New warm white LED lights at Lowes

[JohnR66]

I was at Lowes and saw new undercabinet lights. No more are the purpleish colored white LED lights. They have warm white versions and some use high power LEDs.

One had an oval shaped puck with two high output LEDs. 3 pucks total with power supply for $50. I could not make out the LED used, but it has a white case with a yellow center of maybe 5 or 6mm dia. It definately didn't look like a Cree XR-E or Luxeon. I wonder what LED this is?

 

[CM]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm gonna head to Lowes now.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I'mn going to check this out also the next tiime I'm at Lowe's. If I see it I'll post my thoughts here.
**Edit** Saw them tonight. I liked the three-1-watt-LED-cluster lights. They were quite bright and a very pleasing CRI. I'm not sure they're worth $50 for a string of three though. I was unable to identify the LED because of the way it's mounted in ther plastic body, which completely conceals all but the phosphor-coated center of the LED, and there was no mention of the LED manufacturer on the package.

I also saw a warm-ish LED strip light that appeared to be rather poorly color-matched from one LED to another. Some were noticely purple compared to their neighbors on the strip. Overall color quality wasn't that bad though.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

Saw them tonight. I liked the three-1-watt-LED-cluster lights. They were quite bright and a very pleasing CRI. I'm not sure they're worth $50 for a string of three though. I was unable to identify the LED because of the way it's mounted in ther plastic body, which completely conceals all but the phosphor-coated center of the LED, and there was no mention of the LED manufacturer on the package.

Is there a brand name on the package? I would like to see if these are near me, but in another store, since there is no Lowes around.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Is there a brand name on the package? I would like to see if these are near me, but in another store, since there is no Lowes around.

The brand is Utilitech. The unit is shown on their website here.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

Thank's for the link. After taking a peek, it looks cool, but definitely not worth the fifty bucks. For thirty, I might pick them up.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Thank's for the link. After taking a peek, it looks cool, but definitely not worth the fifty bucks. For thirty, I might pick them up.

I agree. Fifty bucks for a string of six 1w LEDs seems a bit much. I'm betting these won't move very fast and will eventualy be on closeout.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

I agree. Fifty bucks for a string of six 1w LEDs seems a bit much. I'm betting these won't move very fast and will eventualy be on closeout.

I'll keep my eyes open in the "Good Deals" section. ;-)

 

[AndyTiedye]

Do they use Nichia 083 LEDs like the ones on these LEs?

(from the McGizmo forum)

 

[PhotonWrangler]

The color of the phosphor looks similar, but it's hard to tell for sure as the product at Lowe's has a dome on the LED.

 

[LukeA]

Based purely on price, I doubt it.

 

[R33E8]

Based purely on price, I doubt it.

Well when you buy it from Nichia they are a bit less than $3 a piece..

http://store.nichia.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=151

 

[LukeA]

Well when you buy it from Nichia they are a bit less than $3 a piece..

http://store.nichia.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=151

Well then maybe.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Well when you buy it from Nichia they are a bit less than $3 a piece..

http://store.nichia.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=151

Yea, but I'd have to buy a whole reel of them!

 

[R33E8]

Yea, but I'd have to buy a whole reel of them!

Yup, McGizmo did bought a reel and sells them individually for $15 mounted on MCPCB's.. It seems like they are also used on this under cabinet lighting strip :

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=283278-82850-29112&lpage=none

If you wanted to scavenge the LED's from it, it would cost about $12 a piece.. It would come with a UL listed power supply, cost less than McGizmo, but no MCPCB.. Maybe we could cut the PCB they are on and scrape off the laminate that is over the traces? Or just desolder them completly and make our own MCPCB's like VanIsleDSM. Still expensive.. I hope we can find cheaper places to scavenge these LED's from...

 

[LukeA]

Yup, McGizmo did bought a reel and sells them individually for $15 mounted on MCPCB's.. It seems like they are also used on this under cabinet lighting strip :

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=283278-82850-29112&lpage=none

If you wanted to scavenge the LED's from it, it would cost about $12 a piece.. It would come with a UL listed power supply, cost less than McGizmo, but no MCPCB.. Maybe we could cut the PCB they are on and scrape off the laminate that is over the traces? Or just desolder them completly and make our own MCPCB's like VanIsleDSM. Still expensive.. I hope we can find cheaper places to scavenge these LED's from...

The Ikea set has a bunch more LEDs than that.

IF either contains Nichia 083s.

 

[seestuff]

I got a set and I like the light it gives under my kitchen cabinets. I'd like to get another set to give me a total of 6 pucks. But I really need to split them up 2 on the left side of my kitchen sink and 4 on the right side. So I'd have to add length to the wire between the 2nd and 3rd puck on one set to go up, across the valence over the sink, and back down the other side to give me the 2 and 4 arrangement. I'd also like to daisy-chain the sets together instead of using two wall-warts to power them. But I'm not sure if that would have an adverse affect on thier performance? Any ideas?

I opened one up. Here's some pics:


By seemystuff

By seemystuff

By seemystuff

By seemystuff

They look like the ones in the McGizmo pictures a few posts earlier to me.

...and yes. The LEDs were that dirty when I opened the puck even though they're covered with plastic lenses. But I still like the lights.

 

[blasterman]

I'd also like to daisy-chain the sets together instead of using two wall-warts to power them. But I'm not sure if that would have an adverse affect on thier performance?

If placed in series, you'll lose a lot of brightness.

If placed in parallel, you risk killing the power supply because it won't be able to handle the decreased resistance. You really need to stick to how they are factory wired.

Any ideas?

Sure....build them yourself. I've been cobbling my own high powered fixtures together, and it's disturbingly easy to do with little knowledge of electronics. I'll have some more posts on this within the week.

 

[seestuff]

If placed in series, you'll lose a lot of brightness.

If placed in parallel, you risk killing the power supply because it won't be able to handle the decreased resistance. You really need to stick to how they are factory wired.




Sure....build them yourself. I've been cobbling my own high powered fixtures together, and it's disturbingly easy to do with little knowledge of electronics. I'll have some more posts on this within the week.

I'll go ahead and use the power supplies for each one. I can leave those wall-warts on top of the cabinets out of sight and just extend the wires to suit my needs. I have a lot projects going at home right now as I'm working on my old fixer-upper house. Once I get the kitchen remodel and several other simultaneous projects done, I'd like to revisit this notion of DIY high-powered warm white LEDs for other lighting projects in the future.
I'm definitely interested in knowing how to make my own. I'm also curious about the cost of the materials and what tools I'd need.
I look forward to your posts on DIY LEDs.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

I'm confused. I see two versions of "warm white" (I hope) lights that Lowe's sells. So:

1) Do we know for sure which one of these two uses the warm Nichias?

2) Which is brighter?

3) Which has a nicer tint?

One:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=283278-82850-29112&lpage=none

Two:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=283277-82850-29110&lpage=none