Light up the BookShop Modular using the Briksmax LED Light kit BX311

 

Hi brick fans, today we will review one of the original Briksmax LED Light kits from Lightailing. The kit is designed for the Lego Bookshop 10270 modular building, but it works just as well with my Lego compatible version!   Let's take a look!

Firstly, thanks to Lightailing for providing the light kit for my review.  I've used Lightailing many times before to light up my modular buildings such as the Downtown Diner, the Detective's Office, and the Boutique Hotel and most recently, the Assembly Square.

Secondly, my bookshop and townhouse have been modified and therefore they may look slightly different than your modular buildings.  But don't be alarmed, the light kit works just the same in my customised buildings.

For the Bookshop, there are actually three different versions of light kits on the Lightailing website.  Two are branded Lightailing and one is branded Briksmax.  

The Lightailing version has most of the lighting components are linked together in a chain.  This is easier for beginners who want to light up their bookshop but don't want to fiddle around with trying to connect wiring and elements together.  You can see more of the Lightailing kit in their video.  There is a similar kit but it includes a remote control as well.

For the Briksmax lighting kit, the lighting components are all separate, meaning you have to connect everything together by yourself.  However, this is great for people who like to (MOC) modify or customize their brick building sets, because you can decide which lighting elements you want to include or exclude from the build.   

In my case, I used the  birch tree that originally comes with the bookshop building in other MOC, so it's no longer part of my set.  As a result, I can simply not install the lighting components for the birch tree, even though it's provided in the Briksmax kit.  Also, as we will see later, I decided to augment the LED light kit to light up the Bookshop and Townhouse independently.

So for this review, we will focus specifically on the Briksmax light kit.  But feel free to use the lighting kit you are most comfortable with.

The Light Kit For Bookshop 10270-BriksMax set is currently on sale for $29.99.  The Lightailing SKU is BX311.  The kit is applied to both the BookShop and the accompanying Turquoise Townhouse and has a total of 14 different lighting elements.   Here's the link to the kit on the Lightailing website.


What's Inside the Box

All of the lighting elements are separate and labelled in their respective pouches.


There are 12 pouches in the this custom kit for the Bookshop and the accompanying townhouse. Here are the elements in the kit:
  • battery pack that which uses 3 AA batteries (not included)
  • a LED light standard
  • some brick pieces to attach other lighting elements
  • connecting wires in different lengths
  • dot lights (for tree and coach light)
  • four expansion boards
  • 6 led light strips (three bright white and three warm white)

Also included in the box are two instruction booklets that guide you through the process, a user guide, and a service card.  The user guide reviews the lighting components, and the service card has information on how to contact Lightailing for assistance.

It's always good practice to test all the accessories before installation. If there are any quality issues know that Lightailing has a 2 year warranty on it's kits.  Simply contact the customer service and they should be able to help you out.

Installing the light kit

I recommend that if you're a first time user of the light kit to follow the step by step instructions.  However, since this is not the first time I'm using Briksmax, I didn't consult the manual this time because it's pretty intuitive and easy after you've installed light kits in the past. 

I decided to make some changes to how I wired up the Townhouse and reduced the number of wires and expansion boards to a minimum.   That's why I like the flexibility of the Briksmax light kits.  Caveat:  Do not follow what I have done, but just use the pictures as a reference. We will start working with the turquoise townhouse first.

TownHouse Step 1


The first thing I did was to swap out the light standard with the new lighted one one from the Briksmax 
kit.  The attached wire I fed into the basement for connection later.  You need to lift up the nearby parts as per the instruction booklet and replace them afterwards.  This step is just following the prescribed instructions.


Townhouse Step 2




To light up each of the modular buildings, there will be a LED light strip installed on each floor with each connected by a wire.  So from the top floor down,  the connection sequence is as follows:

[======] ----------- [======] ---------------- [======] ----------- [++++++]

top floor ceiling to second floor ceiling to first floor ceiling to basement

where, 

[======] is an led light strip
------------ is a connecting wire
[++++++] is a 6 port expansion board in the basement

The light standard can then be attached to expansion board:   [@] ----------- [++++++]

*** This step may or may not be my slight variation of the connection in the Briksmax manual.

Townhouse Step 3




There are two carriage lights flanking the front door.  Take them apart as per the manual and insert the dot lights into the bricks feeding the connecting wires inside the ground floor. Reattach the requisite parts.



The attached connection wires can be fed inside and down through the door to the basement and attached to the expansion board.   I think, in the manual, there might be an intermediary step to connect the carriage lights to a secondary expansion board and then connect the two boards together.   Since the lead wires from the dot lights were sufficient length, I pulled them straight into the basement as can be seen in the picture below.


Townhouse Step 4




Finally attach the USB plug into the 6 port expansion board in the basement, and run the plug up and out and insert into the battery pack.   Verify that all the lighting works for the Townhouse before moving on to lighting the BookShop.

The townhouse looks brilliant now!

BookShop Step 1


In the Briksmax instructions, the lighting systems of both TownHouse and Bookshop share one of the expansion boards and hence use one USB plug and one battery pack for both modular buildings.   With such a configuration, it is not possible to separate and display the two buildings apart from one another.  They must be displayed side by side.

I deviated from the instructions by using an additional spare USB plug and extra battery pack.  The extra plug and battery is used to power the lights of the bookshop separately.  If you like to display the bookshop independently of the townhouse, you will need to do the same.

Starting with the third floor, we attach one of the LED light strips to the underside of the roof.  A connecting wire will go from this LED light strip to another located on the second floor ceiling.

Here we are on the second floor of the bookshop.  We attach another wire to the LED light strip and feed it down to the ground floor.

Here is the ground floor of the Bookshop with an LED light strip to which we attach the wire from the second floor.    Since there are two ports on each LED light strip, normally I would just attach the USB plug to this port and run it out the back door to the battery pack.

However, there is a exterior coach light that sits over the front entrance that will be illuminated by a dot light.   I attached the dot light directly into the spare port on the ground floor LED strip.   So where do I attach the USB plug to power the bookshop?



Recall that there is an LED strip on the top floor and it has a spare port available.  I simply attached my USB plug into the top floor LED strip.   It's kludgy but it works!



Final thoughts 


I really enjoyed adding the Briksmax lighting kit into my Bookshop and Townhouse modular buildings.  The kits have high quality lighting components and features and I especially like the flexibility in using the discrete elements.   The kits are also great value as all of the components are bundled together.  If you were to purchase each of the lighting items on their own it would cost you much more.

Having said that, I wish that Briksmax included two USB plugs and an extra battery pack in order to allow each modular building to be powered independently.   If that's something you're interested in doing, Lightailing provides extra accessories for purchase on their website.

After installing the LED light strips, I noticed that some of them had not adhered to the bricks properly and had fallen down. I think the adhesive backing could use a bit more stickiness.  To address this, find some double sided tape or maybe use some glue to attach any problematic light strips.

All in all the lights look great inside and outside the modular buildings.  Feel free to give them a try and see if you agree or not!   If you use my code itsnotlego on the Lightailing website, you can save an extra 10% off your purchase!


Which LED light kits have you used?  How do they compare to the Briksmax kits?   Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for looking, see you next time!