor the neatest possible job will be achieved by laying the wire in a groove. This groove can usually be created by simply cutting a V-shape in the floor with a sharp chisel or knife. Always ensure that the groove is smooth to avoid sharp edges damaging the wires.

Table Lamps & Standing Lamps

These can be fitted after the room has been papered. The wire will trail from the light and let you move the light around the room. Drill an exit hole for each of these lights at the base of the rear wall you can cover the wire up with flooring if you wish.

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Wiring your dolls house - Part Two

Once you have drilled your holes you need to position your lights. Before you can run the wire from the lights through their respective holes and to the socket board you will have to remove the plug. To do this pull out the two pins with a pair of pliers and pull on the wire, the plug should slip off. You can now feed the wire through the holes and along the wire grooves.

Next stick the light in place using its adhesive pad, never use glue. You should also hold the wire in place along its route to the back of the house using masking tape.You are now ready to refit the plug. Feed the twin wire through the central hole in the plug and then feed one wire into each of the two holes on either side of the plug making sure the end is bared. Refit the pins into each hole.

Now plug each light into the socket board and tidy up the wires by masking taping them to the back of the house. Attach the socket board to the transformer and you are ready to plug in your doll house lighting. Simple!

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What if it doesn't work?

Check that the transformer is connected properly to the socket board.

Check the plug socket that the transformer is plugged into.

Check that the socket board works. If the fuse has gone the light on the board will be lit.

Check each socket on the socket board.

Check each light individually by connecting them to the transformer.

Check the plug on each light is making good contact with the wire, remember the wires have to be bared.

Check each bulb, you may have to replace them to test.

Check that there are no breaks in the wire .

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