Doll House Christmas Lights

This Instructable shows how to simply add Christmas lights to your 1/12th scale Doll House & indoor Christmas Tree.

The main exterior Christmas lights are a perminant fixture as they are not seen when turned off while the Christmas tree/ lights are just plugged in so the Christmas tree can be put away once Chistmas is over.

The build is very simple and uses a modified Solar String Light with 5M of LEDs.

This Instructable uses my 1960s Doll House as an example but you should be able to adapt it to suite any 1/12th scale house.

Main Doll House wiring is shown in this Instructable.

The Doll House Smart TV is here.

The full build is also on my 1960s Dolls House site here.

I have used 3D printed LED holders to house the LED light strip but you can purchase premade LED strip holders on Amazon. See supplies for details.

Pic 1. Christmas lights on the facias of my 1960's Doll House, lights on the Christmas tree and a festive film on the SMART TV.

Pic 2. Side view of the lights on my 1960's Doll House.

Pic 3. Front view of the Christmas Lights with the roof closed dowm.

if you want to modify any 3D parts used in this Instructable then they can be downloaded here in FreeCAD format.

Pic 1. Solar String Lights with 5M led strip. https://amzn.eu/d/jkbVohQ

Pic 2. 12mm Mounting Hole Red Square Latching Push Switch https://amzn.eu/d/hYh0g3B 1 off

Pic 3. 12mm Mounting Hole Red Square Non Latching Push Switch https://amzn.eu/d/aX0Imk1 1 off

Clear 3D filament PLA/PLA+ for LED strip holders.

Alternatively you cab buy Slim Surface Aluminium LED Profile with Frosted Diffuser.

0.5mm solid wire https://amzn.eu/d/dJD1I3k Qty as required

MP1584EN ultra Small DC-DC 3A power Step-Down regulator set at 1.5v 1 off

1/12th scale Christmas tree

Pic 4. Doll House Socket

Pic 2. The solar box is taken apart by removing the 4 screws. The base with control board is fixed to the rear of the house under a panel.

Pic 1. Wiring connections to the control circuit. The battery is removed and can be re-used in another project if required.

The solar control box has it's control circuit left in place with a MP1584EN ultra Small DC-DC 3A power Step-Down regulator (set at 1.5v) hot melt glued to the case.

The 1.5v output from the regulator is wired in place of the battery. The LED string is soldered back on the PCB once it has been run around the doll's house brackets. Cut a short length off to wrap around the tree.

A spare switch on the doll's house switches the 5v to the regulator.

A doll's house momentary push switch is connected across the mode switch so the lighting modes can be adjusted from the top of the house.

Note the original power switch in the solar control box must be left on.

Pic 3. MP1584EN adjust the output to 1.5v.

Pic 4. Schematic showing wiring for the On/Off switch and the Mode Switch.

The solar circuit board in the rear part of the case is mounted on the rear of the Doll House protected by the rear covers.

Pic 1. The LED string is run around the facia of the Doll House contained is a series of 3D printed brackets held in place with M2 countersunk screws. Fix the brackets in the position shown in this pic. Note holes are drilled through the front facia left and right so the light string can be run through from the left facia to the front and into the right facia.

The brackets are printed in clear filament and are of four different types.

Pic 2. Angled hole drilled for the LED string through the facia.

Pic 3. Run a pair of wires from the LED string output on the lighting module PCB. This wire comes out through the switch mount bar (into a short length of LED bracket) and into the first left hand XmasLightsBracket200 where it is jointed with solder to the LED light string. Leave a short length of wire slack to allow the roof to open.

Pic 4. Bracket type 1 is "XmasLightsBracket200", 5 off required 1 for each side and 2 for the front.

Cut down one length of this bracket to cover the wire on the switch bar see Pic 3.

Pic 5. Bracket type 2 is "XmasLigtsBracketFrontR200", 2 off required for the front of the roof. Not the stop end on the right. Note mirror one bracket in CURA end on so a stop end is on the left.

Pic 6. Bracket type 3 is "XmasLigtsBracketLeft184", 2 off required for left and right of roof. One end has a bevel to match the pitch of the roof. Note one bracket will need to be mirrored in CURA down it's side to fit on the right of the roof.

Pic 7.Bracket type 4 " XmasLigtsFrontMid", 1 off required center front.

Pic 1. Christmas Tree lights turned on. The working Smart TV (see Instructable) is showing a video cast from my mobile. The flickering wood burning stove is from the same Instructable.

Pic 2. I purchased a cheap tree without lights.

The 5M length of lighting string should be enough to go around the roof and have a short length left over for the Christmas tree.

Pic 3. Wrap the short length of LED string around the Christmas tree and terminate the rear of the string onto a Doll House plug. A Doll House socket is fitted to the wall and wired away to the LED string output on the lighting module PCB (Pic 2) as per the house lights above.

Pic 1. The outdoor Christmas Lights and Christmas Tree lights are controlled by two common switches mounted behind the roof of my 1960s house. The switches are mounted in 3D printed switch boxes see my Doll House Lighting Instructable for details.

The "Xmas Lights" switch turns the Outdoor & Tree lights on and off while the "Xmas Light Mode" (non locking) cycles through the display modes.

Pic 2. Shows the location of the switches and switch boxes behing the roof of the house.