Low Voltage Education Please

coupe33

in a new kitchen cab install I will be putting in under cab lighting in. one in the center each of each cabinet for a total of eight upper cabinets. I have been reading and asking questions on this site and have been told that low voltage is the way to go.Now some one please give me the name of a reputable company with sound products for this. I wish to use recessed puck lighting and I understand LED is currently the way to go if not that then to use xeon bulbs i believe. Any way wear do I get info on the basics of wiring this type of system up. I have been given to diff senarios to use for powering this sytem.1. put a common switch in the wall that powers a recep that your transformers will be plugged into this way transformer is only working when lights are on I guess, but it is the most basic. 2 install recep undersink or above cabinets hidden by crown that is live all the time and use a remote wire that can be hooked to a door hinge or small screw head under cab,etc to turn lights on and off like a touch lamp works. Any body want to give me thier two cents I would like to educate my self as much as posiible before jumping into this. Thanks

480sparky

Unless all your upper cabinets are the same width, you will not want to center a light in each upper. You want to evenly illuminate the work surface below it, not space them out based on the width of the uppers.

You won't be able to use recessed pucks unless you cover the recess on the bottom. If you recess them in a standard cabinet, they'll protrude into the bottom shelf inside. Not cool.

If you want to get a totally 'hidden' system, use a touch-pad system that either has a sensor under the uppers, or even a specific hinge (if they're visible with the doors closed).

Best education you could get is a trip to the lighting store. NOT the lighting sections at Home Cheapo or Blowe's. A REAL lighting store, where the people working there KNOW something.

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naptown CR

all this is good advice I like WAC fixtures for pucks. now it starts to get complicated. depending on the length of low voltage wire and load for each group of fixtures you will want to run several feedl to the lights. This does not mean that you cannot have one transformer but you will have to equalize the voltage drop as close as possible for each group of lights. This is done to even out the light output for each grouping. The wattage for most xenon bulbs that fit into pucks are 8 watt. When I install I try to get them on 1' centers and pulled toward the front of the cabinet. Bulb orientation is also important as if you have one bulb parallel to the front and one perpendicular they will throw a different light pattern. For calculating voltage drop I use the calculations based on DC voltage. They are more restrictive. A good source of information is the 12 volt bible although written for boats will give a good reference for sizing wires etc.

ampman

best to call in a profesional it only takes one time to get it wrong

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