Best Undercabinet Lighting?

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Tiger Electrical

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I have an undercabinet lighting job over two hours away. I don't want any warranty issues. The cabinets will all be in place when I get there. I'm looking for high quality, ease of installation and durability. Ease of bulb changing for the client is a plus. Material price is no object, a warranty call would be very expensive for me.

Dave
 
We use these. Good quality, has 1/2" KO's and quick connects. Large wiring compartment. Very easy install for a UCL. Zenon and halogens are dimmable. Great light lights for those midnight feedings.

The drawbacks are with the halogen you seem to lose a couple lamps in the first week. The halogens are 35 watts each. This can get you to 700W in a decent size kitchen.

http://www.csllighting.com/flash.html
 
I go back and fourth between Progress and National Specialty Lighting, mainly. They're the least of all the evils I can get locally. I haven't really used any brand that I'm completely excited about.
 
I love the Seagull Ambiance. Everyone I've installed it for has loved it. I've probably done it in a couple hundred kitchens.
 
chris kennedy said:
The drawbacks are with the halogen you seem to lose a couple lamps in the first week.
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Don some latex gloves and get good at handling and installing the lamp while still in its own packaging... Finger oils and other contaminants will heat differently on the lamp and cause it to fail... Even pop....
 
I have installed thousands of the NSL Xenon uc lights with maybe one or two call backs.

Don't forget to use the correct dimmer if you plan to dim.

http://www.nslusa.com/xenontask.html

Edit to add, I have used many of the Kichler lights in the post before mine. Good lights, same lamp as the NSL, but the jbox thing and cords are a bit of a drawback.
 
e57 said:
Don some latex gloves and get good at handling and installing the lamp while still in its own packaging... Finger oils and other contaminants will heat differently on the lamp and cause it to fail... Even pop....
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I never touch the lamps. But who knows what happens before you get them. When I did resi, I carried iso alcohol to touch up lamps.
 
i've been intalling some from nora lighting. i haven't done enough to really know about their durability but they seem nice. they use t12 fluorescent bulbls so there's plenty of room for connections. i had a guy show me some LED ucl's the other day. i haven't seen them in action but was told they're less bright. i may be installing some this week and should have a little more info later on.
 
Seagull

Seagull

Seagull Ambiance the way to go! Evenly light area, covered up better then most. Put them on a lutron maestro dimmer (fade on and fade off) Everyone LOVES them .Never a complaint.. People have no problem paying top dollar..
 
 
electricmanscott said:
Don't forget to use the correct dimmer if you plan to dim.
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I called the NSL tech support line and they said a regular line voltage dimmer is OK to use. Do you use a low voltage dimmer? I've installed a lot of these and never had a problem with line voltage dimmers.
 
m73214 said:
I called the NSL tech support line and they said a regular line voltage dimmer is OK to use. Do you use a low voltage dimmer? I've installed a lot of these and never had a problem with line voltage dimmers.
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Sure they said it's ok but they don't make the dimmer. Electronic tranformer...electroninc low voltage dimmer. Anything else is a violation.
 
electricmanscott said:
Sure they said it's ok but they don't make the dimmer. Electronic tranformer...electroninc low voltage dimmer. Anything else is a violation.
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it depends on the type of phase control the elv transformer uses. some elv transformers will not work on an elv dimmer. i just replied to a guy asking about this in the calculations forum.

brantmacga said:
most ELV transformers (inverters) use reverse phase control (they remove the power from the trailing edge of the sine wave. Not every ELV transformer uses reverse phase control, so check the specs! MLV's use forward phase control (just the opposite of ELV). Most (I only say most because I don't know that 100% of dimmers on the market are constructed this way) standard incandescent dimmer's use forward phase control, and are therefore compatible with MLV's.
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---- btw, someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty certain this response is accurate.
 
NSL and Quoizel are my picks. I also installed some of the xenon lights from HD the other day and they are similar to the NSL but not as nice, but they also don't use a transformer so they can be dimmed with a regular dimer.
 
i like kitchler for ease, but my favorite is the juno kind. not sure on the name or model but it has a transformer in the basement and you snap in little fixtures and push the lamps in. its like a mini track lighting setup
 
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