Under Cabinet Lighting

coupe33

Guys I need the pros and cons if any to wich one is better. line voltage pucks or the low voltage set up. I have seen the low voltage stuff fished through the walls and then hooked to a transformer that is either on top of the upper cabinets hidden by the crown and plugged into a common recep or one that is hooked to a switch on the wall. I was recently told that line voltage is the way to go because you can gang four or so pucks together and then have one wire chased through the wall or if they are face frame cabs you will have a small chase between them that you can use to get your wire to a hidden receptical. Now I never proclaimed to be an electrican but i believe it is against nec to run low voltage or a non romex type cord through the wall with out being cased. I see this done all the time though and want to know what is the best way to do this. and what system is recommended by the pros. the idea of hiding a wire in the wall and then later punching a hole to fish for it and using the cabinet to cover it up seems kinda hackish to me but like i said I am not an electrician. But i would like an education on what is right and what to look for. Thanks for your input

Tiger

IMO pucks are a maintenance nightmare. Anyone happy with year-old pucks? Pucks are good for call-backs.

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Mike Finley

Agreed.

Transformer units are what I like, the halogen light strips with the individual little halogens on them are very nice. LED now would probably be even better.

naptown CR

Not to sound like an ad here but Kitchler makes a killer strip light that is line voltage. If you are going to use puck lights here is what I do. Remove the Halogen bulb that comes with them and replace with a Zenon bulb. They run much cooler and last 4 times longer. Never had a call back when I did this.

Magnettica

I second the Kitchler Xenon bulb solution.

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ampman

had the low volt halogen in my old house and never had a bulb go out (16 years) what color are the xeienon

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rescraft

Hera makes some nice Xenons. LEDs have too much of a "blue" tint for my tastes.

naptown CR

They are about the same color temp as halogen. One of the big reasons halogens burn out so quickly and trash the fixtures is the high operating temp of the lamp. xenon operate much cooler therefore extending the life of the fixture.

naptown CR

You can run low voltage in the wall as long as the cable is UL listed for in wall installation. If you want to be a neat freak about bringing the wires out from the wall and through the cabinet snap a line where the bottom of the cabinets will be and put a block or staple the approved low voltage cable up from this mark the distance of the recess in the bottom of the cabinet.

480sparky

NM is the only wiring method for UC lighting I've seen that's legal for installation in a wall. The 'zip' cord/'lamp' cord that most UC lights use is not to be concealed in the walls. 400.8(1).

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ampman

what about m/c ,emt ,ent, ridgid, pvc,imc, just saying got watch those blanket statements

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480sparky

You're gonna use one of those for undercabinet lighting?????

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ampman

would not be against code right -- just saying

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