Plinth and undercab lighting

PaDE · 21 Feb 2019 at 20:46

I've been looking tonight at LEDS to buy and its a little confusing (when your electrically challenged) - Plus our Sparky seems to have gone AWOL, hence the question here :-)

Our plinth and under cabinet lights are going to be controlled via a wall switch. And from first fix we have the cables from the lighting circuit sitting there (poking out of the plaster) waiting to be connected up to the LEDS (we aren't having sockets)

The problem being, the LEDS I'm finding online are the plug-in variety, the type with walwarts/transformers. Do you cut these walwarts/transformers off and connect the LED strips to the lighting circuit via some electrical box?

Cheers

mattyy · 21 Feb 2019 at 22:32

PaDE said:
Snip

The LEDs you are looking at with a transformer are 12V instead of the 230V mains. You can cut the plugs/transformers off these but they will need a separate 230v to 12v transformer to feed them.

Alternatively you can find 230v LED strips but the options are a lot less.

skyripper · 22 Feb 2019 at 06:00

Don't wire the LED strips directly to your lighting circuit. As Matty says above the they need a transformer from 240 down to 12v.

Unless you know the power pack and LEDs are really reliable, I would run a socket to under the cabinets, otherwise when it comes to replace/fix you have the added hassle of disconnecting. A socket under the cabs and behind the plinth means you can just unplug as the power will be controlled by your light switch.

PaDE · 22 Feb 2019 at 08:17

Perfect, thank you both

mattyy said:
The LEDs you are looking at with a transformer are 12V instead of the 230V mains. You can cut the plugs/transformers off these but they will need a separate 230v to 12v transformer to feed them.

Alternatively you can find 230v LED strips but the options are a lot less.

skyripper said:
Don't wire the LED strips directly to your lighting circuit. As Matty says above the they need a transformer from 240 down to 12v.

Unless you know the power pack and LEDs are really reliable, I would run a socket to under the cabinets, otherwise when it comes to replace/fix you have the added hassle of disconnecting. A socket under the cabs and behind the plinth means you can just unplug as the power will be controlled by your light switch.

psd99 · 22 Feb 2019 at 08:24

PaDE said:
If you get to do it in the next couple of weeks, do post some pics. Our kitchen is not going in for at least 2 weeks so maybe another week at least after that before I try this out.

Cheers

Thanks I will do, but I'm going to have to do some wiring as I'm looking to create another zone in my setup. Already have skywindow LED and breakfast bar light! so the plinth will be the 3rd and final zone hopefully.

you don't happen to know where that angle moulding strip is generally used? Is it for tiling.

psd99 · 22 Feb 2019 at 09:23

Removing the plinth later on will be a nightmare just thinking about this aspect.

PaDE · 22 Feb 2019 at 12:37

psd99 said:
you don't happen to know where that angle moulding strip is generally used? Is it for tiling.

I believe so, as I saw some in B&Q (various sizes) the other day

PaDE · 4 Apr 2019 at 01:09

Kitchen done so finally got around to tackling the plinth lighting and in particular the dish washer.

For door clearance, the plinth under the dish washer has been notched out so I've placed some angled beading and tried to run as straight a line as possible (even though it drops) actually looks better than I thought it would.

The dish washer is the top left unit in this pic

The dish washer is straight ahead in the next two pics

From below you can see the notched plinth. Doesn't look the prettiest but you can't see it unless you go commando. The dishwasher opens without catching :-)

psd99 · 4 Apr 2019 at 08:09

looks good!!

I found the area underneath my dishwasher slightly tricky. it is when the strip is dropping down, you have to turn the strip slightly for the drop.

peige · 4 Apr 2019 at 08:19

I did the below with RGBW in conduit, its ali backed with a fogged plastic cover. The area under the dishwasher is to the left and I had to fit the strip slightly lower due to this. When your stood you can't see the actual strip at all.
Plinth is easy to remove, it just clips on and of got plenty of cable behind there so I can pull it right out and work on it.

Its evolved from these pictures and goes under the cabinets now too. Really finishes off the kitchen but did cost a few quid due to the amount of RF controllers, 7 in total I think (there is more lighting at the other end too.

Untitled by , on Flickr

Kitchen lighting by , on Flickr

psd99 · 4 Apr 2019 at 08:24

peige said:
I did the below with RGBW in conduit, its ali backed with a fogged plastic cover. The area under the dishwasher is to the left and I had to fit the strip slightly lower due to this. When your stood you can't see the actual strip at all.
Plinth is easy to remove, it just clips on and of got plenty of cable behind there so I can pull it right out and work on it.

Untitled by , on Flickr

Kitchen lighting by , on Flickr

why did you point the led strip inwards rather than downwards? Looks good but conduit and frosty cover seems overkill to me especially as none will see from top viewing level.

the big advantage is removing the plinth for you, whereas PADE and myself would struggle to remove the plinth if we need to in the future.

peige · 4 Apr 2019 at 08:36

Because its was flat mount and going up under the plinth cabs would have been a real pain, I did look at angle mount conduit but it was sketchy as to whether RGBW strip would fit and hellishly expensive, ether way you can't see it normally I admit but when you do it looks more professional imho even though its IP rated over time it the rubbery surface gets kind of tacky and horrible in a kitchen.

The lights on top of the cabs are just stuck on with no conduit at all but the under cab over counter stuff is again in conduit.

psd99 · 4 Apr 2019 at 08:42

peige said:
Because its was flat mount and going up under the plinth cabs would have been a real pain, I did look at angle mount conduit but it was sketchy as to whether RGBW strip would fit and hellishly expensive, ether way you can't see it normally I admit but when you do it looks more professional imho even though its IP rated over time it the rubbery surface gets kind of tacky and horrible in a kitchen.

The lights on top of the cabs are just stuck on with no conduit at all but the under cab over counter stuff is again in conduit.

yes it does look very professional no doubt about that.

I got angle mounted conduit underneath my breakfast bar and it looks good.

PaDE · 4 Apr 2019 at 11:45

psd99 said:
looks good!!

I found the area underneath my dishwasher slightly tricky. it is when the strip is dropping down, you have to turn the strip slightly for the drop.

Light is uneven in that area but all things considered I can’t do too much about it.

Is the strip dropping down over time?

psd99 · 4 Apr 2019 at 15:09

PaDE said:
Light is uneven in that area but all things considered I can’t do too much about it.

Is the strip dropping down over time?

no what I mean is under the dishwasher some of the strip is vertical
look on both sides of the angle bead u put there on the right hand side and left hand side there is a slight drop
mine is a bit more. but it meant that we had to slightly turn the LED strip

what controller u using?

PaDE · 4 Apr 2019 at 16:04

psd99 said:
no what I mean is under the dishwasher some of the strip is vertical
look on both sides of the angle bead u put there on the right hand side and left hand side there is a slight drop
mine is a bit more. but it meant that we had to slightly turn the LED strip

what controller u using?

Everything is Z-Wave (wall switches and a wall mounted iPad for local control) and HomeSeer to run events like sunset / luminosity etc. Or integration with Alexa.

Had to return first lot of LEDs as powering off at the wall switch for X amount of time meant they next turned on to a default disco.

So opted for basic bright LEDs both cheaper and better for our use.