Total lighting n00b

pxchris

Like the title says, when it comes to lighting my LEGO sets, I'm a total n00b!

I know (from both experience of seeing in person, and from the multiple pieces of advice I've read) that lighting is one of the things that can really had a tremendous amount of pizzaz to a LEGO build at a convention. Well, now that my convention is getting closer, I'm thinking more and more about adding lighting to my huge Pirates display that I have in the works. The problem is three-fold:
1) I have zero experience with adding lighting to any LEGO builds
2) If I'm going to add anything it needs to be easy to add to pre-existing builds
3) It needs to be a relatively cheap solution - all of my money is mostly tied up in the actual LEGO product

So, this means none of the dedicated LEGO lighting kits will really fit my needs, mostly from a cost point of view. So I'm just throwing this out to the ether to ask for opinions on possible solutions.

I don't think I need to add a ton of lighting, at least at this point in time. Perhaps just a few highlight areas. Obviously lighting up all of the lanterns and interiors along with some cannon fire would be ideal, but I don't think that's realistic for me to accomplish between now and March from either a budget or a time standpoint.

I welcome Amazon links to possible solutions or anything else anyone has to offer on advice.

autolycus

pxchris said:

Like the title says, when it comes to lighting my LEGO sets, I'm a total n00b!

I know (from both experience of seeing in person, and from the multiple pieces of advice I've read) that lighting is one of the things that can really had a tremendous amount of pizzaz to a LEGO build at a convention. Well, now that my convention is getting closer, I'm thinking more and more about adding lighting to my huge Pirates display that I have in the works. The problem is three-fold:
1) I have zero experience with adding lighting to any LEGO builds
2) If I'm going to add anything it needs to be easy to add to pre-existing builds
3) It needs to be a relatively cheap solution - all of my money is mostly tied up in the actual LEGO product

So, this means none of the dedicated LEGO lighting kits will really fit my needs, mostly from a cost point of view. So I'm just throwing this out to the ether to ask for opinions on possible solutions.

I don't think I need to add a ton of lighting, at least at this point in time. Perhaps just a few highlight areas. Obviously lighting up all of the lanterns and interiors along with some cannon fire would be ideal, but I don't think that's realistic for me to accomplish between now and March from either a budget or a time standpoint.

I welcome Amazon links to possible solutions or anything else anyone has to offer on advice.

This won't help you pick products to buy, but I have noticed that Brickstuff has a forum with some posts about how to setup wiring. Their products are at the top end of the cost range, so you might want to find a different vendor to buy from, but their stuff does look top notch. And mostly, their forum might have some useful ideas to get you get started with your planning.

Cyberdragon

These guys are way cheaper then stuff like Lightailing, just comparing kits per set. For example, the Home Alone kit is $110 at lightailing. These guys, $30. Not sure how much lower you can go without going homebrew.

https://gameofbricks.eu/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2IzDqdzD9AIVDP7jBx35RglAEAAYAiAAEgLppvD_BwE

Switchfoot55

You could hire my son to come hold a flash light on your display during the event. He'll work for LEGO, so might be a good deal?

Honestly, I'm in the same boat, but with my winter village. I likely just need to start investing in light kits...but the budget is already spent elsewhere. 

(Just checked out gameofbricks...I might need to push through a few orders as the cost seems fairly reasonable compared to other kits)

Cyberdragon

Another solution, about the same price range as what I posted before (possibly a bit more, depending on the combo), but way easier to use would be wireless lights.

Take one of these,

https://www.adafruit.com/product/5141

and sprinkle in some of these,

https://samueldecal.com/products/gomo-wireless-led-sensor-board-and-leds?variant=31223820746822

and plug them in with 24V 2A with a cheap wall wart. (something like this)

https://www.amazon.com/Ruiling-Adapter-100V-240V-Switching-Charger/dp/B07MW1H78D/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=power+supply+24v+2a&qid=1638408127&refinements=p_36:-1000&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-3

total $47.94 (not including shipping) from the cheapest parts I could find.

pxchris

Cyberdragon said:

These guys are way cheaper then stuff like Lightailing, just comparing kits per set. For example, the Home Alone kit is $110 at lightailing. These guys, $30. Not sure how much lower you can go without going homebrew.

https://gameofbricks.eu/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2IzDqdzD9AIVDP7jBx35RglAEAAYAiAAEgLppvD_BwE

I had not heard of this outfit before... they are certainly cheaper than any of the other pre-fab options I've checked out before.
This might be a worthwhile test!

pxchris

I decided to buy one of the Game of Bricks lighting kits (got the one for POBB of course) to give them a try. They certainly seem like one of the more cost effective options without going completely DIY (which is really more than I want to take on right now anyways). If that kit seems to work out for what I'm thinking, then they have quite a few options for just picking up the individual components at a reasonable cost. 
Thank you again a bunch for the suggestion @Cyberdragon!

Switchfoot55

@pxchris, you'll have to let me know what you think. I'm tempted to take advantage of the buy one get one 60% off deal. I'm most curious to know how the individual components would tie into everything. The "sets" are nice, but my village would need to take advantage of singular lights and elements. 

Considering I can get two of these sets for less than one of the other known aftermarket lighting kits, it doesn't seem like a crazy risk. 

pxchris

I was thinking about taking that deal too @Switchfoot55, but I decided to first just grab one kit and use the $10 off coupon instead to give it a try.

If I like it, I'm sure I'll end up doing another order to incorporate into my layout. The price is super reasonable compared to the other places I'd looked, like you said. I'm already looking at all of the options available here and starting to think what I might want to grab.

EGRoberts

Dollar stores in christmas season sell tiny LED string lighting (30 to 50 lights). It's cheap, battery box included, comes in warm white, bright white, and color strings. Dollarama in Canada has tons right now for $2.00 a set. The LED's you want should be 3mm or smaller and highly recommend warm white for pirates tavern lighting and cannon fire. I'd post pictures but I'm stuck in a hotel and my lego is across the city all packed up..

Cyberdragon

EGRoberts said:

Dollar stores in christmas season sell tiny LED string lighting (30 to 50 lights). It's cheap, battery box included, comes in warm white, bright white, and color strings. Dollarama in Canada has tons right now for $2.00 a set. The LED's you want should be 3mm or smaller and highly recommend warm white for pirates tavern lighting and cannon fire. I'd post pictures but I'm stuck in a hotel and my lego is across the city all packed up..

The LEDs are small enough, but not the wires. You can't fit those under bricks (at least not with the US ones). So best you can do is just wad them up inside stuff.

EGRoberts

Cyberdragon said:

EGRoberts said:

Dollar stores in christmas season sell tiny LED string lighting (30 to 50 lights). It's cheap, battery box included, comes in warm white, bright white, and color strings. Dollarama in Canada has tons right now for $2.00 a set. The LED's you want should be 3mm or smaller and highly recommend warm white for pirates tavern lighting and cannon fire. I'd post pictures but I'm stuck in a hotel and my lego is across the city all packed up..

The LEDs are small enough, but not the wires. You can't fit those under bricks (at least not with the US ones). So best you can do is just wad them up inside stuff.

I'll have to post a picture when I can. The ones I bought can snap under bricks as its a really thin gauge with no covering. The only downside is the preset length in between the LED's. I cut and solder as needed but was thinking even without doing that and using as is would be good for a start to lighting lego on the super cheap.

Switchfoot55

So, whether or not anyone has specific experience with Game of Bricks lighting kits, I wanted to run some questions by the group to see if anyone can help answer my questions as my support email wasn't returned. 

For individual components, would people assume I need the following to make it work: a light element, an expansion board, and a USB connection cable? 

I assume the expansion board has to have a "power out" port of some kind. Otherwise, there isn't a way to connect a light element directly to a USB connection cable from what I can tell. 

Some of the component kits seem to be wired to a USB connector already. But the individual lights/bricks/plates are different based on the pictures. 

Again, whether you have Game of Bricks experience or not, I assume some of this is standard wiring knowledge (even if not MY standard knowledge). 

pxchris

My order is currently in route, so I can give you a bit more info once it arrives.

That said, I'm guessing that you are correct in your assessment. 

Cyberdragon

Switchfoot55 said:

So, whether or not anyone has specific experience with Game of Bricks lighting kits, I wanted to run some questions by the group to see if anyone can help answer my questions as my support email wasn't returned. 

For individual components, would people assume I need the following to make it work: a light element, an expansion board, and a USB connection cable? 

I assume the expansion board has to have a "power out" port of some kind. Otherwise, there isn't a way to connect a light element directly to a USB connection cable from what I can tell. 

Some of the component kits seem to be wired to a USB connector already. But the individual lights/bricks/plates are different based on the pictures. 

Again, whether you have Game of Bricks experience or not, I assume some of this is standard wiring knowledge (even if not MY standard knowledge). 

But some of the kits say they run on AAA batteries, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Unless they have some sort of crappy primary cell powered USB bank (if that's the case don't use it, use a proper power bank instead).

autolycus

Cyberdragon said:

Switchfoot55 said:

So, whether or not anyone has specific experience with Game of Bricks lighting kits, I wanted to run some questions by the group to see if anyone can help answer my questions as my support email wasn't returned. 

For individual components, would people assume I need the following to make it work: a light element, an expansion board, and a USB connection cable? 

I assume the expansion board has to have a "power out" port of some kind. Otherwise, there isn't a way to connect a light element directly to a USB connection cable from what I can tell. 

Some of the component kits seem to be wired to a USB connector already. But the individual lights/bricks/plates are different based on the pictures. 

Again, whether you have Game of Bricks experience or not, I assume some of this is standard wiring knowledge (even if not MY standard knowledge). 

But some of the kits say they run on AAA batteries, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Unless they have some sort of crappy primary cell powered USB bank (if that's the case don't use it, use a proper power bank instead).

A lot of the lighting brands now have both AAA or USB options for power. In many, if not all cases, they're completely interchangeable and are entirely up to the end user's preference. It's just a simple matter of having the output of the two options be the same voltage or having an initial input/expansion board that can handle different V.

However, some of the set kits, especially from certain brands, are hardwired with one or the other, and you can't easily swap the power source out.

Switchfoot55

Decided to pull the trigger on a kit from GameofBricks for Santa's Visit. We'll see how it turns out. There are elements of the kit I don't like, but figure I can expand upon if I like the overall feel of the kit. 

I will be interested in the battery pack vs. a power bank. My current power bank has two different output ratings. I assume the lesser one should be sufficient? I don't want to burn out the kit from the get-go!

datsunrobbie

Here's a couple of links to some cheap fairy lights I picked up from Amazon for a small Halloween display

Modular lighting options — Brickset Forum
LED Christmas tree lights? — Brickset Forum
Modular lighting options — Brickset Forum

Cyberdragon

Switchfoot55 said:

Decided to pull the trigger on a kit from GameofBricks for Santa's Visit. We'll see how it turns out. There are elements of the kit I don't like, but figure I can expand upon if I like the overall feel of the kit. 

I will be interested in the battery pack vs. a power bank. My current power bank has two different output ratings. I assume the lesser one should be sufficient? I don't want to burn out the kit from the get-go!

You mean a multi-voltage/quick charge bank? Those only put out 5V unless commanded by the device to go higher.

pxchris

My lighting set arrived last week while I was on vacation. I haven't had much of a chance to dig into it yet except to open up the package and take a look at the components a bit. Overall first impressions are good! One complaint I do have is that for the lights they supply already attached to bricks, the bricks are no actual LEGO. I'm sure this is part of how Game of Bricks is able to keep their prices so low in comparison. But otherwise, the lights themselves seem to be quality and the wires felt strong. Looking forward to playing with these some more and I definitely think I'm going to be buying more for my display!

Switchfoot55

I'm hoping to have my set arrive in the next few days to test it out as well. 

Bummer to hear about the non-LEGO bricks used. But, in the end, I guess it does make sense considering the prices. 

I'll be interested to hear what you have to say. 

Switchfoot55

Well, I received my light kit from Game of Bricks for my Santa's Visit set. I must say that I'm very happy with the end result! The flashing colored LEDs had me concerned prior to it arriving. However, the strips under the front roof line are subtle enough that it adds and doesn't subtract from things. The Flashing colored lights around the small tree build are maybe another story...

Having no other company to compare it to, I can't say the quality is greater than or less than, but it met and even exceeded my expectations in nearly every way. The online instructions to install the pre-built kit were very easy to follow. And, aside from issues of fat fingers making it more complicated, it was overall fairly easy to install on a completed set. 

Now that I have the kit in hand and understand how it functions, I think I may expand into some of the individual components. As my current plan is to move to a MILS style base, it will be easy to hide the wires. First order of business will be lighting my street lamps.

My recommendation would be to consider the remote version instead of standard as, once it's in place in my village, it's harder to reach the battery pack. 

Switchfoot55

Just saw a buy one get one 60% off sale (JANUARY60) or $10 off orders of $39 or more (JANUARY10). 


I'm curious, for those maybe "in the know" on electrical stuff, in theory, how many lights should I be able to run off a standard USB power bank? I'm looking at the individual components and wondering if there is a way to daisy chain the light strings and connector boards back to a singular USB cable. Or, at least break my entire village up into maybe two or three segments. I'd hate to think I'd need an additional USB plug for each building. 

Cyberdragon

Switchfoot55 said:

Just saw a buy one get one 60% off sale (JANUARY60) or $10 off orders of $39 or more (JANUARY10). 


I'm curious, for those maybe "in the know" on electrical stuff, in theory, how many lights should I be able to run off a standard USB power bank? I'm looking at the individual components and wondering if there is a way to daisy chain the light strings and connector boards back to a singular USB cable. Or, at least break my entire village up into maybe two or three segments. I'd hate to think I'd need an additional USB plug for each building. 

Depends on how much current they use, basically how bright they are. A general absolute max for an individual diode chip is 20mA. So even if they are running them "pedal to the metal" a 1A power bank would be able to drive 50 LEDs. In reality it's probably much less than that, like 5-10mA per LED, though I can't confirm that without seeing the circuit they use. You can get a cheap "USB power meter" and measure the current yourself.

Switchfoot55

Thanks @Cyberdragon. I'll see if I can't get some more information on them to figure out any potential "max" limit I need to keep in mind. 

I certainly don't plan on running 200 of them off a single string. But it will help my planning a bit to have at least a general idea. 

Switchfoot55

I received and installed lighting kits for #10275 Elf Clubhouse and #76388 Hogsmeade Village yesterday. Gameofbricks.eu is having a buy one get one 60% off sale in January, so I took advantage of it. 

I must say that I am again impressed with the quality of the installation instructions, the product itself, and the end result. 

In the case of the Hogsmeade Village kit, the end result is absolutely fantastic. The only change I'll make is a color-changing LED that is added on the top of Honeydukes that isn't really necessary. The Elf Clubhouse is also very good. The flashing, color-changing LEDs under the main roofline are perhaps a bit distracting and make it look a little like the elves are having a rave. But, why not spice up Santa's village?

I'll continue to buy existing kits over the coming months for other buildings I have as well as some individual components. But I certainly give this company my stamp of approval. 

pxchris

I didn't update in here, but I ended up buying a relatively large order of individual lighting components from Game of Bricks a little over a week ago. I debated endlessly on how all-in I wanted to go with lighting up my Pirates display for the convention but in the end I ended up buying enough to do a pretty good job lighting up everything. The real trick now will be to see if I have it in me to get it all done in time!

Switchfoot55

My last order was submitted on January 7th and arrived on January 22nd. That's about how long my last order took to arrive as well. 

I imagine you'll get them before the end of March. It's more if you'll have enough time to install them all!

I've found a pair of fine nosed tweezers to be very helpful with the installation/handling process. 

pxchris

Yes, I'm much more concerned about my time/abilities to get them all installed as I have planned in time. I have a pretty OK-ish plan of how I'm going to go about it, but it's all still also very new to me. Plus, I'm nervous that I actually got all of the correct components that I need to do all I have planned.

Switchfoot55

I'm sure you'll be all set with your plan! 

I only have the expertise that comes with installing three lighting kits so far, but if you have any questions on things, I'd be happy to share my experiences. 

pxchris

I got my order from Game of Bricks in on Friday and got to work over the weekend on starting to light up my display.
I've run into a number of frustrations early on but am learning and adapting my plans quickly. Getting all of the torches lit up has proven to be a bit more of a pain than I originally imagined it being. The main cause for headaches is that I'm super nervous about breaking wires between bricks so putting a tiny LED under a 1x1 round plate in a torch just isn't working for me like I'd hoped. I'd love it if LEGO had the 1x1 round plate with open stud in trans-yellow, that would make my life a lot easier. I feel like taking the (for me) drastic step of modifying some LEGO pieces by cutting small grooves in them is the best long term solution, but I'm not willing to take that step just yet for this convention. I may be experimenting with that for round 2 though sometime down the road.
That said, I did make a significant amount of process in figuring out what I'm doing with the lighting over the weekend. I think it's actually going to work!

On the downside, one of the components I ordered was missing from my order - a pretty vital one, the USB connectors. Contacted CS and they're supposed to be getting it out to me. So fingers crossed the shipping goes quickly for those. I also ended up ordering some more lights that I'll need.

No pictures because frankly my build/display table is a disaster right now with figuring this all out. But progress is being made and excitement is high!

Switchfoot55

@pxchris, I definitely know what you mean about sitting the wires under the bricks. Every time I added one I thought I was going to slice through the wires. Hopefully you find a good solution for the convention! 

What components did you end up getting? I'd be curious about some of the individual elements and how they integrate into a display piece. I have a lot of plans in my mind, but am not sure they'll actually work out. 

Looking forward to seeing the pictures!

pxchris

I kept the variety of lights I got to a minimum. Mostly I got a bunch of the bit lights, in warm white, blue, and blinking red. I also got some of the strip lights (the ones that fit onto a 1x6 plate) in warm white.

Other than that, it was just expansion boards and connecting cables.

Even with what I would consider to be a relatively simple setup, it still is a lot! The order itself was nearly $200.

pxchris

Here is a video showing how the lighting ended up coming out for my display.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbGKyVzFyuN/

I'm really, really pleased with how it all came out in the end. I certainly see much, much room for improvement, but for coming into this so new and with such a time crunch, I'm satisfied.

Switchfoot55

That's fantastic! So glad it all came together for you in such a short time. Can't wait to see what you're able to do from here!

lowlead

Yer not a n00b anymore!