I recently found these lamps and really love them, but they're not the right color for the newly painted room they'll live in. In my search to find something that doesn't exist outside of my brain, I came across these lamps that have an open & accessible glass base. I feel like there should be a way to DIY wire fairy lights into the base, but I work in healthcare and this is entirely out of my scope. My husband does work in engineering and is handy with electronics, wiring, etc but I've found that it's easier to talk him into projects if there's a general idea of how something like this could be accomplished.

The first inspiration lamps that I linked have a touch on/off feature with both the regular bulbs and the fairy lights being dimmable and built in USB ports. I'm not looking for anything that complicated, more like the kind of deal where you turn the switch once and fairy lights come on, turn again and the main lamp is on, another turn and both are on, a final turn and everything is off.

Thank you for any suggestions or resources you might have to help me figure this out!

 

Welcome to AAC.

First, what you want to do is “simple”, though it may appear complicated in various ways until you learn a few things. Having said that, I can assure you it is practiucal and, since there are only two of the lamps you want to use left in stock, I hope you’ve ordered what you need already—if not, that’s surely step 1.

So if you haven‘t ordered, stop reading this and go do that. I’ll wait.

Second, it is very possible to do make it a touch switch without very much trouble. This is thanks to the readily avaialblity of a wide variety of ready-to-go touch switch modules. But, whether you use a touch switch or not, you will amost certainly have to make a base for the lamps to house whatever switch you choose, and the power supply for the fairy lights.

Are you able to do that?

 

Welcome to AAC.

First, what you want to do is “simple”, though it may appear complicated in various ways until you learn a few things. Having said that, I can assure you it is practiucal and, since there are only two of the lamps you want to use left in stock, I hope you’ve ordered what you need already—if not, that’s surely step 1.

So if you haven‘t ordered, stop reading this and go do that. I’ll wait.

Second, it is very possible to do make it a touch switch without very much trouble. This is thanks to the readily avaialblity of a wide variety of ready-to-go touch switch modules. But, whether you use a touch switch or not, you will amost certainly have to make a base for the lamps to house whatever switch you choose, and the power supply for the fairy lights.

Are you able to do that?

Thank you for the welcome, and my apologies for being slow to get back to this - I've been at the emergency vet with our dog today.

The lamps have been ordered, and yes! We can definitely make a base for the lamps.

 

OK! The lamps have arrived safely and were just what I was hoping they would be! They've got plenty of space inside to put in the fairy lights. Now, how would we go about doing that? Or can you steer me in the right direction or toward a refrence I can pass on to husband?

 

Did the fairy lights come with an AC to DC adapter or are they powered from a battery? What voltage and current are the battery?

 

Did the fairy lights come with an AC to DC adapter or are they powered from a battery? What voltage and current are the battery?

Oh! We haven't purchased the fairy lights yet -- there are so many types I thought it made more sense to wait until we knew what would work best for hardwiring. Sorry - that would have been helpful info and might not have been the right choice.

 

Seeing as how our lamps need a base anyway, I remembered seeing this base awhile back and wonder if it might be the easy breezy solution? Though I'm not sure how to keep from accidentally nudging the lamp off of the base since they're not attached together.

360 Lighting Modern Workstation Table Lamp Base with USB and AC Power Outlet Universal Charging Brushed Nickel Touch On Off Sensor for Living Room Bedroom Bedside Nightstand Office Family - Amazon.com

 

Could you show us what you were referring to when you say fairy lights?

 

Could you show us what you were referring to when you say fairy lights?

Sure! Something like these -- they come battery powered, USB, plug in.

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Fireflies-Christmas-Valentines-Decoration/dp/B0BN8543JL

 

Does the USB recharge the batteries?

 

The string of 20 LEDs uses two disposable CD2032 coin cells that are not rechargable.
The 1W produces not much light.

 

Seeing as how our lamps need a base anyway, I remembered seeing this base awhile back and wonder if it might be the easy breezy solution? Though I'm not sure how to keep from accidentally nudging the lamp off of the base since they're not attached together.

360 Lighting Modern Workstation Table Lamp Base with USB and AC Power Outlet Universal Charging Brushed Nickel Touch On Off Sensor for Living Room Bedroom Bedside Nightstand Office Family - Amazon.com

That looks nice, but didn’t you want to be able to independently switch on the fairy lights or the lamp’s bulb by touch?

If so, you are going to need something like this. It is designed to work with 3-way bulbs. Those work by having two filaments and an extra contact on the base of the bulb so you can select one of the filaments, the other, or both.

The idea would be to use the module‘s 3-way ability but make one of the filaments the lamp’s bulb and the other the power supply for the fairy lights. Then, when you cycle through, it will turn on the lamp, the fairy lights, both, then neither.

The base will have to include something metallic for the touch sensor but this can be a plate on top of a wooden base, or some sort of stud depending on how you want things to work. So you will need that module (or something like it), the fairy lights which should ideally be USB powered but if not they can be adapted, a 5V power supply for the lights (which could be as simple as a small USB charger), and something to be the base, all or partly metal.