We have talked about lighting up your LEGO creations in Let There Be Light! Light Up Your LEGO World! and Light Up Your Halloween LEGO Haunted House!, and today I would like to share with you another option. There is a Hong Kong based small company that makes LEGO compatible LEGO light-bricks. They sent me some samples to try out and show you! đ
What I particularly like about these light-bricks is that no wiring is needed like what you see with some LEGO compatible LED light-kits. Each light-brick is a self-contained light-source with batteries included (same two small cell-batteries as in the official LEGO light-brick). All you have to do is push the little button at the back to turn it on or off.
These custom light-bricks are very similar to the LEGO light-bricks that are available in some LEGO sets, however there are some differences as well. First of all while the LEGO light-brick only comes in 2×3 LEGO brick size and with either yellow or red light, the custom light-bricks are available in several sizes and with lots of light color options (red, yellow, blue, green white). There are also choices for steady lights, blinking lights and multi-color blinking lights -that’s my favorite!
These custom LEGO light bricks are made of clear plastic with studs on top and connection-points at the bottom, so they are fully compatible with regular LEGO elements. The quality is very good. The top studs connect especially well to regular LEGO bricks. The bottom connections are a tad too tight, and I do have some concern that the bottom of the light-bricks would eventually develop hairline cracks after regular use. However this tends to be an issue even with official LEGO pieces made of clear plastic, as the material is more rigid than regular ABS. Here is a brief video showing you how the light-bricks work.
Below is a picture of regular LEGO light-bricks (red) versus the custom LEGO light-bricks (clear). Since the custom LEGO light-brick is fully clear plastic it spreads the light better then the official LEGO version.
As you can see the two versions of light-up bricks are pretty similar in size and shape, however one thing I particularly like about these custom LEGO light-bricks is that the on-off button is recessed.
The recessed on-off button allows these custom LEGO light bricks to be fully encased between regular LEGO bricks, something you cannot do with the regular LEGO light-brick. One thing I noticed though when I did this is that the custom LEGO light-bricks are a tad off as far as the size. The difference is very small, but it is important to keep in mind if you would plan to surround them with regular LEGO elements. Otherwise they would weaken the structure and also put stress on your LEGO bricks.
The size difference is most noticeable in the height (see pictures). The width is the same as LEGO bricks. The depth is just a tad off on the side where the battery-door is. So I would say that even though you can fully encase them, it is best to leave a bit of room at least on the sides where the size difference is more significant.
Other than this issue these custom LEGO light-bricks are an excellent option for lighting up your LEGO creations, especially since LEGO’s own light-up bricks are so rare and so limited in choices. These may not be on par with LEGO’s unmatched quality and precision, but they are close enough to fit right in with LEGO elements. Here is another picture of the ones I received fully lit up. The color-changing one is also there, but of course that feature won’t show up on the picture. đ
The guys who make these custom LEGO light-up bricks are working on putting up a website where you will be able to buy them for $2 each. The website is only half-finished at this point, but if you are interested you can check it out at LightUpBlock.com, and if you would like to get some before the website is fully functional contact Samson at this email address.
So what do you think? How do you like these options for lighting up your LEGO models? If you have any thoughts, feedback or questions feel free to share them in the comment section below. đ
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