Under Cabinet Puck/task lighting

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electricguy

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British Columbia Canada
I have never installed these , I was hoping to place 2 lights under each section of cabinets. about 24 inches per counter. there is 3 areas to light. Do I rough in the wire at the end of cabinet, and there is a 2 inch Valance to hide the stuff. Are the transformers small enough not to be seen under the cabinet , and are they directly wired with romex on the primary.
Thanks for any info.
 
electricguy said:
... there is a 2 inch Valance to hide the stuff.
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You lucky dog! With that much space, I'd look at fluorescents. You might use this opportunity to temporarily mount one of each kind you're looking at, and comparing the light outputs.

You need to see the equipment, figure out how it needs to be wired electrically, then how to accomplish that physically. Come to think of it, that describes just about every electrical job, doesn't it? ;)

Who's picking out the equipment, how is it to be supplied (electrically and physically, i.e., in-wall), and how are they to be switched or dimmed (together or individually)?
 
electricguy said:
I have never installed these , I was hoping to place 2 lights under each section of cabinets. about 24 inches per counter. there is 3 areas to light. Do I rough in the wire at the end of cabinet, and there is a 2 inch Valance to hide the stuff. Are the transformers small enough not to be seen under the cabinet , and are they directly wired with romex on the primary.
Thanks for any info.
Click to expand...

wac makes some nice puck type fixtures . look at thier catalogue. figure single wire feeds into each fixture to a central xformer location. nuff said.
 
electricguy said:
I have never installed these , I was hoping to place 2 lights under each section of cabinets. about 24 inches per counter. there is 3 areas to light. Do I rough in the wire at the end of cabinet, and there is a 2 inch Valance to hide the stuff. Are the transformers small enough not to be seen under the cabinet , and are they directly wired with romex on the primary.
Thanks for any info.
Click to expand...

A valance will hide nothing no matter how big it is. You need a false bottom if you want this to look good. A false bottom with recessed WAC button lights will look pretty slick. You are much better off with a fixture that has everything contained within.

Look at NSL lighting. They make a variety of quality Xenon fixtures at reasonable prices.

Most people hate fluorescent and rightfully so. The light output is ugly as sin..
 
goldstar said:
Stopped using puck lights a long time ago. Can't hide splices neatly, halogen lights get so hot the puck light sockets burn up, hiding the xfmr always poses a problem, can't use landscape wire inside walls, etc. I've been using these Kitchler UC lights w/ xenon bulbs. They work great http://www.lampsplus.com/Products/1...e-Direct-Wire-Under-Cabinet-Light__77914.html
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I agree ,.. I have four WAC pucks in my house 10 years later and not a one of them works.... I also have installed several of those Kitchler lights . they are easy to install and the light out put is good as well.

Kitchler also makes an LED version ,..very good color rendition .. too many components for my liking

file_63.jpg
 
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Dennis Alwon said:
I thought you were talking about concealing the wires that feed the puck lights behind a false bottom. I was also assuming these were low voltage lights. Am I wrong?
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No, you are correct. The lights would be fed with NM from a remote mount transformer.
 
Most puck lights come with a six foot cord attached to them. This is usually long enough to reach to the top of the cabinet above , and that is a better place to put the j-box and transformer if you can. If there is no chase between cabinets to run the lv cord up between, you can go up thru the cabinets and cover the cables with a product called nice duct, which is a hinged plastic raceway that you glue to the cabinet. I have not had the same problems as others seem to have with pucks, but they certainly are a pain in the rear to install.
 
These are the last ones I did. They were cord connected, with 3 lights per cord. Receptacle inside the upper cabinet. Purchased by the homeowner.

0828091552.jpg
 
electricmanscott said:
I am more of the mindest that the requirement is for the wiring method in respect to the type of wiring vs the installation requirements for the wiring method selected.
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Yeah, I don't really see a probem but I think the code is clear on it- at least to me. Our local inspectors would have you see it my way or you would get red tagged.:grin:
 
http://s700.photobucket.com/albums/ww7/nhbaskets/?action=view&current=IMG_0049.jpg

Seagull Ambiance

This is the only thing we've been using for under the cabinet lights lately. I never liked the cone of light from puck lights, and fluorescent is fluorescent. This stuff will put a lot of well spread light out and can be dimmed if you dim the line side of the transformer. It washes the area with light. We space it up to 10w per 12" and in glass front cabinets we put a lamp on each side of each shelf, plus sometimes at least 1 lamp at the top. If the inside of the cabinet is blacked keep in mind it will absorb an awful lot of light. This is a Googled pic and not my install. The transformer has to be remote and they sell romex connectors that I put right where it exits the wall.

I tried to Google picks of the inside of cabinets with it in it and couldn?t find any. I?ll try to get some good pics of my Mom?s kitchen after the counter top is installed next week.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Yeah, I don't really see a probem but I think the code is clear on it- at least to me. Our local inspectors would have you see it my way or you would get red tagged.:grin:
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There are a bunch of lv lights that would be unuseable. Not just pucks but various recessed types. They have leads that you would splice to NM or whatever the wiring type and install in a ceiling.
 
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