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Completely lit up Lego City with LEDs - WIP

AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
in Building and Techniques
Hello everybody,

today I would like to present you my Lego city.
It mainly consists of Creator Expert Sets and Mocs and is not completed, yet. As you can see in the following video, the majority of the city is equipped with different kinds of LED lights.


I hope you like it.
Feel free to leave a comment or suggestion for improvement. :)










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Comments

  • ecmo47ecmo47 Member Posts: 2,101
    Spectacular! Do all those light generate much heat?
    AntiZombie
  • BooTheMightyHamsterBooTheMightyHamster Member Posts: 1,528
    Fantastic!  It looks amazing, and you've done a great job of hiding the wiring.
    Just out of interest, much of the camera work looks like it was hand-held, but you had some very smooth sideways pans.  How did you do that?  Was the camera on a trolley or something?
    AntiZombie
  • AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
    ecmo47 said:
    Spectacular! Do all those light generate much heat?
    Thanks! No, luckily those LEDs don't get warm at all.

    BooTheMightyHamster said:
    Fantastic!  It looks amazing, and you've done a great job of hiding the wiring.
    Just out of interest, much of the camera work looks like it was hand-held, but you had some very smooth sideways pans.  How did you do that?  Was the camera on a trolley or something?
    Thank you! Yes, you're right; it was a mixture of hand-held as well as on a tripod and on a slider (for the smooth pans). Unfortunately, I can not place the tripod everywhere I like to, thats why I have to film hand-held.
  • Baby_YodaBaby_Yoda Member Posts: 1,295
    That's amazing! Between the lights in every building and the moving trains, Ferris wheel, etc., it looks so alive!
    AntiZombie
  • DaveC426913DaveC426913 Member Posts: 22
    edited June 2018
    Fantaspectaculatic!

    I'm not sure what Iike most - the guy who's been knocked down by a car, or the bubbly water in the fountain/pond. There's so much detail! And it's beautifully lit!

    AntiZombie
  • AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
    Baby_Yoda said:
    That's amazing! Between the lights in every building and the moving trains, Ferris wheel, etc., it looks so alive!
    Thank you so much. It was indeed my plan to bring this city to life. I'm glad you like it :)
    DaveC426913 said:
    Fantaspectaculatic!

    I'm not sure what Iike most - the guy who's been knocked down by a car, or the bubbly water in the fountain/pond. There's so much detail! And it's beautifully lit!

    Thanks, happy tp hear. I appreciate your word creation. :)
    Funny story with the car scene: One LED I planned for lighting up the car with didnt work, so I thought about a way to include a broken headlight: an accident. ;)

    Toc13omnium
  • Switchfoot55Switchfoot55 Member Posts: 3,275
    What system do you use for lighting? 
    AntiZombie
  • daewoodaewoo Member Posts: 793
    Very nice!  Which method did you use to motorize the orange Tram?
    AntiZombie
  • AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
    Switchfoot55 said:
    What system do you use for lighting? 
    The LEDs are powered by USB.
    daewoo said:
    Very nice!  Which method did you use to motorize the orange Tram?
    Thanks! :) The Tram is motorized by the monorail-system of the set 6991

  • Switchfoot55Switchfoot55 Member Posts: 3,275
    @AntiZombie, is it a setup you built custom yourself? Or is it from any particular vendor? I'm looking at options to light my Winter Village and would love to work something out like your setup. 

    If you made it yourself, do you have any wiring diagrams or schematics? 
  • TheOriginalSimonBTheOriginalSimonB Member Posts: 1,771
    Love it.  When can I move in?
  • mustang69mustang69 Member Posts: 544
    I saw this video over on Eurobricks, it and this thread have piqued my interest in lighting up not only my winter village but also my ferris wheel and carousel. Hopefully the videos author (and the mods here) dont mind me linking to it.

    https://youtu.be/VZ14lbJDWWY

    In the video they use Light My Bricks which is AU based, though it looks like they have vendors who sell their products in other countries. Unfortunately they are a little pricey. One of the kits I was looking at was $90 to light up the ferris wheel. 

    I've been looking on Amazon to see what micro LED options they have and may get a set to see if I can experiment with what might work. They're not too expensive if you go that route (i.e. $10.99 for a 6 pack of 7 foot multicolored lights). It will really depend on how thick the wires are and now big the LED is. If you cant fit a plate or brick over a stud with a wire running through it might not work for all applications, same if you cant fit an LED into a trans brick.

    Maybe this thread can be a good place to discuss options.


  • daewoodaewoo Member Posts: 793
    I would also like to add lights to my city but most options I see are very pricey.  Add the fact that I want to ballast all of my railroad track and my budget is mostly spoken for.
  • CyberdragonCyberdragon Member Posts: 549
    I like rice lights as they can really be put anywhere lighting up the smallest detail, especially with LEDs only needing tiny wires. However, I'm also the type of guy that would try to light up as much as possible using the original Lego incandescent system (with a power supply not batteries though), before resorting to micro lights. 
  • SumoLegoSumoLego Member Posts: 15,216
    Where's the 'Store Closing' banner on the Toys R Us sign?
    Cyberdragoncaterham7BumblepantsBaby_YodaAstrobricks
  • CyberdragonCyberdragon Member Posts: 549
    SumoLego said:
    Where's the 'Store Closing' banner on the Toys R Us sign?
    Ouch! Roasted!
  • LazertronLazertron Member Posts: 8
    As there is no sign that Toys R Us is closing in the country of the gifted builder, there is no need for such a sign. Roasted back.
    560HeliportSwitchfoot55
  • AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
    Switchfoot55 said:
    @AntiZombie, is it a setup you built custom yourself? Or is it from any particular vendor? I'm looking at options to light my Winter Village and would love to work something out like your setup. 

    If you made it yourself, do you have any wiring diagrams or schematics? 
    Many of the lights come from "Light my Bricks". But I also have other suppliers who build the lights according to my requirements.
    Sorry I cant provide you with technical details.

    TheOriginalSimonB said:
    Love it.  When can I move in?
    Haha, thanks! You can move in here directly with your minifigure(s). ;-)

    mustang69 said:
    I saw this video over on Eurobricks, it and this thread have piqued my interest in lighting up not only my winter village but also my ferris wheel and carousel. Hopefully the videos author (and the mods here) dont mind me linking to it.


    In the video they use Light My Bricks which is AU based, though it looks like they have vendors who sell their products in other countries. Unfortunately they are a little pricey. One of the kits I was looking at was $90 to light up the ferris wheel.
    Lighting up is always a good idea. Go for it! :)
    Have a look on ebay: For a first start, there are suppliers of simple lighting kits. And not all of them are so expensive. But all in all, this is an expensive supplement....

    mustang69 said:

    Maybe this thread can be a good place to discuss options.
    Nice idea, but in the future I would rather like to present more of my city here, so I think it would make more sense to create a new thread for it. Or if you like, we can also talk about the topic via PM.

    daewoo said:
    I would also like to add lights to my city but most options I see are very pricey.  Add the fact that I want to ballast all of my railroad track and my budget is mostly spoken for.
    I know how you feel. Every Lego project is worth a lot of money... I've decided against ballasting up the railroad tracks - for now. ;)
    Cyberdragon said:
    I like rice lights as they can really be put anywhere lighting up the smallest detail, especially with LEDs only needing tiny wires. However, I'm also the type of guy that would try to light up as much as possible using the original Lego incandescent system (with a power supply not batteries though), before resorting to micro lights. 
    I know what you are saying. My first attempt was also to install the original Lego-LEDs. But due to their size it was simply impossible to integrate them nicely. Would be great, if Lego can bring more variants on the market.

    Lazertron said:
    As there is no sign that Toys R Us is closing in the country of the gifted builder, there is no need for such a sign. Roasted back.
    You're right; thanks. In Germany, Toys R Us will continue to exist (as it looks right now).











  • CyberdragonCyberdragon Member Posts: 549
    edited June 2018
    The 9V incandescant lighting system with the conductive studs (same as the old PF motors) is better than the older pin based ones. The lights are smaller and you have several conductor plates to choose from to keep the wires out of the way.

    As for the technic LEDs, the wires are just too fat for no reason. The third party technic lighting kits use much thinner wires and have a lot more lights on one plug.

    As for making your own, it's simply LEDs in parallel with a resistor on each. You could put them in series for higher voltages like 9 or 12 as well, though they'll work in parallel there too with higher resistors.
  • hank_delsihank_delsi Member Posts: 14
    no pics right now, but i started with lifelites but you can also check out brickstuff
  • lentillentil Member Posts: 53
    Brilliant! I love how you have set up your city, and the lighting is just amazing. Thank you for sharing with us.
  • AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
    Cyberdragon said:
    The 9V incandescant lighting system with the conductive studs (same as the old PF motors) is better than the older pin based ones. The lights are smaller and you have several conductor plates to choose from to keep the wires out of the way.

    As for the technic LEDs, the wires are just too fat for no reason. The third party technic lighting kits use much thinner wires and have a lot more lights on one plug.

    As for making your own, it's simply LEDs in parallel with a resistor on each. You could put them in series for higher voltages like 9 or 12 as well, though they'll work in parallel there too with higher resistors.
    Thanks for the technical description, but I am not familiar with it.
    In the beginning, I thought about building my own lights indeed, but buying seems easier to me. ;)
    Maybe some day I will reconsider and start it.
    hank_delsi said:
    no pics right now, but i started with lifelites but you can also check out brickstuff
    Thanks for the hint. They look similar to the Light my Bricks kits.
    How is your progress?
    lentil said:
    Brilliant! I love how you have set up your city, and the lighting is just amazing. Thank you for sharing with us.
    Thank you very much for your kind words. :)
  • AstrobricksAstrobricks Member Posts: 5,440
    Once again, I love what you’ve done. Very nice video production too :) 

    However, there is one thing about LED lighting kits (at least the ones I’ve seen online - I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person); the lighting always looks too bright to be realistic. It looks like everyone has 1000 watt bulbs in every room. Or does taking video make everything look brighter than it looks in person? Some of the exterior lighting looks very realistic, like the way you’ve lit your Disney castle. Do the light kits typically come with a dimmer adjustment? 
  • alaskaguyalaskaguy Member Posts: 335
    today I would like to present you my Lego city.
    It mainly consists of Creator Expert Sets and Mocs and is not completed, yet. As you can see in the following video, the majority of the city is equipped with different kinds of LED lights.

    I hope you like it.
    Feel free to leave a comment or suggestion for improvement. :)
    I have to tell you man - most of the stuff like this people post, I'm like, "Meh...wish I had my time watching the video back."  But I tell you what, that was freaking FANTASTIC!!!  Totally awesome and good job!!!

    Some additional thoughts off the top of my head:
    • Good choice of music
    • A "birds eye" view of the whole city would be nice
    • Some more "zoomed out" some views would be nice
    • I loved the car accident, complete with victim on the road.
    • I loved the pimp guy outside the adult store or whatever that was.
    • It would be cool if you can program the trains to make stops.
    • The park needs a couple of junkies shooting up heroin - to make it complete
    • The park needs a couple having sex - to make it complete
    • Needs an airport - complete with lights on the runway, etc. Bonus points for a "floating" airplane about to land.  Triple bonus points if it is a Trump plane (:
    • Needs a few more office buildings to make a "downtown business core"
    • Needs a taxi-cab or two (yellow, checkered)
    Details of all the sets used, MOCs, lighting info, cost info, etc. would be informational (:

    Good work man!
    ag







    Baby_Yoda
  • AntiZombieAntiZombie Member Posts: 12
    Astrobricks said:
    Once again, I love what you’ve done. Very nice video production too :) 

    However, there is one thing about LED lighting kits (at least the ones I’ve seen online - I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person); the lighting always looks too bright to be realistic. It looks like everyone has 1000 watt bulbs in every room. Or does taking video make everything look brighter than it looks in person? Some of the exterior lighting looks very realistic, like the way you’ve lit your Disney castle. Do the light kits typically come with a dimmer adjustment? 
    Thank you very much! :-)

    I think this could be related to the automatic exposure of the camera... Since the surroundings are dark, everything is brightened up a bit. So the lights are partly already bright, but not in such a way that one could think it would be unrealistic.

    alaskaguy said:

    I have to tell you man - most of the stuff like this people post, I'm like, "Meh...wish I had my time watching the video back."  But I tell you what, that was freaking FANTASTIC!!!  Totally awesome and good job!!!

    Some additional thoughts off the top of my head:
    • Good choice of music
    • A "birds eye" view of the whole city would be nice
    • Some more "zoomed out" some views would be nice
    • I loved the car accident, complete with victim on the road.
    • I loved the pimp guy outside the adult store or whatever that was.
    • It would be cool if you can program the trains to make stops.
    • The park needs a couple of junkies shooting up heroin - to make it complete
    • The park needs a couple having sex - to make it complete
    • Needs an airport - complete with lights on the runway, etc. Bonus points for a "floating" airplane about to land.  Triple bonus points if it is a Trump plane (:
    • Needs a few more office buildings to make a "downtown business core"
    • Needs a taxi-cab or two (yellow, checkered)
    Details of all the sets used, MOCs, lighting info, cost info, etc. would be informational (:

    Good work man!
    ag
    Thanks for your compliment and suggestions. I really appreciate them!
    I'll see what I can do with the ideas. :)

    The junkies may not be necessary. ;-) But I could add the couple to the park and maybe more punks.
    I agree with you with the cabs, there are definitely missing, as well as the office complexes (but it will take some time until a new building comes up).

    Unfortunately, I don't have enough space for an airport at the moment, so presumably that wont be possible. But the rest should be realizable soon.
    Thanks again, ag!!
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