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Lighting Kitchens

Adding a switch to existing under-cabinet lighting

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

I bought a house that came with hardwired under-cabinet lighting connected to a wall switch that's too far. The wire goes from under cabinet to behind the backsplash, follows along under the sink (where the driver is) and arrives at the switch some 10ft away. It is likely stapled in various places so I cannot rip it out easily.

The most practical solution (or so I thought) is to cut the wire right before the light strip and splice in a second switch. I can then leave the wall switch on all the time and use the under cabinet switch to control it. I have been Googling for two days and I can't find any helpful discussions/instructions on doing something like this. Every tutorial/article assumes I am starting from scratch.

I would prefer to have a motion activated switch (not a timer; wave for on, wave again for off) but a button switch would do as well. The only setup that shows multiple components wired together is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq8LQO2fq1Q but the guy doesn't say what the components are or where he bought them.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

The driver under the sink:

Where I am trying to splice the wire:

Featured Answer

Gizli Gizli
Original Author

3 years ago

@wdccruise Thanks! You gave me an idea.

The whole point of doing this is to allow hands-free turning on of the under-cabinet lights. I decided to buy a smart switch like a Leviton D215S-2RW and control it via Google/Alexa. That will work just fine :).

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Comments (9)

PRO
User
3 years ago
Bring in an electrician. Its not that straightforward. Where is the driver located? That’s where the power goes first.
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Gizli Gizli
Original Author
3 years ago
There's a metal junction box under the sink with two sets of wires same gauge as the one going into the LED strips. I am guessing that's the driver. Is it bad to always send current to the driver?
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Absolutely NO! General lighting should be on a different switch than task lighting and accent lighting. You want the over the sink lighting on one switch, for those late night visits where you only want one light to come on. The under cabinet lighting should be on another switch. That’s especially important for functionality and scene setting. The general kitchen lighting and general dining lighting should be on two separate circuits. And please reconsider your kitchen plans. No tall object should ever interrupt a run of counter space. The refrigerator is in a very bad location and should be moved elsewhere. I would suggest shortening the peninsula and placing it across from there.
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PRO
User
3 years ago
Hire the electrician. The driver must be powered. You can’t bypass the driver. You're not dealing with line voltage here. That's a quick way to a fire. The wire path does not sound straightforward at all.
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Gizli Gizli
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks for making me think through this. I opened up the metal junction box and the driver is indeed there. I posted a couple of pictures to the original post to better illustrate the issue.

I am not going to bypass the driver at all. I was thinking of simply cutting the wire that goes into the LED strip (picture 2) which comes from the driver and then wiring in a button switch that is rated for 5A (Driver out is 12v 60w DC).

If you still think I need to hire an electrician, I will give up and buy a separate motion light that can be attached under the cabinet much cheaper than spending $300+ to fix this design problem.
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Gizli Gizli
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks @User. That's exactly why I don't want a timer on the sensor but good luck finding it. Every motion sensor I have found has a built-in timer. I am looking at toggle switches instead (like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-8-Amp-Single-Pole-Toggle-Switch-1-Pack-GSW-18/100141285#overlay).
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wdccruise
3 years ago
Try this first: Replace the wall switch with a Lutron Maestro MS-OPS2H ($20) motion sensor. I have one of these sensors in my kitchen and several hallways. These sensors have adjustable timers (and adjustable sensitivity) but do not turn off unless there is no motion at all.

The only reason this wouldn't work is if the kitchen were laid out such that the motion sensor couldn't "see" everywhere a person might be standing or sitting in the kitchen. I have a galley kitchen and the motion sensor is positioned at one end so it works perfectly for me.
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wdccruise
3 years ago
"I decided to buy a smart switch like a Leviton D215S-2RW"

Are you planning to replace the wall switch with this? If so, the electrical box must contain the neutral wire, not just the "hot" wire. That is often not the case.
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Gizli Gizli
Original Author
3 years ago
Yeah, I saw that nearly all such switches require the neutral wire so I double checked that the box has one.
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