On Dec 21, 6:16*am, JIMMIE wrote:
On Dec 20, 3:42*pm, Jennifer Murphy wrote:









My multimeter arrived today. I cannot get to the wiring underneath the
dollhouse because there is paint and glue drying. ;-)

I tried to get a voltage reading at the light sockets inside the doll
house. I could not get a consistent reading. The space is very cramped
and the sockets very small (3/8"). I seemed to get a better reading on
DC than AC. The DC readings jumped all over the place, but it looked
like between 0.9 and 1.1 v. The AC readings jumped around even more. The
most consistent reading was 6v at one socket.

Is there a way using this meter to tell if the current is AC or DC?

Next, I did a continuity test of the bulbs themselves. Of the 12 bulbs I
removed from the house, only one passed the continuity test.

I then tried a resistance test on the bulbs. The one that passed the
continuity test showed 11 ohms of resistence. The rest showed infinite
resistance.

I then took the good bulb and tried it in several sockets. After
fiddling with the button switches, I was able to get it to light in
several sockets. It was very dim.

When everything dries, I will try to get under the house and see if I
can get better readings.

Any comments or suggestions?

Start by finding out the voltage requirements of the bulbs, then see
if your power supply is working properly putting out the right voltage
for the bulbs. Replace all the bulbs while you at it, sounds like more
are bad than good. This will make further troubleshooting easier and
may solve all your problems to start with.

Jimmie

Continuing on, I bought an old doll house several years ago and it had
problems with lighting too. After replacing the bulbs I found that
several of the switches were bad. The one house is the limit of my
experience and my local hobby store owner was the source of all my
info. Oh yeah a little contact cleaner in the light sockets helps
too. I use DeOXit. I recommend using this on all the bulbs and
switches.

Jimmie