Make a Miniature Fire - A Doll's House, Railroad, or Christmas Village Fire

Join the Wire Connections for a Miniature Fire Made With LEDs

Make a Solder Connection to Allow a Battery to Power a Miniature Fire lit by LEDs.

Photo ©2007 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.

• Begin by deciding where you will hide the battery that powers your miniature fire. Add extra wire to the battery leads if necessary before you wire up the LED's.
• Straighten all the LED wires, gather the three red lead wires into one group and the three black wires into another group. Arrange the diodes (the bulb parts) so they are in a row with the orange diode between the flashing yellow and flashing red. Trim the wires to the same length. This will make it easier to fit the LED's into your fire pit.
• When the wires are the correct length, twist the bare ends together. If necessary, scrape off some of the plastic coating. Do the same with the black wires, gather them, correct the length and twist the ends. Slip a one inch piece of shrink wrap tubing over the three wires on both the red and black ends.
• Clean the plastic off the ends of the lead wires for the 9 volt snap cap. Lay the ends of the three wrapped red wires alongside the end of the red wire from the snap cap, with the wires running in opposite directions. Twist the wires together to attach them.
• Place them on a safe soldering surface. Heat the wires with the tip of the soldering iron, then touch them with the solder to solder them together (do not touch the solder to the tip of the soldering iron!) If you have never soldered electrical wires before read this explanation of how to make good joins. The solder should melt and run in between the wires, not form blobs on the wires. When your joins are correctly soldered, check the connections are correct by keeping the joins away from each then connecting the battery cap to the battery. If all the lights light up, slide the piece of shrink tubing down over the join and use a hair dryer or heat gun to shrink the tubing and seal the join.
• If you don't have shrink tubing you can use electrical tape to cover the soldered joins.

• Make a Miniature Fire - Introduction
• Assemble the Materials to Make a Miniature Fire
• Join the Wire Connections for a Miniature Fire Made With LEDs
• Build the Surround for a Miniature Fire Made From LEDs
• Insert the LED Lights Into a Miniature Fire
• Make Miniature Flames from Iridescent Cellophane
• Create the Base for a Miniature Fire
• Landscape Your Miniature Fire Base
• Attach a Miniature Battery Operated Fire to a Landscaped Base