2. In-Line Switch Setup

This kitchen lighting is a plug and play system using a plug in power supply, in-line switch, two cables and two custom flex strips.

Measure available space for flex:

To build this set up you will need to first measure out the entire length of the area where the flex strip will be mounted. Once you have the full measurement you will need to subtract 3” in order to make room for the cable connectors on each side. For this project, the customer had decided to mount the flex strip along the front edge of the cabinet facing towards the backsplash in order to highlight the backsplash and help eliminate the reflection of the LED’s off of the counter top. This also allowed the customer to use one long LED strip on the right side of the sink instead of having to use two flex strips and another cable.

Dividers under cabinets:

This cabinet set had dividers underneath them that separated the cabinets. When there are dividers under the cabinets you can make a slight modification to the dividers to make installing the LED flex easier and more affordable. The two modification options are to either make a slot in these dividers for the flex to fit in or drill a 1/2” hole in them for the flex strip to slide through.

Mounting the flex strip:

Next you will want to clean the bottoms of the cabinets, where you plan on mounting the flex, with isopropyl alcohol to remove any dust or dirt. As mentioned earlier, this cabinet design had the flex mounted on the front trim facing towards the backsplash. The other common mounting option would be placing the strip 2” away from the front of the cabinet facing down on the counter top. Mounting the flex straight down would give you more task light but may cause a reflection on the counter top. A good way to decide on which mounting option you prefer is to use painters tape to hold the flex strip in place so you can see how the lights will look.

Wiring Cables:

To hide cables from being seen, you will want to drill a hole in the front bottom side corner of the cabinet so that the cable can be hidden inside, behind the stile (vertical pieces of the front frame). When using Inspired LED’s Interconnect Cables you will need a drill bit that is 3/8” in diameter for the connector to fit threw.   Once the hole is drilled, run the cable up through the inside of the cabinet behind the stile. Use Inspired LED’s Cable clamps to hold the cable in place as well as any excess cable.

For this job, the customer had to run a cable up over the sink to get to the second flex strip. There are two options when it comes to running a cable over the sink area. Both options will start by drilling a hole in the bottom front of the cabinet to hide the cable on the inside behind the stile. Then you will run the cable up to where the bottom of the cabinet above the sink is located. This is the part where you can have two options depending on your cabinet set up. If you have a trim along the front of the cabinet above the sink (such as this job), then you can simply run the cable behind the front trim so that it is hidden. A 3/8” hole will need to be drilled behind the front trim into the side cabinets next to it. If the cabinet does not have the front trim then you will need to run the cable along the inside of the cabinet above the sink. The cable can either be ran across the front inside of the cabinet going all the way to the top and back down. Or the other option would be to have the cable run to the back of the cabinet and along the wall to get to the other side. Once the cable has reached the other side of the cabinet, proceed to drill a 3/8” hole into the side cabinet just like the first hole was done.

Provide Power:

Plug in the power supply into an outlet or switched outlet if you want to control it. In this case the power supply is plugged into an extra outlet in the cabinet above the oven. Normally with a regular outlet the lights would stay on at all times. However, this customer wanted to be able to turn their lights on and off so they have decided to install an In-Line switch.

Mounting the In-Line Switch

When mounting the In-Line switch you will want to place it in the very beginning of your flex strip run in order to control all the lights. In this case, since the power supply is plugged into an outlet inside the cabinet above the oven, the switch will be mounted on the right side of the run. The switch will need to be mounted on the underside of the cabinet so that it is hidden from view behind the trim of the cabinet but also easily accessible. Be sure that the switch is mounted so that the cable inputs are facing away from the side of the cabinet. The cable inputs to the switch are interchangeable so the power supply plug can go into either option.