Led Cabinet Lighting

By Russell Neal

LED Cabinet lighting continues to increase in popularity as more people realize the cost saving benefits and superior performance that diode-based illumination provides them. When one considers the extremely low power requirements of led lamps (only 20% of other lamps) and their extremely long lamp life (50,000 hours), their value becomes readily apparent to the decorator who holds both quality and efficiency foremost in mind. LED cabinet lights can last up to ten years and negate the annoyance and cost of frequent replacements. Because of this, LED cabinet lighting strips provide a highly sophisticated illumination for both decorative and functional applications. They produce none of the UV light emitted by fluorescent lamps and only trace amounts of heat. This makes them the safest form of lighting, not only for cabinets, but displays and shelves of any kind that house sensitive materials.

While in some cases it may be true that LED’s of the past were not as bright as incandescents and fluorescents, Phantom Lighting has changed all of this with revolutionary, new lamping technology that produces up to 50 lumens of safe, brilliant light. Phantom Lighting also offers the only adjustable cabinet lighting strips with a patented adjustable shelf wiring method. This delivers low-voltage current safely and allows for shelf adjustment without the risk of short circuit or shock.

Phantom LED cabinet lighting strips provide a full spectrum of color temperatures in order to accommodate both functional and aesthetic lighting demands. Warm white (our incandescent equivalent) begins at 2950K and ranges upward to a more bluish, daylight white at 6500K. The mainstay colors that defined the earliest LED’s—green, red, and blue—are also available in similar temperature colors. This wide range of color temperatures makes Phantom LED cabinet lighting strips the most versatile linear strip lights that can fully accommodate the broad spectrum of needs found in both the commercial and residential marketplaces.

As we have already noted, diodes produce only a negligible fraction of heat, even after hours of prolonged use. Works of art, exquisitely tailored clothing accessories, and even rare documents in museum displays can be illuminated safely and impeccably with Phantom LED cabinet lighting strips. The added benefit of adjustability offers curators and merchandisers the freedom to periodically change displays without altering the intensity of the light or damaging electrical components. This in turn frees the technical designer from the routine, technical aspects of repeat maintenance and allows for a proposal that focuses more on the creative and functional than upon the mundane.

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Phantom distribution agents work throughout North, Central, and South America to provide lighting design companies with as many as six different LED cabinet lighting strip series in order to anticipate every scenario they will encounter. With the growing push for LEEDS certification, and California’s recent ban on incandescent lamps, the demand for LED cabinet lights specifically engineered for retrofitting has increased proportionally. Two important considerations have to be taken into account when retrofitting cabinet lighting strips. The first of these is the type of current used to power the strip.

Generally speaking, LED lamps are DC-powered lamps. This presents a problem for some users when it comes time to replace an incandescent or Xenon strip powered by an AC circuit. The extra costs of AC to DC conversion equipment, plus additional labor fees, are a needless expense for the client and a nuisance for consultants to justify. Phantom led cabinet lighting strips; however, solve this problem with AC low voltage transformers that power the lamps along existing circuitry.

The second consideration critical to properly retrofitting linear strips is their physical compatibility with the display housing itself. Phantom linear strips such as the AE Series (Adjustable Exposed) are manufactured to custom fit exposed metal tracks and to use them as power conductors in a complete circuit. This provides the seamless equivalent of a tailor-made product in spite of its function as a retrofit component! New construction projects benefit equally as much from Phantom LED cabinet lighting strips. Contractors who include lighting design as a key component to winning an important bid can line item our AC Series (Adjustable Concealed) in their proposals to give them a leading technical and decorative edge over the competition. These led shelf strip lights offer a low profile, near-invisible source of light that enables the new homeowner or commercial tenant to see the light, not the fixture. This is because the AC series employs custom buss bars that conduct power to each adjustable shelf, resulting in complete concealment of the wiring. It has become a fast favorite among custom homeowners who prefer pins and drilled holes to exposed metal supports.

The AC series can also be special-ordered with either solid metal trims for horizontal applications that require additional decorative highlighting, or it can be custom cut with a variety of specialty trims for custom under cabinet lighting or applications above eye level.

Regardless of the specific LED cabinet lighting strip ultimately selected for a task, please keep in mind that all Phantom cabinet strip lighting products, including the LED models, are engineered to minimize glare and hide the light source from normal viewing angles. All that the average viewer ever sees is the cabinet itself filled with an even wash of bright, glare-free light that shrouds contents in a warm, ambient glow. With a generous 120-degree beam spread from each light emitting diode, the resulting illumination easily homogenizes or converges to achieve a continuous linear light source. Ultimately, therefore, LED cabinet lighting strips with LED Lamps offer not only an equivalent luminosity to linear incandescent strips, but also a superior distribution system that minimizes the fixture and emphasizes the light.

About the Author:

Phantom Lighting, Inc.

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LED Cabinet Lighting

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Under Cabinet Light Fixtures

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