Controlling Under-Cabinet Lighting

[jeport]

I have several "hockey puck" style, low-wattage under-cabinet lighting that I installed in my kitchen (looks very nice, BTW). Afterwards, I purchased (pre-HA) a small touch sensor that I located under the cabinet as well. I want to get rid of this touch switch and replace it with something "X-10". The problem is that space is extremely limited (this outlet is behind a cabinet that houses sliding shelves), and installing an appliance outlet isn't an option (can't dim and the clicking would drive the wife crazy!). Is it possible to hard wire a Leviton dimmer in-line with the existing outlet to controll the lights? My thought would be to change the single electrical box to a double gang, and then install the Leviton dimmer next to the existing outlet. Nothing else could ever be plugged into this outlet. This would make everything fairly flush and not compete with the sliding shelves for space.

This sounds like a simple task; however, sometimes the "simple" tasks usually have something evil behind them (I am a firm believer in Murphy's Law )

Thanks in advance!
Jim

[electron]

inline module might work, not sure if they can dim tho. Do you have a link to your lights? I want to do the same thing (using appliance modules), and I bought a few xmas light strands, and it looks great on top of the cabinet, but I don't have much space underneath, so hiding these lights is going to be harder.

[BraveSirRobbin]

You could use something like this (rated for low voltage lighting):
http://www.smarthome.com/2384.html
This could be wired to the lights directly (watch your total wattage).

[Rupp]

Can these be dimmed? I thought not. If dimming is not an option then one of these would work:

http://www.automatedoutlet.com/html/plugs_0.html

I beleve it still has a click though.

-Rupp



{{{{{{{{{{ Remember the reason for the season }}}}}}}}}}

[ajgriglak]

I used the Easy Light Halogen, made by Good Earth Lighting, that I got at Lowe's. It's very cheap (compared to the other under-cabinet alternatives) and easy to install. You can put the fixtures anywhere along the regular lamp cord. The cord staples up easily. I have the entire run coming off of one outlet plug, which I simply put into a lamp module that is sittting on top of my fridge. I drilled small holes in the cabinets to run the wire from one section to the other.

I also put a rope light above the cabinets. I highly recommend this - it's very cheap, easy and looks awesome! This is also plugged into a lamp module. I got the cheap kind that you can't cut to size, but I simply wrapped the extra length with electrical tape.

Both setups are dimmable, and I have different 'scenes' set up. It really looks like a system that cost three or four times what I paid. Every guest remarks on how awesome the kitchen looks when I have the regular lights, the over- and under-cabinets lights all dimmed to a 'mid' level.

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-=A.J. Griglak

[MPodlin]

jeport,

If you have room inside the electrical box, install an inline lamp module (these can dim). If you don't have room, expanding the box to a double gang and putting a switch in place along side the outlet will work well too. This option also gives you local control of the lights with the wall switch.

In either case, if there is only one plug for the lights, I would split the outlet and hook the lighting control to one outlet and hook the other one to the powerline for non-control items.

The Pod

[jeport]

Those can not dim. Think I'll try the inline dimmer as recommended above. A lamp module would work perfectly, however, space is limited and my sliding shelves would not be able to close completely.

I'm not worried about wattage, there is already a small transformer in place. I will just be regulating the wattage to the transformer.

Thanks for all the help.

[Blade]

Do you have a picture of the rope lights? I would love to see how it looks.

Cheers,
Bob

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[shersh]

Are your puck light low voltage or line voltage? If they are line voltage you can use any lamp module. If they are low voltage then you need to know what sort of transformer is used. I do not know of any manufacturer that claims to be able to dim electronic transformers. Magnetic transformers are an inductive load and can be dimmed by several manufacturers wall box devices.

My kitchen undercabinet is low voltage with transformers in the basement powered by a compose LV wall switch. Getting the transformers out of the cabinets eliminated the unintentional plate warmer effect.

[ajgriglak]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Do you have a picture of the rope lights? I would love to see how it looks.

Cheers,
Bob
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I will take some pictures tonight - wouldn't be too impressive during the day.

That rope lighting is awesome. I also put some up around my deck (might as well take a pic of that too ;-), and I have plans to conceal some behind a cove molding about 4-8" from the ceiling in the dining room.

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-=A.J. Griglak

[ajgriglak]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by shersh:
Are your puck light low voltage or line voltage? If they are line voltage you can use any lamp module. If they are low voltage then you need to know what sort of transformer is used. I do not know of any manufacturer that claims to be able to dim electronic transformers. Magnetic transformers are an inductive load and can be dimmed by several manufacturers wall box devices.

My kitchen undercabinet is low voltage with transformers in the basement powered by a compose LV wall switch. Getting the transformers out of the cabinets eliminated the unintentional plate warmer effect.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That's precisely all the crap I wanted to avoid, and why I went with the setup I did.



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-=A.J. Griglak

[Rupp]

I just bought some of the rope light at Sam's and it cam with 2. One of them I put around my screened in porch. I have the other strand hanging in the garage because I couldn't come up with an idea of where to use it. Now I know. Thanks for the idea.

One question. Can you see the rope lights or just the effects of the light.

-Rupp



{{{{{{{{{{ Remember the reason for the season }}}}}}}}}}

[huggy591]

I have rope lights around the screen surrounding the pool - makes a great low-lighting effect and its perfect for the patio/pool area at night, snf they are dimmable.though I don't use them that way.

- Gordon

"Remember the days when you could go into a store and ask the store manager when something they were out of was coming in? Whatever happened to that? Store managers these days only know that 'corporate' is sending a truck next Tuesday. They have no idea what's on it... What a way to do business."

[ajgriglak]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rupp:

One question. Can you see the rope lights or just the effects of the light.

-Rupp
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Wait for my picture tonight... You can tell that it's not a continuous light source, but you can't see the individual bulbs as you can when looking directly at the rope light.

(A picture will be worth a thousand words...)

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-=A.J. Griglak

[Rupp]

-Rupp



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