# Leds for cabinets ?



## therouter123 (Sep 10, 2011)

Hey guys, does anyone know where I can find a kit for undercabinet leds? I want the flexible ones with really bright white leds.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

I have a couple of sources for LED arrays that are fairly bright. Before I send them, I want to make sure you know they are still not the same as say halogen task lighting. Of course they are nice but what do you mean by super bright LEDs?


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## therouter123 (Sep 10, 2011)

sdsester said:


> I have a couple of sources for LED arrays that are fairly bright. Before I send them, I want to make sure you know they are still not the same as say halogen task lighting. Of course they are nice but what do you mean by super bright LEDs?


Ok great. By super bright I just mean the higher quality ones.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

therouter123 said:


> Ok great. By super bright I just mean the higher quality ones.


Wish it were that easy. Nothing really to do with quality either but obviously you know the ones you want are going to come from a lighting store and not a box store?. LED bulbs are actually arrays and as the technology changes they get better and better. 

You can now get LED bulbs to fit in just about any socket and in new configurations you can hardwire to 110 or low voltage and even dim. Some of the arrays that stretch the length of old florescent tubes are especially impressive. Most do not need the old ballasts.

www.1000bulbs.com for example. 

Galleries are my clients so I often get to test some of the newer LEDs out. I think we are pleased with the results some sent us to try in general lighting applications like where we need to light a hallway for people to walk. I remain disappointed the replacements for halogen bulbs I specify to light art are just not bright enough yet for that purpose. The conventional reading lamps I have, incandescent or halogen, are much brighter than anything I can find in LEDs yet. 

I rather like lots of task lighting in my kitchen, and those I put together for others. If you want nice undercabinet lighting for interior design "look and feel" then I think the technology is upon us. If you want LED for real task lighting I thing we have a few more years, or more fixtures needed. LED lights are only going to crank out the amount of light we are used to for awhile yet. 

There are also two other considerations that you have to look at when buying lighting for you home. Color temperatures in Kelvin units as you look at it and the spectrum of light it gives off. Here is a quick K chart. As you will notice it is backwards in a way. We would naturally think of warmer light as having a higher temp. 

1000K - Candlelight
2000K - Early Sunrise
2700K - Incandescent, Warm Florescents, lower spectrum halogens, and finally LEDs

3000-3500K - Neutral White Florescent, higher K temp halogens and about the limit of LEDs for no particular reason

4100K - Cool White Florescent (Typical Office)
5000K - Noon Daylight
5000-6500K - Daylight Florescent 
7000K Overcast Daylight
10000K North Light
30000K Ultraviolet

Now then. This is just the color of the light and you have seen it. If you walk into a house with indanscents you notice the cheap, early era, compact florescents glowing blue-green.

What is almost more important than the color temp of a light bulb is the amount of the full color spectrum it can render. So your family does not look the color of the light and an apple looks like an apple underneath them. LEDs are rather bad and even the best only claim something like 70-80 percent. Your soon to be outlawed housebulb could claim 90+ percent. We all remember people turning green under office florescent bulbs with color rendering indexes of under 70. 

Full spectrum florescents used in the graphic arts, printing and photography have colors approaching that of daylight (6500K) and CRIs of 99 percent.

Not trying to bury you in color theory and science but when you ask of the best LEDs to buy for undercabinet? 

I would pick a color temperature that matches what you have in other lighting to start. Then I would go for the CRI (color rendering index). And of course then go for the lumens and brightness you need.

Confused? Welcome to the club. Some3 of us try to explain it all but seem to keep failing. Any suggestions you can make will help. You will see the color temp, color rendering index, and lumens of output published on most light bulbs.

So back to your post. There are some really nice rope type LED lights for under cabinet use out there now and of course not the silly college kid stuff. 

I use these really cute halogens for in cabinet gallery lighting of shelves. They turn into hot little suckers though. I would not use an exposed halogen where I hand under a counter could touch it removing a piece of toast.

If you can live with LEDs trying to task light your counter? Go for it. You will need twice as many fixtures until the technology catches up at 3x4 times the cost still. 

Good luck. LED's are not quite yet the way to think you have gone green. Just to start. They are pricey and not many are made here in the US yet so they have to be shipped on tanker that use fuels. 

Of course the argument from some that will flash back at me? Do we really need the lumens in our artificial light fixtures we were told we did---in the first place. Could I read under a nicely, color rendered, LED cranking out 45 watts instead of 75-150-300 on an adjustable switch. Would my truly significant sweeties du jour, 15 and 12 year flings each and still with me have stuck around longer if we had LED lighting. 

Americans like me are power consumers like no others on the planet. I admit we do deserve to be able to leave all the lights on in every room 24/7, and the AC and heat should run concurrently too where nobody bothered to feather the systems. We think we be green even as we buy the largest and coolest frig on the planet and open the door, how many times per day, to stare at what we have? Or grab a yogurt or soda. Amazing. And we teach our kids to do it. 

This green thing inspires me in some ways but if I am tired of the rhetoric and the shopping bags with 14 extra layers of recycled paper stuffed into a craft bag, with gold leaf, from Cartier, Tiffany's and so forth? 

Picking an LED lighting system may not help. In time. 

- Steven


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

therouter123 said:


> Hey guys, does anyone know where I can find a kit for undercabinet leds? I want the flexible ones with really bright white leds.


Again, candle light bright white means exactly what as you shop? Warm or kind of natural sunlight bright white? Take an apple or orange with you. If it looks like a turnip or an avacado? I am just guessing the CRI is under 70 or even 60 percent. 

Go to a lighting store, not a box store. 

I hate to bring this up. But do you know people pick colors for their home interiors without ever looking at or considering the lighting in their box stores? Mercury hallides clock in around a color index of 6-7 as I remember. My Benjamin Moore guys forget, but I could tell, when the light bulb, over their chips, had not been replaced on time. 

Standard temp for color viewing is 6500K. Paint stores come close. Box stores are so off it is hilarious. 

Y'all got cute iPhones or other more responsible things? Like the one I carry around to help clients. Calibrate it. Set the color profile to 6500K and then report back. 

RGB codes would work just great for me. I promise, because of course I checked this out. I can nail just color differences you think you choose from a top quality paint store and Hut are us.


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## therouter123 (Sep 10, 2011)

sdsester said:


> Wish it were that easy. Nothing really to do with quality either but obviously you know the ones you want are going to come from a lighting store and not a box store?. LED bulbs are actually arrays and as the technology changes they get better and better.
> 
> You can now get LED bulbs to fit in just about any socket and in new configurations you can hardwire to 110 or low voltage and even dim. Some of the arrays that stretch the length of old florescent tubes are especially impressive. Most do not need the old ballasts.
> 
> ...


Wow thats a lot of info, I didnt think it would be so complicated. I have been searching ebay and found this 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190575452021?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
These look really nice and the install seems simple, what do you think?


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## therouter123 (Sep 10, 2011)

anyone?


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