I searched and researched LED lightening looking for a solution to add some light to my 12-fot long bedroom closet and for some under-counter lighting for my remodeled kitchen.
I tried and returned umpteen products from IKEA, Lowes, Home Depot. They worked okay, but for the closet I wanted something VERY small that I could just put on the back of the sliding door frame. This is a 12-foot long closet, deep enough for regular clothes hanging. There is no light in the closet or anywhere nearby. And only 1 power source about 2-feet outside the closet on the wall near the floor. Everything I tried had too many pieces, wires for linking and with the framed LED light they were just too big and bulky. And they were expensive. I wanted to cover 9-10 feet and I wanted the light to be natural looking so that I could distinguish between clothes that are black and those that are navy; a light that was not to "cool" and not too "warm".
I watched a few of the You tube videos showing how to DIY with the LED sticky back strip lighting. It looked pretty easy. But the costs were too high and the amount of strip LED in the kits was more then what I needed. Actually, I was looking for a really simple kit. Although you can buy all the pieces separately, since this was going to be my first venture at this I wanted a kit so that I had a comfort level that at least someone with more knowledge then me, put together all the necessary pieces. Now that I've done it, I would feel comfortable just buying the pieces that I need. And I would totally stick with this company, Inspired LED. The kit was SO easy. The connectors that they send you called "Tiger Paws" are easy, accurate and worked exactly as documented in the instructions. BTW, the instruction were awesome, VERY clear. With big detailed pictures for those of us with aging eyes!!
The power source (transformer) and very small, simple on/off switch, small brackets that I used to mount the very small connecting cables completed the kit. I used the whole 90 inch strip in one long piece so I didn't need the multiple Tiger Paws to connect multiple pieces of LED strip. It looks like you could also add a dimmer switch to this product. But I didn't need one.
I mounted the very small power cables inside some SATCO plastic wire cable covers (you can buy them at any ACE, Lowes, etc). The SATCO has a sticky strip on the back so I just made sure the wall was clean and stuck it to the wall. I cut the SATCO so that the on/off switch could be mounted directly to the wall and I used a SATCO corner angle piece near the baseboard to make it look a little neater. I mounted everything on the wall just inside where the sliding door hits the wall. So when the sliding door is closed you can't really see anything. The power cord runs on top of the baseboard and then into the plug.
FABULOUS lighting. Perfect for what I needed. I called Inspired LED once and got a real live person who obviously knew the product. My question was "Does the end of the LED strip need to be terminated?" The answer is "no". The support person also told me that if I send them a drawing (with dimension) of what I want to do for the under-counter light, they would do a design, send a quote and package up all the parts that I could then just put together. There is no cost for this service so I'm going to go that route. I have some parts left over so I'm going to do my own design and see how close I come to what they recommend. And then if there's no big price difference, I'll probably just order what I need. I wish I had more places where I could use this kind of lightening. I'm in a pretty small condo but maybe I'll find some other really creative use.
Anyway, product is VERY good, VERY useful and exactly as described. The Ultra Bright-COOL IS Ultra bright. I mounted it facing "in" instead of "down" so that I don't get blinded when I turn it on. It also seemed to spread the light better.
The only thing I would change is the on/off switch. It would be easier to mount if the cables connected on the ends of the switch; so you'd get a straight vertical line, top to bottom. As it is, the cables connect on the side. One for input and one for output. I suppose it's meant to be mounted horizontally. No big deal..
HIGHLY recommended.
0 comments:
Post a Comment