Video: Lights for LEGOs

Are you a LEGO lover? Want to have another excuse to leave them out with your other home decor? LOL

I've just posted a video showing how you can light up a Queen Anne's Revenge lego project using yellow fairy lights. Also known as micro-drop lights, these LED battery light sets are perfect for lego and building projects. Adding lights gives the ship extra function as a sort of nightlight in a child's room.

See the transcript of this video.

My husband, David, came up with this idea after our son finished the project. He decided to use yellow to simulate the lanterns. Since the light drops are on a flexible wire, it's easy to string them in and out of the project. The obvious place to put each one is in all of the lanterns but adding one behind the cannon doors that open, set off the sides of the ship really nicely.

One thing to keep in mind when using battery operated lights is how long the batteries are expected to last. The longer the set and the heavier the connecting, wire, the less time you'll get out of each batter set. LED lights require less power than traditional incandescent battery lights but as a rule of thumb, most battery sets last from 4 to 24 hours. Since the fairy lights are constructed on coated wires, the resistance of the sets - and as a result the current draw - is really low and they last over 100 hours depending on the brand and age of the batteries.

This type of light would also work great for a Christmas village if you had a little house or scene that was too far from a plug to use a traditional Christmas light.

Now, I'm looking forward to lighting up other projects and posting them to this blog. Imagine what you can do with an x-wing fighter or a the Harry Potter Hogwarts castle. I'm starting to wonder if that would make a lego a deductible expense?

Have fun with your own LEGO projects and if you think of something really cool, please shoot me a photo :)

Happy LEGO building,