Has anyone made any miniature models of streetlights? I thought about doing this the other day. Some solar lights look as if they could be repurposed into a streetlight. For example maybe I could make a model of a GE Powr/Bracket or Westinghouse Viscount or even a McGraw yard light and use a small cup or bowl for a reflector and the solar light panel/bulb/cap could be the canopy?

Has anyone made any miniature models of streetlights? I thought about doing this the other day. Some solar lights look as if they could be repurposed into a streetlight. For example maybe I could make a model of a GE Powr/Bracket or Westinghouse Viscount or even a McGraw yard light and use a small cup or bowl for a reflector and the solar light panel/bulb/cap could be the canopy?

A long time ago I built an LED street light out of LEGO's...

I used to do that, although most of my creations didn't light up. Cardboard and Lego were favourites, though. I used to make some NEMA heads out of Lego for the village setups we had. Some had a clear PC, some had missing buckets and the lamp was visible. There were small cylindrical transparent pieces and I would sometimes use a green one for a greened out mercury lamp. The cardboard ones were a bit trickier but I usually got to do what I wanted.

One notable model I made was using Construx toy set (by Fisher Price). It had lengths of rigid pieces that snapped into special cubes to link them together. There were small rods and hollow cylinders that were photoluminescent. There were also half-spheres that were photoluminescent. I would use those parts to make a street light. The rod and cylinder would make a "lamp" and the half-sphere would make the "globe". I had several made up and some of the "lamps" were BT shaped (the rod protruded from the cylinder) and others were ED shaped (the rod didn't go the complete length of the cylinder, leaving a "dimple". Quite a cool setup. I hope my description makes sense.

I did try on one occasion to make a street light with old Christmas mini lights. I used cardboard and empty coffee cream single serving cups, but the results were poor. I didn't really have a place to hide the bulk of the set and to only expose the street light lamps.

On a side note, I had a fluorescent desk lamp that used a single F15T8 lamp on manual preheat. I used to cover most of the lamp with thick cardboard and build some small louvred fluorescent fixtures to fit on the opening. I had an aunt who worked in the X-ray department at the time and she used to give me some cardboard into which the film sheets came. She also gave me some processed films that had no images (essentially errors). The film sheets were a pale transparent blue. So the cardboard was used to make the louvre fitting, and the film sheet, cut appropriately and of several thicknesses, were used to simulate a daylight lamp in one side of the louvre. I also had at one time several louvred fixtures and would slip in a piece of cardboard above one to simulate EOL lamps. Then came the blue film because the "replacement" lamp was daylight.

Oh the fun times !

My creations were mostly mini posttops, using mostly small bottles. The bottles i liked most were of as "geometric" shape as possible. There were some cubical shaped liquid soap bottles that matched well, but most others were either too "fancy curved shape" or just too thin and tall

Lamps varied between LEDs, flashlight incandescents, Automotive incandescents (the 5W ones and the double ended ones), and in the last versions also Neons/starter glow lamps and a Xenon flash tube

In one version, i made from a soap bottle with a pump, i made an "arctube" from the straw of the pump and 2 5mm LEDs stuffed in its ends. I had the idea to use a test tube to complete this into a SON-T lamp but never made it

In another, i found some length of translucent Polyethylene stick (think the wire for strimmer, but thicker) and tried to use that as a fiber to conduct light from a hidden LED in the base (cap down positioned bottle)

In yet another version, i cut off the tops (neck + conical section) of PET water bottles and closed the cone from the top with flat PET sheet (cut from the side of the bottle and unrolled), with an Aluminum foil reflector sealed below it. Those were a string of LED garden lights, powered by wind, using a modded PC fan as the turbine and a big Elco as the storage battery

My creations were mostly mini posttops, using mostly small bottles. The bottles i liked most were of as "geometric" shape as possible. There were some cubical shaped liquid soap bottles that matched well, but most others were either too "fancy curved shape" or just too thin and tall

Lamps varied between LEDs, flashlight incandescents, Automotive incandescents (the 5W ones and the double ended ones), and in the last versions also Neons/starter glow lamps and a Xenon flash tube

In one version, i made from a soap bottle with a pump, i made an "arctube" from the straw of the pump and 2 5mm LEDs stuffed in its ends. I had the idea to use a test tube to complete this into a SON-T lamp but never made it

In another, i found some length of translucent Polyethylene stick (think the wire for strimmer, but thicker) and tried to use that as a fiber to conduct light from a hidden LED in the base (cap down positioned bottle)

In yet another version, i cut off the tops (neck + conical section) of PET water bottles and closed the cone from the top with flat PET sheet (cut from the side of the bottle and unrolled), with an Aluminum foil reflector sealed below it. Those were a string of LED garden lights, powered by wind, using a modded PC fan as the turbine and a big Elco as the storage battery

You would have had fun with a 3d printer...

These sound very neat.

I wonder what you could use to make a model of a radial wave light? Only thing I can think of would be a tin pie pan.

You definitely could. The rest can be assembled with pretty much ordinary "lighting lego"

Well guys, I'm working on making my streetlight models! I think I'm going to use some of those little C7 cordsets my neighbor gave me for the lights, but I'm not sure. Really I'd like to have a solar panel and batteries to power LED lights in them so I can put them outside, I saw some on ebay that you can get a kit and mount the solar panel separately from the LED. But we'll see. Or I could use one of my porcelain cleat socket and a low wattage incandescent bulb in them.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to put lights in my models? For my big radial wave model I'm planning to put a cleat socket in it and use a 40 W bulb at 120V. That's for in my bedroom.

For my smaller ones going outside I was going to use C7 sockets and cords on 120V with 4 watt bulbs. But I think it might be safer to use a battery and flashlight bulbs. I was going to get a battery holder and put in a plastic container and then run the wires to the lights and wire them in series. But I'm not sure where to get flashlight bulb sockets or what voltage batteries I would need. I also want to add a photocell to the battery container, can I use any photocell like a 120V one for a lamppost on a battery or do I need one of the little photocells?

I'm planning to go to Michaels on Friday and see if they have anything I can use, and I might go to Radio Shack next weekend and see. I don't think I can get flashlight sockets anywhere though.

I'd really like to use a solar panel and rechargeable batteries in a pack and use LED bulbs in the lights but I don't want to have to solder everything and order it all. I just don't feel like it right now.

You could rip apart a solar stake light and use the components. You might be lucky enough to get one that can be opened and all the parts come out sort of like how a magnetic HID ballast kit comes prewired.

Otherwise, a 120V to 12V step down transformer would work and then you could use 12V lamps. You could wire in a photo cell the normal way on the 120V side. Standard street light photocells need 120V to operate the relay.

That's an idea too and I thought about taking apart a solar light and using the parts too. You can get a solar kit on eBay for $5 but it has to come all the way from China.

I was thinking of the little photocells like you use on a lamppost instead of the twist lock ones but I'll check. And these are going to be out in the backyard along the fence so it would be easier to use something that doesn't plug into the current, it's a good idea though.

I was thinking of the little photocells like you use on a lamppost instead of the twist lock ones but I'll check.

Those need 120V as well. They are 3-wire and wire up exactly like their street light counterparts, only a smaller form factor to fit in tighter spaces.

If you intend on stringing a group on a fence, you can put the transformer at the power end and wire it up to a single photocell. Your group of lights will not surpass the amp capacity of the photocell.

I see. I think for now I'm just going to use a battery. The transformer to 12V DC idea is what I would ideally have, but right now I can't have the transformer and everything sitting around, so I'm just going to use a battery pack unless I can figure out some way to do solar. I only plan to make 3 fixtures so I should be ok.

I'm using yogurt cups for the NEMA heads and I found the medium base cleat sockets will not fit, so for my big radial wave I got a porcelain socket that should fit. I also got a candelabra base cleat socket that I think should work for the smaller ones outside. I was also considering using the bottom of a soda can cut in half for the NEMA heads but I think it would be safer to use something plastic, as the aluminum can could easily become energized unexpectedly.

Cool, I'd love to see pictures once it is complete !

Unless your lights are solar, i'd not use individual batteries. Wire them together to a central power source like 120V (straight or through transformer) or one high capacity battery maintained by a charger

For safety :

 - 120V..240V (240V might or might not be allowed at home) is safe if you make the lights weatherproof to atleast IP23 (proof against accidental contact with live parts and protected from rain), protect them with Earthing if they are made of metal, and put the circuit on GFCI

 - Instead of Earthing and GFCI, for ONE 120V..240V light you could use in some cases isolation transformer. But you cannot use more than one light on the same transformer (it defeats the safety feature)

 - You could use ELV supply like 12V..24V (doesn't matter AC or DC). At ELV you can install many lights on the same transformer or power supply. There is some selection of automotive/boat/etc lamps for 12V..24V including ones with ordinary medium base