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Xenon light strip for undercabinet lighting?

17 years ago

My kitchen cabinets will have a light rail, but the upper cabs are different widths and much of the lighting I have seen would have to be mounted to clear the braces at the base of the cabs. (The clearance from there to the bottom of the light rail is approximately 1.5 inches.)

I don't want the light fixture to be visible, so am considering some form of light strip. Xenon Pegasus Associates Lighting has a Xenon Low Voltage Light Strip that they advertise as "perfect for all types of narrow locations". I see on the forum that some of you have used them.

Questions: Do Xenon bulbs get very hot? If so, can you suggest a fluorescent alternative that is low profile?

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

Dixie

Here is a link that might be useful: Xenon light strip

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Comments (4)

Jon1270
17 years ago
Those are the very lights I'm planning to use, if I ever find the time to finish building my upper cabs. My understanding is that xenon bulbs generate a fair bit of heat, but because they don't need a heavier glass enclosure like halogens do (halogens can explode when they fail, and have to be protected from being touched) they can be mounted out in the open like that, and the heat dissapates into the room fairly efficiently. In other words, they generate some heat but don't get terribly hot. Make sense?

Fluorescents would run cooler and cheaper, and there are some very low-profile models available.
tommyw
17 years ago
I recently installed several Xenon Line Voltage Under Cabinet Task Lights. Pegasus Associates Lighting has 4 sizes of dimmable xenon line voltage (120 volts) under cabinet task lights in 3 finishes - brushed steel, mocha bronze, and white. They provide terrific light and don't get hot at all.
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Amberlay--yes the search is definitely broken! I just received some Xenon undercabinet light bars from Pegasus. They are very nice and well priced. I went with these because they are the thinnest I could find that also contained a transformer. They have a size guide on their website. Our KD suggested 3-4 inches shorter than each cabinet, measured from the inside of the rim. I ended up with 14" for my 18" cabinets and 22" for my 27". I could have probably gone a little shorter, but they fit perfectly. I went with the bronze because I have medium cherry and wanted to hide them as well as I could. They measure 15/16" and I cannot see them--and I do not have a light rail. Hope this helps...
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I looked at many LED undercabinet lights, but the light quality is not as good as Xenon. I don't like the flat color rendition of LED and the cooler color temp. I ended up getting the stainless steel Kichler Xenon strip. The only benefit of LED, in my view, is the energy efficiency. But how long do you leave the undercabinet lights turned on every day? In our case, we don't turn it on that often so the energy savings would never pay for the extra cost. We are using LED on all of the other lights including the recessed room lights, because those will be turned on all the time.
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Have you seen this recent thread? The Kichlers Xenons that are open style strips, rather than enclosed strips, do not give off heat. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread about Undercab Xenons
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I also have the Seagull Ambiance linear lighting system and LOVE it! I did research both the Halogen and Xenon strip fixture units first and found them both to be unacceptably hot, plus were not dimmable. The Xenon linear lighting systems do not generate excessive heat because the bulbs themselves are so small and are not enclosed in a fixture case as other posters have mentioned. They use dimmable low voltage transformers and I find I use the dimmers on mine all the time. I love the ability to have a bright work light over my countertops or to have low level ambient mood lighting as the need arises. If I actually touch the bulbs with my hand they are of course hot, but the heat is not felt at all a couple inches away and does not reflect heat into my cabinets. They are exactly what I was looking for in an undercabinet lighting system.
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juliew_austin
17 years ago
tommyw, can you tell where you placed you Xenon lights? Did you center them under the cabinets or move them forward closer to the front edge. Did you put them under standard depth cabinets? How do you like the positioning you chose? Do you have a picture?

We'll be using Xenon Line Volatage under cabinet puck lighting and I've read some conflicting things about how to position them.

-juliew
svwillow1
17 years ago
tommyw, Did you hardwire the puck lights, or are they a plug in? If you hardwired them, how did you make the connections, and what did you use to cover the wires, wire nuts, etc.? Any pics of your installation?

Thanks

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