Lego has been one of the most popular toys for many years. Young and old sit for hours and build with the colorful clamping blocks. Either with instructions or “free snout”, whatever comes to your mind and the brick store has it. Small houses, fast racing cars, futuristic spaceships, football stadiums, trains and much more are being built there. But something is always missing. Apart from the light bricks, which are included as a highlight with a few selected sets, the models are left in the dark after construction. A train without lights? An unlit stadium? Houses with dark windows? A challenge, especially for the inventors among the Legoans. But how does it work with Lego lighting? Can you do this without any previous knowledge of physics? In any case. Four ideas that will make your Lego sets shine in new splendor.
Probably the most uncomplicated way to illuminate Lego sets are the Powered Up LEDs from Lego itself. The principle is simple, the result is impressive. Disadvantage: These powered up LEDs only work with sets that can be operated with a powered up hub. And that’s currently the LEGO City passenger train and its powerful brother, the LEGO City freight train, both of which are controlled by LEGO remote control. And how exactly does it work?
Conclusion: If you want to illuminate your LEGO trains spontaneously and without much tinkering, you can’t go wrong with the LEGO Powered Up LED.
A completely different idea is behind the concept of Light Stax. Here, a Mobile Power Brick (Light Stax System) or a USB Power Base (Light Stax Junior) lights up any bricks connected to it. In other words, you don’t light your creation after building it, you build the fantasy model directly on top of the power source. The light is passed on via the plug connections between the stones. Nice: Light Stax is compatible with Lego and Lego Duplo. With a little imagination, even the youngest can present their first small buildings, animals or vehicles with strong light effects. With both the Mobile Power Brick and the USB Power Base, terminal block fans big and small can choose between the three light modes “permanently lit”, “flashing” and “dimming”. The “good night function” prevents the Lego figures from shining through all night and automatically shuts down the Power Brick and Power Base after 15 minutes.
A little more fiddly, but not complicated in principle, is the Lego lighting with the Briksmax LED Dot Lights. In contrast to the Powered Up LEDs and the Light Stax, however, Lego fans in particular come into play here, who want to illuminate the sets individually and according to their own ideas. For this purpose, Briksmax supplies LED point lights that are only a few millimeters in size with correspondingly long cables, which can be hidden in the sets without any problems. Caution: The mini LEDs are available in warm or cold white, but also in red, green and blue. They are very delicate and should therefore be placed as carefully as possible in the appropriate places in the set. Also make sure that the cables are always routed between the knobs and are not pinched if possible.
Now three small LED dots might be enough to adequately illuminate a Speed Champion or other small Lego sets. If you want to make a stadium, a large Technic set, Star Wars spaceships or even a modular Lego City shine, you have to bring out brighter and, above all, many more LED guns. And Briksmax is prepared for that too. Suitable lighting sets are usually put together and offered for almost every Lego set shortly after the release. In addition to the dots or strip LEDs, this also includes a flat battery holder, a USB power cable and, depending on the size, various expansion boards with slots for additional LEDs.
Honestly, you can’t make too big jumps with the Light Bricks. And yet the bricks produced by Lego itself are very popular and in demand among fans. Especially during the Christmas season, Lego regularly launches sets that contain such a special brick. The principle is simple: An LED and a small battery are installed inside the brick. The circuit is closed via a pressure mechanism on the side and the stone lights up until the button is released again. With appropriate construction techniques, for example, a Christmas tree can be made to glow by lightly touching the tip.
LEGO Light Bricks are included in these five sets:
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