Department 56 Building and Accessory Lighting System,White/ Black

Super for my epic Christmas village collection

The accessory lighting system is exactly what’s represented on the web page. Once the number of lighted buildings reaches a point where the original, separate 110v power cords become unwieldy, the accessory lighting piece is a great solution. Replacing the bulbs in the buildings is very easy and takes a few seconds, and the attaching wires are a bit smaller and easier to hide in the display. The lights are not quite as bright as the original, dedicated bulbs but perfectly fine for capturing the mood of the village.

I get I paid $130 for a glorified powerstrip, but it looked sleek, simple and easy to use...which it is IF your Dept 56 has the right "pigtail" (wire that attaches to the bulb that lights the house). I have no idea who at Dept 56 approved the idea of making houses & accessories with different pigtails but WHY? For example, Hogwarts castle has "male" pigtail while the Owlery has a "female". This would not be a big deal IF Dept 56 included both adapter cables with this VERY expensive powerstrip but they don't. The only include male-to-male. Great if you have a female pigtail to connect to but I have several pieces that need male to female cord. Come on Dept 56, this is poor planning.

Best product when you display multiple houses. Eliminates the many cords and plugs needed. Keeps everything neat and tidy.

ELIMINATES A LOT OF BULKY WIRES

Before I explain what a joke this system is and why Department 56 should be ashamed to put their name on it! If you are looking to make your village build less frustrating with NO LIGHT CORDS, check out the AirBright lighting system. Game changer!I have 5 different villages through my home and had been debating making the investment into this Department 56 system for a couple of years. When the price dropped to $96 I decided now was the time and ordered 2 sets. The only thing about the Department 56 lighting system that made set up slightly easier, the cords are more flexible and easier to manage. If the system was $30, it would be worth that. NO more.Here is why;1) Most important, this thing will only work with the bulbs it comes with. I was unable to find where you could buy any replacement bulbs. I started using LED bulbs in my villages last year. (Took awhile to find the perfect ones, not to bright.....). Though the LED bulbs only take .5watt, where the bulbs for the system are 3watt the LED bulbs would not work. I tried pulling up the metal connector at the bottom of the bulb housing, still nothing. Turns out, its not just the LED bulb, but 3 different standard C7 bulbs from 3 different manufacturers as well as the Department 56 bulbs that come with the buildings, would not work. All the bulbs worked just fine in the genuine Department 56 light cords as well as some generics cords I have.2) My genuine Department 56 accessories have 2 different sized plugs. The cords to the system, intended for the accessories, only have one of the 2 sizes. Yet Department 56 do not supply or even offer an adaptor. These adaptors are on the market and are a very inexpensive item. Department 56 couldn't bother themselves with giving us at least one. Which would probably cost them .50 cents, at the most. Come on.3) The power supply box doesn't take up much less room than a standard power strip.4) You can't buy replacement cords.5) You still have to run and hide cords. Yes they are smaller but it sill means tucking them in and running them under parts of your setup.6) Unless you know to order adaptors for accessories, you wont cut down on cords there.Lets face it, our villages are a "wanted" investment. If you are like me these little building scream Christmas but bring joy. Even so, these little building come with a pretty big price tag. Most of us have been collecting for years and are limited as to how many buildings we can own, for some reason. Department 56 is not helping customers with limited space or power outlets, the ability to continue to add to our villages with this item. Surprised they have not figured out if they give us a way for easy set up with as few plugs as possible, many of us will be willing to invest in more buildings and accessories. This WAY overpriced product only makes things slightly easier and is a risk as to its lifetime.The AirBright system was designed for Department 56. Yet I only came across a YouTube video by accident while trying to find an answer as to why the LED bulbs would not work. The only reason I could possibly understand Department 56 not heavily advertising and pushing this AMAZING product, they know the current lighting system is crap, and they will never sell their current supply if word gets out on this one product. Which may I add will work for multiple applications. Not just your village.Do not waist your time or money on this thing. Either stick with your current power strip and multiple cords (Which most wont even plug into each other, why?) or look into another, much better investment for simple set up with the possibility of as many as 12 buildings running on one power cord)Department 56 should be ashamed of this 0 star product.

I have owned Department 56 Dickens Village since the very first year it was introduced (1984), and over the years collected well over 60 pieces. I had to forcibly stop myself from purchasing more as I don't have enough room to display them all as it is! I even purchased the North Pole but held my ground and only purchased the initial set. Sooo many awesome pieces and soooo little space to display. :-( Getting the strings of lights plugged in and running to all of those little houses always posed a wiring nightmare. I was thrilled to discover the improvement in the lighting system with this new Building-and-Accessory Lighting System, eliminating lots of plugs, and making it very easy to turn them on and off. WAY TO GO Department 56. I just wish I had known of this improvement earlier. Definitely sharing this with my sisters who both have Department 56 cities.

I have received other items from this company which are entirely satisfactory. I have been buying various pieces for at least fifteen years,However this particular item did not work. The distributor has not responded to my request for suggestions on what might be the problem.

much easier for setting up my village but the power of the light bulbs is much dimmer than than the usual bulb - wish I'd known that before I bought it.

Expensive for it really just being a power strip does not nessisarily connect to all buildings needs a different addaptor for my Santa's village coke building

cut down on so many wires and looks great

I had purchased this lighting system a few years ago and last year had to throw out some cords as they did not work. I ordered a new lighting system this year and 3 of the 9 cords did not work. Some of the bulbs were dead, or flashed when plugged in and then went dead. Where is the quality control? I am an avid collector of Department 56 Dicken's buildings and really need this lighting system to work as I have over 30 buildings!