These High Brightness LED under cabinet bars from MaxLite offer two major advantages over most LED undercabinet bars:
- They are "self-driven," which means you can connect them directly to 120 Volts AC. They do not require discrete drivers, which step down and rectify 120 Volts AC to a lower DC voltage, required by LEDs. Therefore, installation is simpler.
- They are dimmable, using specific dimmers we recommend below.
We recommend warm white over daylight white and 33 LEDs over 18 or 12. If in doubt, get
Self-Driven Dimmable Under Cabinet Light, 33 LEDs, 12 inch Warm White.
- Daylight White (5000°K).
- 33 LEDs.
- 200 lumens.
- 60.6 lumens/watt efficacy.
- Ultrabright, extremely efficient LED lights are economical and maintenance-free.
- 75/110/200 lumens for the 12/18/33 LED bars. For comparison, a 60 watt incandescent bulb generates around 650 lumens, but it cannot be used effectively for under cabinet lighting because it is not directional. The 33 LED under cabinet bars generate the requisite 30-70 footcandles at the work plane if used in lines of 12 inches or longer. Use jumpers to add additional lights if extra brightness is required.
- 70 Color Rendering Index.
- LEDs are directional, unlike fluorescent and halogen lighting. That means the light shines where you aim it (typically down,) delivering most of the flux to the work surface. Fluorescent and halogen lights have very poor "fixture efficiency" of around 50-60% in most cases, which means half of their lumens are lost in the fixture and are not delivered to the work surface. Therefore, LEDs typically need only half as many lumens as fluorescent sources to get the job done for directional lighting applications such as under cabinet lighting.
- Extremely easy to install because they’re linkable and come with 2 mounting brackets that require just a screw driver and a small hole to install. The branch length limit is 50 bars. (Do not link more than 50 bars end-to-end.)
- Strip width is 0.8 inches-very narrow, and suitable for tight spaces.
- Strip height is 0.85 inches. It’s low-profile and hides under most cabinet fronts, unlike bulkier LED and fluorescent fixtures.
- 1 bar joiner and 1 short connector cord are included with each bar.
- Line voltage system is easy to wire. Just connect to a switch or recommended dimmer.
- -40° F to 110° F operating range.
- Shock resistant, rugged and durable.
- No UV generated, so it’s safe for humans and objects, in general. Great for museums, displaying documents, artwork and other UV-sensitive subjects.
- No mercury to contaminate the environment upon disposal, unlike fluorescents.
- Energy-efficient-saves around 85-90% versus incandescent light.
- No radio frequency interference.
- No buzzing noise.
- No flickering.
- Instant on.
- Lights have up to 50,000 hour lifetime, if properly driven and heat is allowed to escape.
- California Title 24 compliant.
- 5 year warranty from MaxLite.
Dimming notes: Highly recommended: LED/CFL dimmers. Be sure you adjust the low-end trim control to remove undesired behavior when using Lutron Diva (DVCL-153P) or Skylark Contour (CTCL-153P). We saw 1%/8% (measured/perceived) in our tests of the Diva, but the Skylark Contour flickered under 13%. It's easy to prevent the bar from going that low by adjusting the low end trim control on the dimmer. Lutron Credenza plug-in lamp dimmer (TTCL-100H) has no low-end trim, and will dim the bar to around 6%/25%.
For wireless control dimming, the Lutron Maestro (MRF2-6ELV-120) is outstanding at 0%/7%, but you will need the neutral wire in the gang box for it to work. The other Electronic Low Voltage dimmers we tried worked extremely well at 0%/6% or so, but the LED/CFL dimmers cost less and don't require a neutral wire. Magnetic dimmers generally don't work with this bar.