All this easter egg craze got me to register on TTG, and I do hope some people find this post useful as it is my first one!

Here's a fairly simple method for getting any number out of the lighthouse dials. I'll refer to the dials by number, 1 being on the bottom of the lighthouse, and going up to 4 at the top of the lighthouse. I'll also use a random number, and get it to 2476 just to illustrate it works.

RANDOM STARTING # - 9571

STEP 1:
Get dial #1 into position by simply moving dial #1 to your desired #.
9571>2871

STEP 2:
get dial #2 into position by moving dial #3.
2871>2437

STEP 3:
turn dial #2 until the gap between dial #3 and #4 is what you want. In the case of 2476, dial #3 needs to be 1 higher than the value on dial #4.
2437>7987

STEP 4:
turn dial #4 until dial #3 and #4 both get into their proper values.
7987>7976

STEP 5:
turn dial #1 until dial #1 and #2 both get into their proper positions.
7976>2476

Voila!