Partnership with a cabinet lighting manufacturer makes custom cabinet light installation more efficient and precise for the lighting design and electrical contractor. Many cabinet lights, such as those made by Phantom, are pre-fabricated to specific vertical, horizontal, and radial dimensions and provide excellent sources for both storage and display cabinet lighting. Regardless of whether you are subcontracting under a builder and starting from scratch, or retrofitting an existing cabinet with new light fixtures, a low voltage cabinet light will most often meet the specific needs of your client base.
The key to successful cabinet light installation lies in shielding the source and hiding the wires. Custom linear strips are among the most low profile fixtures in the kitchen cabinet lighting and display shelf lighting industry. Much of their unobtrusiveness is attributable to proprietary engineering of the power distribution system and to smaller components that allow more light to be produced with fewer fixtures.
Low voltage lighting strips operate on a transformer that must be concealed. The actual size of the low voltage transformer you will need to install with the cabinet light depends on the total wattage of the strip. Total wattage in turn depends in part on the number of LED festoon lamps that line the strip; so longer strips for larger cabinets will need larger transformers. Even a larger strip light, however, will not require a transformer as large as most competing models use.
This is because custom-built cabinet lights install in a manner that is highly unique among linear strip lighting fixtures. Since these fixtures are custom made to order, the installer can specify exactly how they want to wire the strips to best conceal the wiring inside the cabinet. The most popular way of doing this when installing display cabinet lights is to exit the cabinet and splice the wires on the backside of the furniture. For kitchen cabinets built into the wall, there a number of other concealed wiring strategies can be implemented to effectively hide electronic components from the viewer's line of sight.
In a highly competitive bidding situation, you can make a proposed cabinet lighting installation even more appealing by offering some additional options to your clients. For one, you can give them a choice in bulb types and explain the many benefits each type of festoon lamp brings to different scenarios. Kitchen under cabinets look best under the bright white light of incandescents. Display cabinets with fine china and rare antiques may require the installation of cabinet lights with xenon bulbs to give that extra ?golden? touch to the display that xenon is famous for.
Many of your clients may be operating on a tight budget, however, and may be hesitant to invest in bulb types that could potentially increase electric bills after periods of extended use. You can easily address and accommodate these concerns by installing LED display cabinet light strips. Our patented lamp design emits approximately 50 lumens of light per lamp?five times the lumens output of competing LED lighting manufacturers. We now have five colour temperatures available as well; making LED the near equivalent of xenon in superb lighting quality and the leading contender in energy efficiency, bulb life, and UV/Infrared free lighting.
One final selling point that can add further cost-savings power to your service proposal is the installation of a dimmer switch that will control display cabinet LED lighting strips. These controls are user friendly and can turn the lights up or down like a volume control on a stereo. Any clients you have who host events on a regular basis can use these controls to both regulate power consumption and to set lighting levels appropriate to activity, occasion, and mood.
Under Cabinet Lighting Installation
Unfortunately, you cannot keep your storage area neat and tidy if you cannot see your way around inside. So proper lighting is going to be of extreme importance.
Natural Light May Not Be An Option
The good news is that there are lots of options when it comes to making sure that your closets have some illumination, but the one source that you usually can not count on in this area is natural light. The reason is that a window can take up a lot of space and might not even be possible to install.
Fluorescent is the Code-Compliant Solution
Safety is most important and you have to make sure not to create any fire hazards in your closet. So really the only option is fluorescent lighting - the only code compliant solution.
You can hire out this job out if that option fits in your budget. But this can also be a do-it-yourself project for someone who is a handy person.
The actual directions for each lighting system may vary but it is important to know a few things before you even attempt to begin such a project yourself.
Steps in Doing it Yourself
First you have to identify which source of power you will be able to pull power from inside the closet. You have to make sure that before you start working on any electrical projects that you turn off the main power source first.
You will want to install this fluorescent light between studs and the same goes for placement of the light switch itself.
Keep the Light Away from any Insulation
You will need to have access to your attic in order to complete this job to fasten the lighting mount, making sure that you keep the it away from any insulation so that it will not become a fire hazard.
Another important rule of thumb is not to cross wires - keep black with black and white with white. If you find that you have a confusing wiring system then you should abort the operation immediately and call an electrician. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
Lighting that Runs on Batteries
Now if you are not very electrically-inclined then you might want to consider another option for closet lighting. There are some very inexpensive lighting systems that do not have to be connected to the electricity grid but rather run on batteries.
They are small, energy efficient, lightweight and inexpensive. This system requires absolutely no wiring and it is a guarantee that you will not have to end up calling an electrician.
They are just simple light bars that attach under your cabinet or to the ceiling of your closet. These systems generally run on four AA batteries.
These kits include two very bright Krypton bulbs that are situated in swivel pockets, which makes it very easy to place the light directly where you need it.
Usually, there will also be two different settings on these lights such as high and low. It is just really all a matter of how much time and money you are willing to invest on a closet lighting system and your needs.
Both Russell Neal & Ernest Jarquio are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Russell Neal has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Architecture and Arts. Phantom is all about maximizing the light and minimizing the fixture. With multiple shielding options in seven colors and attractive premium metals such as brass, and stainless steel, no other cabinet lighting manufacturer has so many installation option. Russell Neal's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
Ernest Jarquio has sinced written about articles on various topics from Kitchen Home Improvement, Install Flooring and Gift Ideas. Visit Lighting-Central.com to learn more about ,. Ernest Jarquio's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
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