Mini-Pendant Chandelier Made From IKEA Lamps

I really like the look of mini-pendant lights. The more lights, the better! My vision was to arrange about 20 of them in a line, scattered about in an semi-organic pattern. I needed to construct a mount and figure out a way to convert the line voltage to 12 volts to power the 10 watt lamps. I'm not much of an electrician, and I was trying to keep the project around $300, so I figured it was best to cannabilize several existing low-voltage, mini-pendant lamps. IKEA hooked me up with three KRYSSBO lamps that came with some nice looking, glass pendants, bulbs, and the necessary transformers. I grabbed a spool of speaker wire, some wood, and I was set.

More photos at:
John & Kristie Mini-Pendant Chandelier

Step 1 Get Multi-Mini-Pendant Lamps from IKEA

I got three of the KRYSBBO model with 7 lamps each, for a total of 21 lamps. The lamp comes with the bulbs and transformers.

Comments

[Dream Dragon]

You clearly have a very good eye as well as the "skills to pay the bills". Nice to see such a high standard of photography on an instructable too. Thank you for sharing your project.

[kirnex]

This is very cool. Our closest IKEA is 5 hours away {{sigh}}--but with some do-it-yourself lamp sockets, electrical wiring, similar votive cups (they are so cheap at Wal-mart), some cut pipe (spray-painted or not), you could make this for about $50-$75 bucks or so!

BTW--A great way to both protect AND cap wired connections is with a high-temp hot glue gun! I I tried it on a whim when I was installing my in-wall surround-sound system (which I installed in a two-story living room). I had so many connections to bridge, and didn't want to have to try to deal with soldering the bridges when they are 20 feet of the ground), and needed the bridges to be as flush as possible, since I was installing them in a shallow groove in the drywall--so capping each bridge was out of the question.

It works so easily, and is much better than electrical tape or capping because it won't separate under strain. I have since used it on lots of electric circuits, and it's really a life-saver. I should probably do an instructable on it. :)

[mebraldy]

 Sweet lens and imagery! I love this idea and hope to do this myself.

[calikoala]

using a pipe cutter would be easier than using a dremel for most people

[037]

To me, the hardest part is not the carpentry, but the electrical wiring. I don't want to wire it wrong to make it short-circuit or overload. Any recommendations of what to read? And the circuit diagram of this set up will be very helpful as well.

[hernanai]

is there a link to the lamps? I tried the IKEA website and managed to find the one lamp but not the kit that you described... any idea on what key words to search to help me find it?

[037]

The name was misspelled. It should be "KRYSSBO"
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00095475

[alhooter]

is speaker wire a good wire for this? can it handle the current required for a light? i like this design a lot, but don't want to risk causing a fire. i have no knowledge of electrical so maybe this will sound crazy to others.

[neuralstatic]

if you ever cut open an ordinary household extension cord, you'll be amazed how minimal the wiring inside is.

[Fivesevenx28]

for the low voltage side, yes. for the high voltage side, no. use NM-B 14/2 (aka romex). use wire nuts if you don't have heat shrink. avoid electrical tape, its not fun (read: sticky nasty mess all over the wires and your hands) if anything needs fixing later on. generally speaking speaker wire is all class 2, which means it is rated to 70V. low voltage landscape lighting cable is good to 35V.

[Punkguyta]

The average current a 100 watt stereo can put out at around 3/4 volume can easily be 50-70 volts you know.

[Maujabur]

let's put things right: Amperes are used to measure current. For any kind of wire, the Volts are less important, since the wires transport current, you just have to be sure the insulation is enough. Anyway, you should be Ok with the speaker wires and low power lamps. It's a little hard to understand but i'll try to find a good introduction to electronics and post the link later.

[Punkguyta]

Yes, well the person was wondering if the wires could handle the voltage. I'm not a dumbshit, I have an uncle that's all into the electrical whatnot, he's even bought me little electrical kits and the booklets, the whole deal. Of course the wire is going to be fine on speakers, it is called speaker wire after all :p. I have thick rubber wire that was origionally part of a cord for some kind of power tool hooked up to my 260 watt speaker, I just need one more like it,..where's my drill?..

[GitarGr8]

I think Maujabur was only pointing out there is a difference between current and Volts. You said the "average current ... can easily be 50-70 volts", which isn't correct because Volts are not a measure of current, whereas Amps are.

Current is the measure of flow of charge through an electrical device, while Voltage is the force that tends to move the electrons. If we think of electricity as water, then Apmeres would be similar to gallons per minute (GPM), and Voltage would be similar to pressure per square inch (PSI).

To the original question, it really depends on the number of lamps, what type of bulb, and what gage speaker wire you are using. The instructable shows the lamps wired in parallel, which means that each lamp receives the same ammount of Voltage, 115VAC in the US. The current flowing through the plug is the sum of the current used by each lamp.

A 60W bulb operating at 115VAC uses ~.52 Amps (Power = Voltage*Current, so 60W/115V = .52A). If you are using 6 lamps as shown here, with 60W bulbs, then the supply wire would need to carry 3.13 Amps. 12 lamps, 6.26 Amps.

To be on the safe side, go get some romex wire from your local hardware store, as that is what is most likely supplying your electrical outlets anyway.

[GitarGr8]

Lol, i was thinking of another lamp instructable! This comment doesn't make much sense. Haha...

[johnbrown]

I'm not an electrician either, but there haven't been any fires so far! Thanks, John

[alhooter]

What gauge of wire did you use?

[johnbrown]

18 gauge stranded.

[Aeshir]

YOU GOTTA GET A CHANDELIER! (crazy new york accent) Lol. Scarlet Johansen on Saturday Night Live some time in March 2006.

[ikeahacker]

gorgeous. very well done.

[T3h_Muffinator]

Amazing... I really love it!

I see you're new to Instructables. This is a really well documented Instructable for the first time, so really nice job!

Hope to see much more equally-awesome work from you in the future =).

-Josh

[HamO]

Very well done, great photos, nice idea. Thanks for sharing.

[sam]

Wow! It looks great. You did a really nice job.