I need advice on repairing the wiring on a shorted out Department 56 village  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 09:03:56 pm
content: The last pic shows the wires not connected. The 1st picture shows where I have inserted the wire sticking out on one end into the other end and a connection occurs and the lights come on (see picture 3). But after about 10 seconds, the area where the wires are joined gets hot. Is this an easy repair? What tools would I need to get?

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 09:55:06 pm
content: looks like theirs a resistor or something at the joint,and its a bit underrated.first thing would be to identify what it is exactly.

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 10:09:24 pm
content: ok. What do you mean when you say underrated? How do I need to go about finding out if this is a resistor or not at the joint?

author: indeterminate
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 10:40:47 pm
content: If its a resister then the physical size of it determans how many wats it can dissipate.you need a meter to measure the resistance across the device , set a multi meter to ohms and measure it.then purchase a resister with the same ohms value but rated at 5W and your good to go

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 11:12:35 pm
content: That's definitely a resistor (not "resister"), probably for limiting current. It has apparently gone bad, so no use trying to measure it.What do the wires at the left connect to? A power supply board? The power plug?You could try measuring the resistance as suggested above. But instead of doing that:See if you can figure out exactly how many LEDs there are in that thingMultiply that number by 0.02 (20mA per LED, close enough for gov't. work)If the lefthand wires go to a power supply, measure its DC voltageCalculate the value of the resistor you need:R = voltage / (0.02 X # LEDs)Get a resistor that value, at least 1 watt (looks like your burned one might have been too wimpy)Let us know how this works out.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 11:42:43 pm
content: Quotebetter still R= (power supply voltage - 2.2) / (0.02*X # LEDs)* id tend to go with 0.01 or even 0.005 so the leds aint blinding brightfor the resistor power rating multiply the supply voltage x (0.02*X # LEDs) ,that'll give a bit of headroom in the power rating but no harm in adding a bit more

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 01:22:11 am
content: Thank you I will get to work on it and report back.......by the way are you a Rush fan? They have a song from their signals album called Analog Kid

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 01:56:37 am
content: Ok there are 15 of those tiny leds. Multiplied by .02 = .3.I measured the volts of the plug in adapter at 5.40. So 5.4/.3 = 18.So what does this tell me? I have added a few more pictures.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 05:13:08 am
content: Quote from: electricboy9317 on July 21, 2025, 01:56:37 amYour result (18) is the size (in ohms) of the resistor you need.The total power would be 5.4 X .3 = 1.62.So get yourself a 22Ω 2-watt resistor and you're back in business.If you don't have that size but have other low-ohm ones, you can put them in series (add the resistance) or parallel (total resistance = (R1 X R2) / (R1 + R2) ).

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 01:02:57 pm
content: I guess that the 5.4V is without the load?With a load it will be lower.If you assume/guess that it's 4.0V at 300mA and the LEDs drops 2.2V:Resistor, Ohm's law: (4.0-2.2)/0.3 = 6 OhmWattage: (4.0-2.2)*0.3 = 0.54 WAnd if you want to run each LED at around 10 mA (the LEDs should last longer):(4.0-2.2)/0.15 = 12 Ohm(4.0-2.2)*0.15 = 0.27 WYou could also try to measure the resistor and see if it's dead.

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 03:49:37 pm
content: ok so I need to buy these:https://www.amazon.com/YOKIVE-Resistor-Tolerance-Resistors-Electronic/dp/B0BNBDZT35/ref=sr_1_14?adgrpid=1334807691479252&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CiyZcUPrgvOJWebS32cmvUH4y4mmJPNRm5qwlFPMTgKpXIEXw7kDh44yKVy9yYKjZ8oCf_ntX1kxxkxxT1He35ipfE0jsTapL8FXahDQdHNYphcOLawLWwlbfvD0lO6-IMNuSWnVYoeNh_ZAXtFSGOnEDM64XYKqPlBzBZtk3_ncA8IJbmzov6L_xNfemhZ3IAWFYVoPyDlynmoXeie7SuZoKrEnYKY9mJEr8-GLyYY.eqCbCcx0aoln2pe8CuIe9DuJhM9O_tkE-cCvYTS6WfE&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83425720379181&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=84484&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=b&hvtargid=kwd-83425847911529%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=2763_13539311&keywords=2+watt+resistor+assortment&mcid=f0684778a31d332baecf909411c52a1b&msclkid=563f9a1740f413a0ce6af2691df214ca&qid=1753112319&sr=8-14And the cut the older resistor out and solder the new resistor on. Is that right?

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 03:55:16 pm
content: If the link is correct, they are 1k (1000 Ohm) resistors.It will work, but the LEDs will be quite dim.

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 05:53:22 pm
content: ok so this would be better ?https://www.amazon.com/EDGELEC-Resistor-Tolerance-Resistance-Optional/dp/B07HDDN1V8/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?crid=1TCD96H5RL5XC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.a7GwjPkVj3MysHt-dNpAInSXf0gobmcWgD1NdcxBj6YKWH7Mw5uOpv8YR-fqnEtvfQ8ek6nSXu3ylLEtYnTtDbEpZ7HHQa_Y_zD82S1LLTIN2KWMRAyulhJUmGBK9A7FKgpMFcL48enrvXTD8367glS5VWYqbt80sNXQEhO6MkVGAXIvnvfxb6xbyo29_hUyiVxuQxzfmk9vYh2Jw63Xk04Ctngx4vhdHx1EhLPNxRk.6Oi17NXq46V3lJ2I52KPHRFGg77wYxl8hmmMb6MZxS4&dib_tag=se&keywords=2k%2Bohm%2Bresistor&qid=1753120337&sprefix=2k%2Bohm%2Bresistor%2B%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-17-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9idGY&th=1

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 06:19:02 pm
content: These are 0.25W resistors.If you get the 15, 18 or 20 Ohm resistors, the power should be less than 0.25W.The LEDs will be a bit dimmer, and it assumes the PSU voltage is 4.0V.

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 06:37:39 pm
content: I found these...........would this be a better choice?https://www.amazon.com/Resistor-Tolerance-Resistors-Limiting-Certificated/dp/B08QR9F9QQ/ref=asc_df_B08QR9F9QQ?mcid=745c3996fdde3a91a4bad12d38250dbb&hvocijid=2801022216385089648-B08QR9F9QQ-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2801022216385089648&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026515&hvtargid=pla-2281435178098&th=1

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 09:11:29 pm
content: Quote from: electricboy9317 on July 21, 2025, 06:37:39 pmYes; those are exactly what I specified in my reply above (22Ω, 2-watt).BTW, notice how I trimmed your sprawling URL above: you can chop off everything after the?and it'll still work. (Everything after that is stuff that's only relevant to your particular "session" that we don't need to know about.)

author: electricboy9317
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 09:16:06 pm
content: ok great, I didnt know that. Good to know for the future.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 09:27:41 pm
content: Or you could get something like this and use two 47 Ohm resistors in parallel (=23.5 Ohm, 0.5W).If you ever need some other resistors, then you will have some in stock.https://www.amazon.com/JacobsParts-Metal-Resistors-Assortment-Values/dp/B07N1YYLZZ/ref=sr_1_8

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 09:31:28 pm
content: Quote from: tunk on July 21, 2025, 09:27:41 pmThat would probably work, and having a resistor assortment is a good idea if you plan on doing any further experimentation.However, I still like the idea of a 2-watt resistor better.Why? Because of that original burned resistor; better to err on the side of higher power rating here to avoid that happening again.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2025, 09:54:16 pm
content: Oh, and BTW, just one more small thing:Your "village" wasn't shorted out. Quite the opposite: it went open circuit because of that burned resistor.