Under Cabinet LED Lights

bytor

Well-Known Member
Decided to convert my 24" fluorescent under cabinet lights to LED based. The fluorescents were old and buzzed like crazy. They put out decent light but I felt I could do better.

I decided to go the LED route. Kinda on the pricy side but I'm pleased with the results. I could have purchased some already in a case and ready to mount but felt they wouldn't be bright enough. Plus, that route would cost more.

I went with two LED light PCB strips per light fixture. These are 22.5" long and fit nicely in the 24" fixtures.
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One pointing straight down and one slightly angled forward. I thought this would provide better work surface coverage. The 3 light strips pointing down are on a dimmer and the other 3 use the switches in the fixture so I can turn them off if I want. Two 12v DC power supplies are used. One per 3 LED strips.

Here’s the new LED components I used.

LED strips: https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-rigid-light-bar-w-high-power-3-chip-leds/99/

Power Supply: https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-well-led-power-supply--apv-series/1748/4217/

DC dimmer: https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...or-led-dimmer/62/365/?accessory_of=99-dimmers

Here's what I started with.
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I began by removing the florescent ballast and wiring. Keeping the switches in tact.
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DC power supply installed
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DC Dimmer installed
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LED light strips PCB epoxied to some wood molding that provided a angled surface for the forward facing strip.
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Closeup showing the molding and strip mounting.
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All done!! Happy with the results. Plenty bright and lights up my entire work surface. And most important, No more buzzzzzzzzz.....
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so what was the total cost of the conversion of EACH florescent vs LED fixture, I'M guessing $65 plus? and the advantage of less heat, less used electricity and no buzzing might be justified , but I wonder how many guys could use this on ceiling lighting and can you get the same light output as the HID florescent bulbs
example my fixtures are 4 ft long and hold 4 bulbs each, can the LED conversion compete both in light output and cost?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...ht-Bulb-10-Pack-387522/100476647?N=5yc1vZbm3z
 
You could go this route...
https://www.energyavenue.com/LED-Li...-4F-835DLC-T8-T8-LED-Light-Bulb-18-Watt-3500K


My garage has you typical overhead incandescent light fixtures, two of them.
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They only safely support 60Watt bulbs. I was never happy with the light... I installed 4 of these 100W equilivant LED bulbs and WOW, what a difference.

a595a3b5-ecb9-414e-a40f-0386a496116e_400.jpg

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-100...ght-Bulb-BA21-16050OMF-12DE26-1U100/205054836

You almost need sun glasses. The cool thing is the LED bulbs only use 18Watts. Highly recommend this route if your looking for more light out of your crappy incandescent fixtures.
 
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/shop-lighting.1408/
garage20.jpg

Ive got 21 48 inch quad bulb ceiling fixtures and 10
motion activated dual bulb 150 watt wall fixtures
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plus a couple easily portable drop lights
and there are still a few times the drop lights are really handy
 
I just caught this. I have a relative that works in product development at Cree (big time LED manufactures).
If you can wait until this fall LED lights will take a giant leap forward and current technology will become 30 to 40% less in the big box stores.
Two years ago I converted all the lights in my home to floresent and witnessed a significant savings in electric. The new LED promice to cut fluorescent electrical consumption by 50%. There are 150 watt equivalent LED lights coming out sub $30 using an average of $2.70/yr. There is still the 30% Federal Tax Rebate for energy saving device purchases that I take advantage of for the past 3 years. I wrote off 30% of an entire driveway gate system because it runs on solar power ($900 back on a $3000 job) I'd say that's a good deal!
 
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