How to build a big flickering lamp for a structure
This technique gives you a fairly large amount of light. The four T-Lites used here refract and reflect off of all sides of the plastic canister and can be seen plainly in the dark from a long ways away. One of these lamps is also visible on an overcast day or in the early evening dusk. (See my thoughts on buying components, structures and on canisters.)
Bill of materials
• Four Smart Candle T-Lites (available at Walgreens; these instructions are based on the 2006 model T-Lite).
• One bridge rectifier (at least 20 volts; at least one amp; Radio Shack 276-1152 works but is overkill).
• Six pieces of 22-gauge, single-strand hookup wire, two inches long.
• Four pieces, one-inch each, 1/8-inch heat-shrink tubing.
• One, 18-inch length, 20-gauge stranded copper wire (speaker wire).
• One piece doweling, half-inch square by 3½-inches tall.
• One No. 4 pan-head, sheet metal screw, three-quarters inch.
• One fender washer, three-quarter inch diameter with hole small enough to contain No. 4 pan-head screw.
• Solder, paste flux, silicon caulking, glue, masking tape, electricians’ tape.
• White enamel paint (rattle can is perfect).
• One structure with windows and/or open doors.
Tools
• Phillips screwdriver.
• Pliers (needle-nose and regular).
• Wire cutters.
• Soldering iron or gun.
• Drill (plus 1/32-inch standard bit).
Instructions
• Visit the page on how to disassemble a T-Lite; take all four of them apart.
• Strip the insulation off one end of each of the pieces of the hookup wire; make it about one-quarter inch.
• Using the diagram for your model of T-Lite (2006 or 2007), find the negative hole on both the top and bottom of the PC board and push a piece of hookup wire through that hole from the bottom, so the bare lead is sticking up through the top. Flux the wire on the top of the PC board and solder the wire into place. Repeat for the other three T-Lites.
• Taking the dowel and two T-Lites, apply glue (for this type of job, we choose Goop here at the GT&E) to the underside of the T-Lites, in a strip about three-eights of an inch wide, from top to bottom. Place the two lights on opposite faces of the square dowel, both at the top of the dowel. Using a rubber band, hold the T-Lites securely and squarely onto the dowel. Repeat the process, choosing the third and fourth faces of the dowel, just below the first two T-Lites. Allow to dry overnight.
• Choose the negative lead of the bottom-most T-Lite and bend it down toward the base of the dowel; don’t strip it. On the other three leads, strip a one-eighth-inch piece of insulation off. Assuming that the T-Lite you bent the lead on is bottom front, run the wire from top left to bottom front’s positive soldering joint and solder it. Now run the wire from top right to the top left’s positive soldering joint and solder there. Penultimately, run the wire from bottom back to top right’s positive joint and solder it. Lastly, taking your fifth wire, strip off an eighth-inch of insulation and solder it into the bottom back’s positive joint. You now have four T-Lites wired in serial.
• Bend the two remaining leads from the T-Lites so they are pointing toward the top of the dowel; strip one-quarter inch of insulation off of them. Split the speaker wire on one end about two inches; strip about a quarter-inch of insulation off the ends that have been split. Slip the heat-shrink tubing up into the crotch of the speaker-wire split. Take out the rectifier and trim all its leads to one-quarter inch. Slip the heat-shrink tubing up onto the T-Lite leads.
• Solder the speaker wire leads to the ambiguous (~) leads of the rectifier. Slip the heat-shrink tubing up over the joints, but don’t shrink them yet.
• Solder the positive lead from the T-Lite series to the positive (+} lead of the rectifier. (In situations like this, I usually tin each lead with solder before trying to mate them). Do the same again with the negative wire from the T-Lite, connecting to the negative (usually no designation; the AC inputs are the two tildes — ~ — while the DC positive is marked +).
• Test the lamp against a 12-volt AC source.
• Slide all the heat-shrink tubing up against the rectifier and heat to keep in place.
• Nestle the rectifier against one of the bottom T-Lite PC boards and, using electricians’ tape, affix it to the dowel.
• Drill a 1/32 hole in the bottom of the dowel and one in the center of the canister lid. Run the screw through the fender washer, the lid and into the dowel.
• Notch the canister so the speaker wire can exit when the lid is tight and close up the canister.
• Mount the canister inside a structure that has been masked and the interior painted white.
• Reattach the roof/base and run the speaker wire through a crack or make a small hole.
• Connect the speaker wire to your garden lighting circuit. (See my thoughts on low-voltage garden electrical connections.)
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