How to WIRE A DOLL HOUSE

Lighting a doll house can be a very daunting task when you do it for the first time. Knowing where to place your lights and where to run all the wires is a confusing enough task and how to connect them all up and actually get them working may feel beyond your capabilities, but do not worry. Lighting your doll house is much easier than you think

and we are here to help. We have put together a full step-by-step guide to doll house wiring to lead you through the process. You will

have your miniature lights up and running in no time.

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The Basics

There are two basic methods for doll house wiring: copper tape and the twin wire or socket strip method. Although both are frequently used for lighting doll houses many doll house builders recommend the twin wire method as being the easiest for beginners. Both will be explained both here:

Copper Tape Method

The copper tape method uses a very thin strip of adhesive copper tape to conduct electricity around your doll house. To use this method you would run two parallel lines of copper tape right around your dolls house forming a continuous loop. If your doll house is front opening the best option here would be to run the parallel lines right around the back of the doll 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 or an easier method is to use very small eyelets to join the wire to the tape. Once you have connected your lights you can connect a trans-former plug to the copper tape, plug it in and your house will light up.

The Twin Wire Method The twin wire or socket strip method uses a combination of wires, plugs and sockets for doll house wiring to connect lights in your doll house to a power source. This method is easier to modify, eas-ier to install, is less likely to break and is cheaper than the copper tape method. This is how it works: Lights are fitted into each room of your doll house. Lights nor-mally come with 60cm of wire with a standard sized plug on the end. The wire from each light is run either to a point in the house where you have decided to place your socket board or out of the back of the house to where your socket board is attached. In front opening houses it is easy to attach a socket board to the back of the house and drill a tiny hole in the back of each room to run your wires through. The plugs at the and of the wire is then plugged into your socket board. Your socket board is attached to a transformer which plugs into any normal household socket to supply your house with electricity. Doll house wiring really is that simple.

Socket Boards This is a socket board - the hub of doll house wiring. As you can see it has several tiny holes along it in which to plug your lights. The wire at the end of the socket board will be attached to a trans-former which you can plug into any household socket. These socket boards come in various sizes for large and small doll house wiring with any number of plug sockets. They have adhesive backs so they can be easily stuck to your doll house. On the next page is a picture of a standard plug used in doll house wiring which you will find at the end of the wire attached to your doll house lights. These plugs will fit into the sockets on the socket board. Transformer Plug Transformers are used to change our normal household power supply into one that doll house wiring can handle. The standard transformer used for doll house wiring is twelve (12) volts. The number of bulbs you can run off a single transformer de-pends on the amperage value of the transformer. Remember that amperage determines the number of bulbs you can run from a single transformer and not the number of lights, therefore a three arm tulip light counts as three bulbs. If you are using a large amount of lights you should balance them out over two or more socket boards. You may want to consider us-

ing two transformers and two separate lighting circuits if your doll house is large or if you are using a lot of bulbs. Doll house lighting is much easier than most people think. Many new collectors are daunted by the task but it is very easy. You should start planning your doll house lighting even before you build your house. The reason for this is your doll house will look its best if you can disguise the wires that run to the electric lights by cutting grooves in the floor of your doll house to run the wires along and this is easiest to do while the doll house is unbuilt. Step one When you purchase your doll house you should start planning the lighting. This guide will take you through the whole process of doll house lighting, some of which you will do before your doll house is built and some after it is built and decorated but you should read the whole guide before you start building your house. Decide on the location of all the lights in your doll house. 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.

When you have decided on the lights for your doll 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 doll house lighting. Remember that this is the num-ber of bulbs and not the number of lights, so a three armed tulip light will count as three bulbs. See section at the end of this book-let on TRANSFORMER. Step two Next count how many lights you will be using to determine how many plug sockets you 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. Something you may want to consider if you are using a lot of lights is to use two separate doll house lighting circuits, one for each side of your doll house. You can then use a lower amperage transformer and fewer socket boards on each circuit lowering the possibility of a fault occurring. Also 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. You don't have to have all the lights for your house at once but here are some tips to follow: Concentrate on one room or area of your doll house. It is impor-tant to light, or plan where your lights are going to go before you decorate so you can cover wires. If you start with one room you can light it and decorate it then move onto the next spreading the cost of doll house lighting and still enjoying the doll house. 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 look very attractive and can complete a light fixture but these will need to be fitted before the light goes up so now is a good time to purchase these. You should also paint or decorate your ceiling before you fit a ceiling light.

Now you are ready to get your socket board, transformer and lights for your doll house lighting. Step three Once you have your transformer and socket board they must be connected to each other. The socket boards usually available have terminal connectors that are designed to be screwed onto the ter-minals from the transformer. These generally need to be changed as transformers now available in Australia do not have suitable connectors. If you wish you may take your socket board and trans-former to STANBRIDGE’S HOBBIES and we will—free of charge– solder the wires together for you . Another method is to use some wire connectors that are available at an automotive store. Now you have your socket board it is time to decide where 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 doll houses the best place is on the back of the house positioned centrally and at the bottom. Once you have done this attach 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: Ceiling Lights You have to drill two holes for a ceiling light, one through the ceil-ing above and a second through the back of the house where the wire will exit.. We recommend you run wires along floors and not ceilings as they are much easier to hide. 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. Then you 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 posi-tion 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. 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. Drill holes Drill holes should only be slightly bigger than the wires themselves. The smaller the hole the neater it will look. 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. You can also use a cutting disc on a Dremel tool. 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. Step four Once you have drilled your holes you need to position your lights. If you are using a ceiling rose remember to put these in place first. You can stick these down with double sided tape, wood glue or PVA glue. Before you can run the wire from the lights through their respec-tive 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 needle nose pli-ers and pull on the wire, the plug should slip off. You can now feed the wire through the holes and along the wire grooves. The wire is very fine and it is a bit fiddly. You will need your glasses for this job, maybe even a magnifying glass. Next stick the light in place using its adhesive pad. You should also hold the wire in place along its route to the back of the house us-ing 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.

Step five Plug each light into the socket board and tidy up the wires by using tape to hold them onto the back of the house. Plug in the transformer and turn on the switch on the socket board and your lights should turn on.. 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 with a multimeter. 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 Do you have a “Short”. This is where the wires from the transformer are effectively joined together before going through a bulb. Your transformer may get very hot or cut out—if this is the case unplug it from the mains and do not plug it in again until you have fixed the problem. If you cannot work it out then ask the staff at STAN-BRIDGE’S HOBBIES. NOW FOR THE HARD PART. TRANSFORMER We have left the hard part till last. This is the part that everyone seems to get scared with. It is really very easy to comprehend . We are going to talk about electricity in some very simple terms. If you are unsure or do not want to try to work out this part do not worry—ask the staff at STANBRIDGES HOBBIES—they will have some-one who can work it out for you. You can supply electricity to a doll house with a battery or with a transformer—either will work—but if you use a battery it will eventu-ally go flat and will need to be replaced or re-charged.

The voltage used ,as previously mentioned is a safe 12 volts. You will not get electrocuted with 12 volts but you can start a fire if you have a short circuit. Always turn your lights off when not needed. BATTERY: You can get a 12 volt battery and charger that will run most doll houses continuously for 6 hours. These will cost around $51.95. Ask the staff at STANBRIDGES HOBBIES.

TRANSFORMER: A transformer or AC/DC adaptor or power supply is an important part of a dolls house electrical system. The transformer reduces the voltage of your home power supply down to the 12 volt system which runs dolls house lights. If you are not using bat-tery operated dolls house lights, you will need to use a transformer to supply power to your dolls house. You need to plan carefully so that your transformer will power all your dollhouse needs.

1. Know What a Transformer Does The transformer takes the household current and reduces it to 12 volts which is a suitably low power to run doll house light bulbs. The amount of power your transformer puts out is usually listed in milliamps or Amps or am-peres. 1000 milliamps = 1 amp.

2. Read The Transformer Label If you don't know the power output of your transformer, the label should tell you some basic informa-tion. Example Output 12V 2.5A This transformer puts out 12 Volts and 2.5 Amps or 2500 milliamps. It does not matter if the trans-former is AC or DC for the output..

3. How to work out the number of bulbs you can run from a single transformer Remember it is the number of bulbs not light fittings we are interested in. Normal bulbs draw 50 milliamps so if a transformer puts out 2500 milliamps then it can power 50 bulbs. 2500/50 = 50. Or if you have a 1000 milliamp or 1 Amp transformer it can power 25 bulbs 1000/50 = 25. Finally if you are not sure please call STANBRIDGES HOBBIES.

Have fun with your lighting.