In floor path lighting

[Ranger Digital]

I made a custom stairway handrail that has a groove in the bottom to accept rope lighting. This provides an excellent way to light a staircase. The lights themself are not visible, but the stair treads are nicely lighted. Couple this with a motion sensor at the top or bottom of the staricase and you have a very nice system.

Steve Q

Steve, star beside your name today!

 

[Ranger Digital]

beez, 400 for what?????! to run a switch to an under cabinet light? RIP OFF!

 

[beelzerob]

beez, 400 for what?????! to run a switch to an under cabinet light? RIP OFF!

Well, it was lights under all cabinets, and they were in 3 distinct groups (separated by windows)....but it started off about $300+ for a low voltage system, and then I discovered that it didn't even include installation, which was going to run well over $150....so we asked about a regular voltage under cabinet lighting system, and it just got ridiculous. So we decided we'd do it ourselves when we wanted to.

Most all costs I incurred during this construction were reasonable....what they wanted for undercabinet wasn't.

 

[felixrosbergen]

beelzerob...

any plans to update the showcase??

 

[beelzerob]

beelzerob...

any plans to update the showcase??

Are you referring to the wiring thread?

 

[Ranger Digital]

beez, sorry, I still dont get it. The electrician should simply tell you its about 30 bucks worth of materials and less than an hour of time. Sounds like a builder snow job to me. But given you said most changes have been reasonable, its likely I am not seeing a bigger picture.

 

[beelzerob]

beez, sorry, I still dont get it. The electrician should simply tell you its about 30 bucks worth of materials and less than an hour of time. Sounds like a builder snow job to me. But given you said most changes have been reasonable, its likely I am not seeing a bigger picture.

Well, I can't explain it much. I dont blame the builder, we're building a custom home, so they have no secret pricing on "upgrades" like big-builder homes do...they just ask the subcontractor how much and then pass that on to us.

And like I said, most things were reasonable....but this was just one of those weird ones we easily did without.

 

[electron]

Rope lighting rocks! It's very easy to use, and most of them can be dimmed as well. Here is a pic of my setup:



Speaking of, just spotted this article by accident:

http://www.livescience.com/technology/080325-rug-lights.html

 

[beelzerob]

Rope lighting rocks! It's very easy to use, and most of them can be dimmed as well. Here is a pic of my setup:

That does look great! The link up above for rope lighting did indicate it could be dimmed. Did you install yours yourself? Was it very hard? It doesn't seem like it would be.

 

[electron]

Very easy, I just used some staples and zipties to mount this. Here are some more pics:



I use an UPB appliance module to control these. They come on around sunset, and turn off when the house is put into sleep mode. They also come on at night (50%) whenever there is motion.

 

[aehusted]

I am just trying to plan out a bunch of things I want to put in my next house and I thought it would be cool to install movie theater style in floor track lighting in the halls. I figure with today's technology LED would be the way to go but I haven't found anything readily available. Does anyone have any input on this type of product and specifics if you have used it?

LEDs are on my project list for (much) later as well. Here are some links that I saved a while back while looking into this. I was figuring that if they are hidden under the cabinets, I don't need anything pretty. The problem of dimming and automating them is going to involve more work or some sacrifices, but who knows when I will actually get around to re-doing the kitchen....

 

[beelzerob]

We could take this to another thread if needed, unless this still remains kind of ontopic....

So, the light you have there...where did you get it, and was it a custom length, just enough to fit under the cabinet? How did you cut the groove inbetween the cabinets, just a basic handsaw? Seems perfect for a router, but a bit unwieldy cutting up like that.

Part of my issue is my power outlet for these is ABOVE the cabinets...so I'll either have to work a power cord down inside the cabinet, or else try to fish a wire down inside the wall behind 'em. Not sure which I'd rather do there.... Anyone else run wire from top to bottom of cabinets?

Geez, that looks so good, maybe I won't wait to get started on this, especially since the material costs seem so low.

 

[electron]

Got it from Home Depot, they had it on clearance for a few bucks (they have these sales all the time). It wasn't a custom length, it's not a perfect fit, but you can't tell. I don't remember how I cut it, I think I might have drilled a hole, then used a chisel to open it up like that.

I actually reran the power to a top cabinet outlet myself. Some of the cabinets have a little space in between them (you have to look from underneath, since the trim is all nicely connected), so I ran the wire through that space towards the top of my cabinets, then drilled hole in top of the cabinet that had the outlet (cabinet above the microwave area). I have rope lighting mounted on top of the cabinets as well, so I needed to drill that hole in the top cabinet anyways.

I am thinking of using rope lighting in my stairs area as well, but it is kind of bulky for that application. Since I want to do my hallways too, I figured I would go the LED route for those applications, but it takes some good planning.