Re: Need kitchen undercabinet dimmable light ideas

["John J. Bengii" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have the standard  halogen bulbs (two in a fixture) under the dark
part of my kitchen counter cabinets. I have these run off a motion
detector with a remote, coily cord, sensor. I have tucked the sensor
behind the fridge so it only sees straight down the counter in use.
This works perfectly and never cuts out as long as you are standing in
front of the 24 x 24 inch cutting board. It shuts off within about 15
seconds of walking away. It must be possitioned so that forward and
backward motion of the person cuts the lines of vision of the sensor.

A word of warning. Undercabinet/counter lights do not work well if you
have shiny backsplash material. The glare will make it harder to see
the item you are working on. You need a matt/dull work surface and a
dull backsplash/wall.

"Ron" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:rdadnfjDX5dShPranZ2dnUVZ_gSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Folks -
>
> I'm redoing my kitchen and I want to add undercabinet lighting
> (which I don't have right now). It needs to be able to be controlled
> by X-10 (or otherwise via my HomeVision automation system. I'd like
> the lights to be dimmable, so I can include them in scenes.
>
> Here's my problem:
> 1) the most popular undercabinet lights - florescent - don't dim,
> and are potential X-10 noise sources (at least that's my somewhat
> dated understanding).
>
> 2) 12v Halogens don't dim well, I believe, and ar probably hot.
>
> 3) 120v xenon lights DO dim, but they are HOT. I bought one to try
> out in my old kitchen and the inside of the kitchen cabinet gets
> really hot (not just a little warm). I wouldn't want to put anything
> sensitive to heat in the cabinets if I used these. That pretty much
> rules them out too.
>
> 4) The LED lighting I've seen so far is not bright enough for task
> lighting need in the kitchen; but then again, I haven't seen too
> many of these yet.
>
> Not sure what options I have left? Any Ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ron