How to Make a Redstone Lamp in Minecraft and Power It
One glowstone and 4 redstone dust make a redstone lamp. How to make a redstone lamp and power it with a switch, daylight sensor or hidden lever.
Place 1 glowstone block in the center of a crafting table with 4 redstone dust above, below, left and right of it. Leave the corners empty. You get one redstone lamp, which lights up only when it receives a redstone signal.
Getting glowstone
Glowstone hangs from the ceiling of the Nether in clusters. Break it without Silk Touch and it drops 2-4 glowstone dust; four dust craft back into one block, so you lose a little on each one. Silk Touch keeps the block whole. Bring a stack of blocks to reach it, and watch for the drop below; glowstone often hangs over lava lakes.
The redstone side is easy. Our guide to finding redstone covers the best mining heights.
Powering it
A lamp turns on when anything powers it: a lever, button, pressure plate, redstone torch, block of redstone, or redstone dust running into it. It gives light level 15, the maximum. Turn the power off and it goes dark after a short delay.
It also lights up if the block it touches is powered, so a lever on a block next to the lamp works.
Ways to use them
Switchable room lights. Hide the lamps in the ceiling, run dust above them, and put a lever by the door. A lantern is cheaper if you never want to turn the lights off; lamps are the choice when you do.
Automatic streetlights. Wire an inverted daylight detector to your lamps and they switch on at dusk and off at dawn.
Status lights. A lamp next to a comparator reading a chest shows when a farm’s storage is filling up. A lamp on a door circuit tells you whether the base is locked.
Hidden lighting in floors. Carpet doesn’t block light, so lamps set into the floor under carpet light the room while staying out of sight. Switch the whole floor from one lever.
Things that catch people out
- An unpowered lamp is completely dark. It’s not a light source until the signal arrives, so don’t rely on lamps to stop mob spawns unless they stay on.
- Dust only powers a lamp it points into or runs on top of. If one lamp in a row stays dark, check the dust is actually pointing at it.
- Crops grow under lamplight, which makes switchable farm lighting possible.
If you’re wiring your first circuit, redstone basics explains how dust, power levels and solid blocks interact.
Common questions
How bright is a redstone lamp?
Light level 15 when powered, the same as glowstone and a lantern. Unpowered it gives no light at all.
Can you make a redstone lamp without going to the Nether?
Usually not. Glowstone comes from the Nether. Witches sometimes drop glowstone dust and cleric villagers sell it, so it's possible but slow.
Why does my lamp stay on?
Something next to it is still giving power, such as a redstone torch or a block of redstone. Lamps also take a moment to turn off after the signal stops.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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