I used Meridian LED bulbs found at Home Depot. We have close to 200 buildings to light and they have worked extremely well. They come in frosted and clear. We used the frosted bulbs. They have the perfect balance to light the buildings well even in daylight and are remarkable at night.

There are cheaper options out there, but they are not as good.

 

200! makes my wife's collection look like small potatoes

I purchased some years ago this new lighting system for lighting the village but I don't have that many buildings. Also runs accessories.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Department-5...nt-56-Building-and-Accessory-Lighting-System/2255521851?iid=253934607370&chn=ps

These C7 LED are an option if you want to use the original cord and have lots to light.

https://www.christmaslightsetc.com/...c.com/p/C7--Warm-White-Smooth-OptiCore-LED-Replacement-Bulbs-13981.htm#F133V389

 

"200! makes my wife's collection look like small potatoes"

And that's just what is on the layout. Add to that, Dickens Village on shelves in our living room (over 100), Seasons Bay in our office (38), and during the winter, Snowy Pines in the Kitchen.

We gave many more to the Barbara Bush Children's' Hospital as we could not longer fit them all in.

 

Boy...and I just picked up a measly ‘bakers dozen’ Dept 56 buildings on eBay to start populating my new winter, snow and Christmas addition...reading your numbers can make one feel a bit pauperized...
Anyway...this has come up at a perfect time, as I had planned on checking with Brian on updating options for replacing the original nite lite bulbs...

 

Paul, I tested several bulbs, but the Meridians were the best fit for us. Almost a year later, I made the correct decision.

 

Thanks Brian, I just checked Menards site and they have them in 4 packs at $3.36 after their rebate, so will be stopping on my travels Saturday and picking some up...

 

Do you guy's with all these buildings use HUGE plug strips to power these ? Is there another way ? I can see where it could get ugly trying to power these....

Also what kind of local shows or places can you find Dept. 56 buildings. Shipping on some of these items can be prohibitive....

 

I've got a variety of Dept 56 buildings in different areas of the layout. North Pole stuff for the North Pole, naturally. Christmas in the City buildings for a section of the layout known as Irishville (lots of pubs), and Snow Village buildings/houses for the other sections. The scale is different for each so grouping them together and having separation of the sections is key to a tolerable perspective. All told, 125 or so structures.

One downside to the Dept 56 buildings is you aren't going to have inside scenes unless it's already part of the building. There aren't windows to look through or rooms with floors on most of the buildings. So all your people action is out in front of the house, or in the backyard. Another is the buildings are mostly winterized - i.e. snow somewhere on the roof or base. I just look past it and still have people swimming in a pool, mowing grass, having a cook out, playing baseball, etc. My wife has a more difficult time blocking out the snow and can't understand how I have been able to get the roses on a vine to bloom on the same street that Public Works is plowing snow.

I started replacing the original lighting wire and bulb with LED bulbs, but then went in another direction altogether to get rid of the wires and plugs. I bought the Woodland Scenic Just Plug light hubs and daisy-chained those together and used a stick on LED in each of the buildings. Easy to hide the LED wire as they are small and can fit in any hole under the building. Also doesn't require you to drill big holes in the layout to get a light cord through, or have a 125 sockets to plug into. Used 40% coupons at Hobby Lobby to save money and replace a few lights a little at a time.

I bought my buildings used from different venues, but it also took some time - Goodwill store, ebay, local auction, garage sales. Some of the stuff you see for sale online is way overpriced the closer you are to Christmas. There is a site called Find My Department 56 that will give you an idea of what a particular piece has sold for recently.

Anyway, a few ideas.

 

"Do you guy's with all these buildings use HUGE plug strips to power these ? Is there another way"

Yes, power strips, but I had an abundance of outlets installed to handle this well. The strips are neatly secured to under the benchwork. No mess.

 

thank you so much for the bulb information

now another question

how does on move the Dept 56 white cord from house to under table - seems to me that would be a very large hole to drill

I think I must be missing something here

Thank You
MrToad

 

Cut the cord, insert it through a small drilled hole and then spice it. One side of the cord has markings. Be sure when you spice it you match up the cords they way they were before you cut it. All you need is a wire stripper and black electrical tape.

Other than that, you have to drill a large hole.

Over the years, I have installed hundreds of D56 lights this way.

 

... Be sure when you spice it you match up the cords they way they were before you cut it...

Mark one strand of the cord with a sharpie about an inch long before cutting. It doesn't matter which strand is marked. Then splice the marked ends together to maintain polarity. This will keep the UL safety mechanism intact by insuring the "hot" AC feed is not connected to the socket's outer conductor.

 

PTC - thank you sir

MrToad

 

Good idea, Mike. I used tape, but the marker is a better idea.

 

It just occurred to me that not everyone has an electrical/electronic background. So some pointers ...

Twisting stripped wire and taping is less than desirable. And cutting perpendicular through the lamp cord creates a huge "lump" when rejoined and taped. So my suggestions ...

First: The "lineman's splice". Slit the lamp cord's strands apart ~ 3"-4" while keeping the strands intact. Then cut one strand 1" away from one end and the other strand 1" away from the opposite end. When the strands are stripped, twisted and taped, they won't overlap each other minimizing the splice thickness.

Second: Solder and heat shrink instead of taping. The following video from the 3 min mark (to ~ 7 min) shows the proper technique for a single strand. Coupled with the lineman's splice and you have a professional splice.

And this is not expensive to start. I've used a $2 iron from the dollar store that comes with a small supply of solder and Harbor Freight has heat shrink tubing for $2.

 

How is the Meridian bulbs light with regards to brightness - can you see the light coming through the ceramic walls?

As the Dept. 56 bulbs are way-to bright and shine light through the structure walls (some like that effect but I don't care for it), I use simple 3-watt light bulbs (Model Power or equivalent) and wire between 18 to 22 gauge hooked to a terminal strip and power with a variable transformer so I can dim to the mood. Lots of soldering but the light is subtle and effective and only shines through windows.

 

Department 56 Snow Village is ceramic. While Dickens Village, Christmas in the City, North Pole, New England Village and most others are porcelain. The Ceramic buildings have light that only omits through the window and door openings. The porcelain buildings tend to glow a little as well as the light also emitting from the window and door openings. The amount of "glow" varies from building to building. For me this is part of the charm of the Heritage Village collections (non-ceramic).

The brighter the bulb, the more glow effect. I believe the Meridian bulbs are 7 watts, so you may not like them, Paul. But for me, the lights in the train room are often on and the Meridian bulbs compensate well so as not to lose the building lighting effect. Comes down to personal taste.

 

just to be sure

""PTC""

Sorry to string this along,
but - just to be sure - is this what you are recommending

Meridian - 7W Equivalent Bright White C7 Non-Dimmable LED Replacement Light Bulb (2-Pack)


Thank you - MrToad

 

That's what I use and zero failures so far. The light emitted is perfect for our conditions. I highly recommend them.

 

thanks

Thank you so much for this information

I have purchased the Meridian LED - look great

and

Learning the spice is next on my list

Thanks, MrToad

 

So pleased that you are happy with my recommendation for these bulbs.

 

For those that have only a few buildings and/or don't want to cut a splice cords ...

There are these desk wire covers. Cut out a large hole for the cover that allows the building plug to fit through. Then the cover plugs the hole nearly flush (could be painted or covered in landscape material?).

 

I cut up strings of led Christmas lights and power them with an old computer power supply. The power supply puts out 3 4.5 and 12 volts. Most village battery operated lights are either two or three batteries each battery is 1.5 volts so 2 would be 3 volts and 3 would be 4.5 volts then for the houses if you cut led lights strings into sets of four they run off the 12 volt output. leds are diodes so only flow power in one direction so if you cut each bulb out to extend between buildings mark them so they all go back the same way.

 

I’ve been burning my eBay account and PayPal in an effort to populate my new addition to the layout with Dept 56 buildings, vehicles, peeps and various accessories. So far, so good...waiting on a couple of more deliveries this Friday...then serious assembly will begin.
Funny though, with regards to the LED lights...I placed an order for 4 4-Packs of the Meridian bulbs that Brian recommended...I ordered them through Home Depot and I was amazed that they offered ‘free shipping’ on such a small order. Well, I received the UPS tracking info and they were to be delivered this past Saturday...and they were...but in checking, I noticed that they were delivered to someplace in Georgia and not Michigan? After a followup call to HD on Monday...all was made good and after giving me a $5.00 inconvenience credit...a new order is being shipped. I just checked and at least this time, it has made its way into Michigan via UPS and is due tomorrow...we shall see...