Replacing under kitchen unit lighting.

[sneakers]

I currently have fluorescent tube lights under 2 kitchen wall cabinets (on the same wall separated by the cooker in the middle). Both sets of tubes plus the cooker hood extractor fan and light are powered from a switched, fused spur mounted on the wall. As far as I can tell the fused spur wiring terminates on top of one of the wall cabinets just below the ceiling into a choc block inside a plastic box where its distributes 3 ways, to the cooker hood and down to both sets of tube lights. The tube lights have their own switches integrated in which we use to turn them on and off.

The tubes apparently are an odd size so finding replacements is expensive, I would like to replace these with LED strips. I have bought a roll of 5 metres which will be cut in 2 and stuck under the cabinets and an LED driver http://amzn.eu/dNhNvxb to power them which will be placed on top of the cabinet and powered from the distribution block. The existing 2 core wiring currently powering the tubes will be wired into the DC side of the driver instead.

My question is how can I independently turn the LED strips on and off without using the switch on the fused spur as sometimes it would be nice to use the extractor fan without turning on all the lights? I have read that it is unwise to have the LED driver powered on permanently.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Depends on the LED supply. Some of them are actually designed to be on all of the time because they use a wired or wireless connection to a controller which turns the strip on/off, dims it, changes the colour, etc. Check with the makers of the ones you are considering if it's OK to have it on all the time, and also to run it unloaded. Bear in mind you'll need switches which can handle DC at quite high currents - domestic light switches probably won't do. Rewiring the mains side would be much better.

A couple of other things:

stuck under the cabinets

It's almost certain that in a kitchen the glue will fail. Use mechanical fixings. Some companies sell aluminium strips with diffusers for this purpose.

and an LED driver http://amzn.eu/dNhNvxb to power them

Do not use that -

1. It is not meant to be left just lying on top of a cupboard - it must be placed inside a case of some sort, and the cables restrained. It's actually a power supply meant to go inside equipment.
2. The seller is Chinese.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Can anybody find the topic where the problems of using this sort of PSU have already been discussed?

 

[stillp]

Do not use that -

And it's 220V.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

But it must be OK on any CENELEC harmonised voltage supply, as it's CE marked.

 

[rsgaz]

Can anybody find the topic where the problems of using this sort of PSU have already been discussed?

This one?...

//www.diynot.com/diy/threads/kitchen-led-strip-lighting.432354/

I'm sure there was another one where they had photographed their own work and insisted it was safe, because it was behind the plinth or something like that.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

This one?...

//www.diynot.com/diy/threads/kitchen-led-strip-lighting.432354/

That's the one.

I'm sure there was another one where they had photographed their own work and insisted it was safe, because it was behind the plinth or something like that.

There are none so blind as those who have screwed up through ignorance and do not want to know that.