I was able to pick up these $39 lights at Lowes for $4 each. They are designed for candles but I decided to go ahead and make them electric.
I started by drilling a hole in the bottom of the fixture and feeding a extention cord that I had cut the female end off of up through the bottom of the light and through a 6" piece of 1 1/2 PVC.
I them added a candelabra base to the end of the wire. I had to build up the area around the base so if would bit semi-snuggly into the PVC pipe so after covering all of the wiring I wrapped the base in a folded up paper towel and duct tape.
After sliding the base down inside the PVC, I secured it with a generous amount of glue from a hot glue gun. This also gave it a candle apperance. I then secured the candle like fixture back into the light fixture with more glue from the glue gun.
After about 15 minutes of work, a completed light! I figure each light cost me about $7.50!
I have 14 more of these to put together. I had given some thought to adding a flicker affect but 15 of these lights flickering all around me would drive me nuts. I also may make the electrical cord go out through the top of some of them but that still questionable. I hole in the top would allow water in as well if not sealed 100%.
Working there helps. There was a pile of them that were on clearance so I asked the Str Mgr how much if I bought them all.....he said $4.00ea. I bought them last fall and have had them sitting around not sure what I wanted to do with them.
Nice job on the lanterns. The candle looks good too. So what are your plans for the 15 lanterns? With that number you could end up with a really cool set up with lots of atmosphere.
Before I would add a flicker circuit to all of them I would try out those flicker candelabra bulbs first someone else mentioned. I know you said they were only 3W but depending on your haunt set up with that number of lanterns and any other accent lighting it could be enough.
Right now I am going to use 8 of the lanterns/lights betwen my cemetery fence panels. My fence panels are 12' long and will have a 2' space between each panel. I am planning or running a chain from panel to panel and hang a lantern in the center of the chain. That still leaves 7 of these things that I will need to place around my haunt for either general lighting or for atmosphere. Adding a flicker curcuit or bulb is a pretty simple change if it comes to that.
