I'm looking at adding some under-cabinet LED lights, but it'll be difficult to get another normal outlet in there. Is there an AC-powered LED controller that i can wire directly to romex? Or an inline AC-to-DC converter? Any direction appreciated.
I have this mounted under cabinets that power LED Lights.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017R17YQC
Looks like it’s not available any longer in 12VDC version but it shows alternatives. You can wire Romex directly to it under the cover plate.
It’s also worth mentioning that I have transformers mounted to the floor joist in my crawlspace, where I run a low-voltage wire up through the wall to power undercabinet lighting. This way I don’t have to see the transformer mounted underneath. To get the low-voltage wire up into the kitchen, I ripped out the wall box for my dishwasher switch as an example which allowed me access to pull the wire up and then I replaced that dishwasher gang box and reinstalled that switch.
I am using many Addressable LED Strips in different places powered by Pixelblaze. PixelBlaze is a very small ESP32-Based WiFi controller and of course there is a very nice HE driver for this device. LED strips could be 5V, 12V or 24V. Of course external power supply is required. For the !2V and 24V strips extra small downconverter is required for powering Pixelblaze. 5V strips coold be very high density but may require power injection for the long runs. I am using only COB style LED strips.
Ah, this is a good idea. In my setup, I would wire this in the outlet box that is above the counter, keeping the LED transformer in the AC box, then just run the low-voltage wire down through the wall into the cabinet underneath. There's a cavity down there I believe that I could put the LED controller in. That sound right to you?
All the LED transformers I have bought are too large to fit into a gang box. I haven't looked in a few years so maybe you will have better luck finding one that will work.
What I have done is drill a hole into the wall just below the cabinet (or even through the bottom lip of the cabinet bottom) right above an outlet. Then I run the Romex through that hole down into the gang box for power. Finally mount the transformer up under the cabinet.
If you have a cavity or somewhere you can hide the transformer use it and just run Romex to that for power in and wire out for the LED lights.
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Saw this one on Amazon and it is much smaller and might fit into a gang box
https://www.amazon.com/Makergroup-Waterproof-Constant-Transformer-Converter/dp/B08V8S44RH
Depend on LED strip size 15W may not be sufficient.
In all my cases PS power must not be less than 40W.
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