Under cabinet Dilemma

Hey Guys,

Ive been given a task to light up underneath our cabinet (w/Led) for less than $150

Few Requirements:

Warm White needed
Combined 2000lm over a 15ft span

Few ideas:

2x Xitaniums 700 + 5 Bridgelux 440's (Too hot)
2x Xitaniums + 11 XPG's (Expensive)
2x Xitaniums + 11 XPE's (too dim)
5x Halogen Strips (300w + Expensive!)


Anyone know where i can get decent WW (or Equivalent) LED's, and what you recommend to power them?? Preferably >120lm per

!lovecpf

coreyhudson2 said:

Hey Guys,

Ive been given a task to light up underneath our cabinet (w/Led) for less than $150

Few Requirements:

Warm White needed
Combined 2000lm over a 15ft span

Few ideas:

2x Xitaniums 700 + 5 Bridgelux 440's (Too hot)
2x Xitaniums + 11 XPG's (Expensive)
2x Xitaniums + 11 XPE's (too dim)
5x Halogen Strips (300w + Expensive!)


Anyone know where i can get decent WW (or Equivalent) LED's, and what you recommend to power them?? Preferably >120lm per

!lovecpf

Click to expand...

5 bridgelux 440's would be extremely bright for under cabinet lighting!.. how bright does the light need to be?

coreyhudson2 said:

2x Xitaniums 700 + 5 Bridgelux 440's (Too hot)
2x Xitaniums + 11 XPG's (Expensive)
2x Xitaniums + 11 XPE's (too dim)
5x Halogen Strips (300w + Expensive!)

Click to expand...

Good lord... 700ma driver an 11 XPE's are too dim?
Whats the purpose?!

Bridgelux makes a 240'series emitter that throws 265 lumens / warm-white. Newark sells them for $5.20 each. This will allow you to spread your light around better than 440's, which as you've mentioned present thermal management challenges in confined spaces.

Also, look at Mean Well power supplies along side Xitanium. When it comes to higher currrent and voltage levels Mean Wells are quite a bit cheaper.

Personally, unless I requires bright islands of light in specific areas, I'd do this with commercial SMD strips. Good ones - not the junk you find at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

Hi

Some time ago i build lights for my kitchen (I started buying parts probably about 2 years ago). I bought 25 Seoul 889-N42180L-S2 LEDs (3000K, 93 CRI) and was thinking about driving with CCHIPPO from TaskLed but I was uneasy about having two strings and (I figured I need about 18 LED's for my kitchen, keep in mind that these Seouls are not very bright comparing to XP-G or other LED's available today).
Time passed by and TaskLed released hyperBoost and that was something that could handle my LED's as one string. I bought one and finally finished lights and they work great, including dimming with pot (anding up with 17 LEDs in single string).
However, I needed power supply for hyperBoost, I was thinking about using old laptop AC adapter because I couldn't find any PSU in reasonable price with required wattage and then I found this

I purchased 60W, 24V constant voltage one but they have models specifically for driving LEDs (constant current), even with dimming support (I don't use my much) in $30-$40 price range. Look at this one

It should be perfect for driving up to 12-14 LEDs (maybe even more if they are low Vf).

The hardest part was to mount them (I don't have access to machining shop or something). I used 6" wide and ¼" thick aluminum bars and some polycarbonate to shield LED's from whatever may happen in kitchen J. Aluminum was an overkill, but I did not count area under polycarbonate as heat sink and I didn't want cabinet get warm (at id does not, lights can run all day and aluminum still fills cooler than hand when touching).

Illum said:

Good lord... 700ma driver an 11 XPE's are too dim?
Whats the purpose?!

Click to expand...

Lol, i just guesstimated a 57W bulb at 700 Lumen's for a 10 foot strip of counter.
But a WW XPE is ~57-90 (@350ma) Lumens at $7, thats where i came up with the 11 is too dim.

I just did my cabinets....

I ran 12v to all of the cabinets first
used 1 BuckToot driver and used 2-3 Cree MX-6's per cabinet. I ended up needing about 7 units total.

I think it all looks great. I am going to try and get some pictures

Cant wait to see them!

Thanks all you guys!! I figured on running a 5050 Led strip from dealextreme to and old server PSU. And instead i will use some bridgelux to retrofit our front light since it gets too cold for CFL.

Again THANKS.lovecpf

I did my kitchen with LED strips, I'm very please with how they turned out. You can see them here

http://www.led-guy.com

coreyhudson2 said:

Lol, i just guesstimated a 57W bulb at 700 Lumen's for a 10 foot strip of counter.
But a WW XPE is ~57-90 (@350ma) Lumens at $7, thats where i came up with the 11 is too dim.

Click to expand...

how low is the cabinet you have in mind for this installation? I ask because different types of LEDs have different emission angles, some of the wider varieties allows you to space them out father apart without losing the intensity in between. This would be something to consider if you are looking into reducing your LED count.

planning a build can be fun because it gives you the opportunity to explore diferent choices. A good thing with modern day CREEs is the ability to drive it at an amp, IIRC Xitaniums 1045ma offline driver [LED120A0024V10D] has dimming capability. Depending on your needs you can dim your LEDs to a low state until you need to use it, then ramp it up. this should alleviate at minimum some of your heatsinking woes.

The distance from cabinet to counter is 1.5ft or 18in.

And i am thinking this will be well enough.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39241

coreyhudson2 said:

The distance from cabinet to counter is 1.5ft or 18in.

And i am thinking this will be well enough.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39241

Click to expand...

\I wish I had a photo of it in use - I'd like to get it and install it in some crown molding around the ceiling ... one more project...