I purchased these lights to replace an old fluorescent light in my pantry that was on a light switch. I'm not an electrician or really much of a DIY'er, but for some reason wanted to do this by myself and found just enough info online to give me confidence. Our pantry has 4 L-shaped shelves. I cut the 16ft4in piece of LED lights into 9 sections, if you do the math then each is just under 22" long (one for each shelf ledge plus one to run along the top of the door). I used this transformer (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DKSI0S8?redirect=true&ref_=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_3)...you need this to reduce the house electricity down to 12V for these LED lights or else you blow them out. To hard wire it, I cut off the plug from the transformer, separated the blue and brown wires and stripped enough to connect them to the wires from the wall where the old light was (blue to white, brown to black)...turn off power to your light obviously first in order to work with these live wires. I just used double sided tape to stick the transformer box to the wall. Then I started connecting the LED strips, starting from on top of the door to underneath the top shelf and working my way across and down (serpentine). I used these 3ft connectors (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KPW2IK?redirect=true&ref_=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_4) to reach from one shelf to the next, plus similar 6in connectors to span the corner of each L-shaped shelf. The trickiest part was actually using a razor blade to clear off the waterproof covering on the LED strip to expose each connector on the cut end of the LED strip (on each side of the LED strip x 9 strips!)...its the only way to get them into the connectors...and they are touchy! I thought many times I had a bad connector only to try and try again to clean up the ends until I got a good connection.
Now the fanciest part of this project: I used this magnetic switch (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KPW2IK?redirect=true&ref_=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_4) to wire it so the lights come on when the pantry door opens and turn off when the door shuts. To wire this, I cut the wire between the transformer box and the LED strip. I separated the red and black wires and striped them to make them ready for connecting. I just reconnected the red wires off the bat (you only need to mess with the black wire so if you can cut the cable without cutting the red wires, even better, but I don't know how you'd do that). Actually, polarity doesn't matter with this switch because its all about disrupting the circuit, so you can choose to reverse what I just said about red and black, and it still works. Either way, I had the cut ends of the black wire...the black wire coming from the transformer side got connected to the COM port of the magnetic switch, and the black wire from the LED side got connected to the NC port on the magnetic switch. This frustrated me immensely initially because my first switch was bad and I didn't know it right away...returned to Amazon, got the replacement...two days later I completed the project with a new functional switch. The wired side of the magnetic switch is mounted on the top of the door frame and the other side is mounted to the door itself....when the door opens and the two parts are then separated, the switch is activated and the lights come on.
The finished product looks and works great. Lots of bright light in the pantry and the light is no longer accidently left on all day.
| Color | Daylight White |
|---|---|
| Brand | Lepro |
| Indoor/Outdoor Usage | Outdoor, Indoor |
| Special Feature | Waterproof |
| Light Source Type | LED |
| Power Source | Battery Powered |
| Light Color | White |
| Theme | Holidays |
| Occasion | Christmas |
| Style | Modern |
| Number of Light Sources | 300 |
| Voltage | 12 Volts |
| Wattage | 18 watts |
| Item Weight | 0.31 Pounds |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Item dimensions L x W x H | 196.85 x 0.31 x 0.08 inches |
| Control Method | App |
| Water Resistance Level | Waterproof |
| Number of Batteries | 2 A batteries required. |
| Manufacturer | LE Lepro |
| Part Number | 4100058-DW |
| Item Weight | 5 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 196.85 x 0.31 x 0.08 inches |
| Item model number | 4100058-DW |
| Batteries | 2 A batteries required. |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | 1 Pack |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Luminous Flux | 1200 Lumen |
| Number Of Holes | 1 |
| Special Features | Waterproof |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
