Discount American Lighting 043X-2-BS Hardwired Xenon Under Cabinet Lighting

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List Price: $78.75
Sale Price: $43.27
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As other reviewers have mentioned, these are not packaged well. But that is the shoddy packaging of American Lighting, not Amazon. I had a similar issue with a broken end cap. Amazon took care of it quickly and easily with a cross-shipped replacement.

I have the brushed steel version of this in 3 different sizes, but they are really all the same aside from the cost. The lights put out a decent amount of light, and the light is similar to an incandescent bulb, so somewhat yellow.

Installation wasn't too difficult, but make sure you leave a long enough wire when the electrical is run. On the larger (34 in) fixtures the feed hole can be almost 2 feet from where you make the connection inside the fixture. As other reviews have mentioned, its very tight in there and you don't want to be forced to extend the wires. I'm of average handiness and was able to install 3 of these lights in an hour or 2.

As another review mentioned, it is not possible to use the clamps that screw into the punch-outs and hold the feed wire in place. They are too tall for the low profile lights, and really just poorly made. Ironically, these useless clamps are the piece that sometimes will be bumped into the plastic end caps during shipping, breaking the end caps.

In another review someone mentioned that the magnets that hold the cover up are not strong enough. None of my lights had this problem at all. The magnets were more than strong enough to keep the cover tightly closed.

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These are good lights and are generally good quality. Some reviewers noted that the wire clamps, which are boxed at one end of each fixture, can damage the plastic ends, though the three I ordered did not have this problem. Each of my fixtures held two Xenon bulbs, and one of the sockets in one of the fixtures seems to be damaged in some way and cannot receive the bulb. Amazon is sending a replacement. Lesson from this is that there is some chance you'll be making an exchange. Xenon lights are incandescent and product the same warm light you are probably familiar with from regular light bulbs. They are supposed to be superior to halogen lighting, but both produce a fair amount of heat. I will update my review if the heat generated from these fixtures produces any headaches.

Aside from the plastic ends, construction uses a good amount of metal and is generally high quality. Internal wiring is also decent. When you disassemble the pieces you will want to do so carefully, and never force something apart. There are plastic/metal elements to the front magnetic hinge which can bend and, though this is easily fixed, can lead to future headaches.

Installation Tips:

I am quite comfortable with electrical wiring so that probably impacts my thoughts on this process. If appropriate for your application I recommend tying all connected fixtures to a dimmable light switch. Leave the fixtures set to high and adjust the light to a level that pleases you from a single location. I have not noticed any sort of frustrating flicker at dimmed levels as one reviewer mentioned, nor have I heard any buzzing (mine are on a cheap $15 Leviton dimmer, comparable to R10-IPI06-1LM). The easier ways to install these fixtures are to daisy-chain them from one fixture through side connectors (I am using three, with one chained on the right and another on the left) or using the connector cables (sold separately) with the same ports. You could also connect them with Romex using additional knock-out ports and the push-in wire connectors attached to the internal junctions (see below).

The 14" lights feature three knock-out ports on the back for wiring into the fixture and, as reviewers have mentioned, they *are* hard to open. One reviewer suggested using a Dremel and that would work nicely. I just hammered away at it with my needle nose pliers and got it open. The bolt which attaches the wire clams does not have enough room to turn inside the fixture. To resolve this issue turn the wire clamp itself into the bolt and install the third piece (which clamps down on the wires) after you've got the wires in. Each connection point inside the fixture attaches to a push-in wire connector with room for two additional wires. They work well and could be used to daisy chain additional fixtures with Romex using additional knock-out ports without too much trouble. If your existing wiring was not long enough to get to the connection points inside the fixture (apparently a problem with the longer fixtures) you could create a junction inside the fixture using a two-slot Ideal push-in wire connector and some patience

Oh, and a final note. The instructions with my fixture described mounting screws and then slipping the fixture up onto them and sliding it into place. My fixture had simple screw-sized holes. My instructions described the internal grounding wire as green (which would be fairly normal), but in my fixtures the grounding wire inside the fixture is yellow.

Good luck! Despite some headaches, I'm happy with this product.

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The lights are attractive. Difficult to install. You can not leave the lights on for a long period of time. They get really hot!!! I would not recommend these lights.

Honest reviews on American Lighting 043X-2-BS Hardwired Xenon Under Cabinet Lighting

I am completely redoing my ktichen. Spent a fortune on having all cabinets wired for undercaibnet lighting. These lights are beautiful and very slim. My electrician brought his own, but I liked mine much better. They really seem great at a great price point. Especially like the magnetic cover. Fit very nicely under the cabinet and you really can not see them. Did alot of research and find these are a best buy all the way around

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I'll sum it up quickly:

Pros:

Easy to open and change bulbs as face is magnetic

Sleek design, very low profile

Cons:

Difficult to hardwire, knockouts are almost as thick as the unit and they do not knockout out at all. They must be drilled with a cobalt drill bit. I nicked the wiring inside while doing the drilling and also scraped up the unit itself.

If you knockout at the far left back (facing the unit) it's difficult to compact all the wiring back into the unit in order to close the cover. There's just too much wiring passing thru such a small case.

The linking cables are huge.....taking away from the sleek design. If you have two long cabinets flanking a shorter sink cabinet, then find another light!!! The linking cables would ruin the whole look. I thought I would solve the problem by mounting on top of the cabinets and running the linking cable down the filler space.....nope.....not an option....they don't make long enough linking cables.

Overall: Would not buy again. I missed my return window so now I have very expensive over cabinet lighting!!!!!