I'm getting ready to start replacing fixtures in my kitchen. I live in an old farmhouse, and we have no upper cabinets in our kitchen... Everything is open shelving. I'm getting ready to replace some of the old simple pine shelving nicer shelves and I would like to embed LED lights in the shelves (by routing channels in the underside of the shelf).
The shelf will be either 1" or 1.5" thick, so the entire light will need to be about 1/2" thick in order to not hang down too far below the bottom of the shelf. Initially, I had thought to use puck lights since they're already finished (and will look decent) but I'm having trouble finding lights that I can link together and control with either Zigbee or ZWave (I have a mix of both devices today).
One of the challenges with puck lights is that for my three shelves, I'll need varying lengths of wire to connect them to the power source. Some wires will need to be 6' long, others may be closer to 9'.
I could potentially use LED strip lighting -- I'm handy enough, but if I'm honest, I've had poor luck with strip lighting in the past -- I'm not very good at soldering and I've ruined more than one LED strip (and afternoon) trying to get it set up.
The biggest challenge is the WAF. We already have "smart" lights, so voice control is okay, but whatever I do needs to look good and work consistently.
I would appreciate any suggestions or links anyone has-
We use Hue strip lights for a similar application, except, for us, they are on the underside of our kitchen cabinets. I didn’t have to do soldering because you can buy lengths of the Hue strip lights and plug one into the next in the series. We were able to put the Hue power supply bricks inside the cabinets into receptacles in the cabinets, so nothing shows.
I can't make a recommendation as I have yet to implement them, but I am looking at the Gledopto LED drivers (Pro RGB-CCT ones) and the the Ajax LED equivalents. I still need to confirm that the exact models will work with Hubitat.
I believe the striplights will look best with a diffuser strip and, for tidiness and heat dissipation, aluminium channels pressed into the routed channels in the shelving/kitchen units.
Alternatively, have you looked at the the IKEA integrated lighting? They have lighting strips, pucks and panels which can be driven using their Tradfri drivers (10W or 30W). I plan to leverage these for inside wardrobes and the like, where I won't ever need colour.
Totally agree. The diffusers aren't that expensive, and really improve the look of things.
I don't know about this specific model, but I have used Gledopto 1D RGBW version a couple times and they work very well. I like the authentic Gledopto a little better than the generic mostly due to the terminals. If I remember the details correctly, the generic had a spring loaded "crocodile" clip to secure the wires where the Gledopto had screws to tighten up against the wires.
You probably don't have a correct type iron. Those $10 25W solder irons aren't suitable for this. You don't need a $500 Weller solder station, just a $40-50 iron with adjustable temperature.
And you are probably using solder that is way too large. I get the smallest I can find for this type work, typically 0.020", and it melts much easier. I prefer rosin core over solid. And avoid the lead-free stuff, it is very tough to work with compared to lead. The tiny amount you are working with lead, especially if you do it like in a garage or outdoors or similar well ventilated space, isn't a concern in my opinion, as long as you wash your hands after using it.
They have a lot of very inexpensive LED of various form factors that are made just for this situation. Only downside is that their stuff typically isn't dimmable, which may or may not be a concern. I have quite a few of their little LED strips and pucks, and they work fine on a smart on/off outlet. They get very angry when you try to dim them, so don't try that.
The Tradfri strip lights that require the tradfri led driver unit to power them are dimmable. In fact I have a couple in the kitchen to provide extra over the sink lighting.
i'm using LED strips with a ZEN31 (z-wave) controller and it works for me. i'm just using it for under cabinet lightning though. i wanted to put it inside the cabinets too, but the wife said no. didn't want to press my luck since she did say yes to the under cabinet lights
in terms of the soldering, that's just practice. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XKZVG8Z/ i use this soldering iron and it works well for me. the key to the LED strips is get a small bit of solder on each pad, then do your bead with the wire after. it will easily join with the existing solder on the pad
I used THESE Zigbee RGBWW LED strips. You can cut them to length.
I used THESE diffuser channels. They "mostly" diffuse the light. When you look at them directly, you will still be able to see individual "blobs" of light. However, if they are shining up against a well, they look great.
If you have to cut them, I used THESE end connectors. When you cut the strips, you cut where indicated, peel off the clear insulation, and clip these on (I used a pair of long needle-nosed pliers to close the clip). You may have to trim a few mm to get them to make proper contact.
I used THESE short extension cables where necessary (these are 6 inch ones) to go around bends.
I used THESE longer ones (3.3 ft) when I had to remote mount the LED power supply unit.
I used THESE splitters when I need to send the lights left and right.
You can see how the light reflected off the wall looks uniform with the diffuser...without it, you saw "blobs" of light. If you get up on a ladder and look into the diffuser, you can see the blobs.
