Pantry lights...on and off

Hi guys! Just as I promised, here is an update....YAY!

I know that a lot of you have asked to see the pantry finished, but it is not 100% complete yet. It still needs some trim around the door, and the door as still got to be painted with my chalkboard paint.  BUT, the lights are functioning when we open and close the door now.

Here is the link for a short video on YouTube for the lights.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxyHSWuCD_g&feature=youtu.be


My husband is a genius in my book. Sometimes I wonder if there is anything that he can't do or think up. This literally cost us the lights of $19.99 and about $5-10 in parts. These are the things that I leave solely up to him, because I would have electrocuted myself a dozen times doing this one. But I am going to give you some instruction on how he did this (per his words). Remember you can always contact me for more detailed information if you are trying something at your own house. I really don't mind. That is what this blog is for....to help people see that things can be done as inexpensive as possible and still be really nicely done.

On this actual project Brian purchased a micro-switch, a length of electrical wire with a plug, and wire connectors all of which is less that $10. He cut the existing plug off the LED rope lights between the plug and large fat section of the wire it is the large white section you see in the picture. The white wire in the original wire connect it to the new wire in the new plug that was purchased. Use a wire connector. At this point you want to heat shrink it (heat shrink is a protective cover for wiring. Slide it over the connection that you made. Heat it and it shrinks down over the bare wire) Take the other wire from your new plug, connect it to the micro-switch, take the black wire from your existing wires and connect it to the other terminal on the new switch. Locate where you want the switch on the door casing, mark it on the door stop, cut that piece of door stop out and hold the switch into the section that you have cut out and close the door. Adjust the switch so that it is a proper distance for the door. You don't want it too close or two far away. Mount it then and plug the lights back in. At this point you should have a set of controlled lights that when you open and close your doors they come on and off.

There is a diagram below of this as well to help you better understand these directions.

 This above is the plug that was cut off of the original cord. The picture below is the fat large piece that is mentioned above that is the circuit board.

                                The picture below is the diagram to show how to wire this together again with the new parts.