American Lighting sent me 50 feet of their Trulux High Output COB Tape Light to save me from harsh and hot kitchen under-cabinet festoon bulbs
Is it me or have things been getting darker and darker lately? Don’t answer that. My own kitchen under-cabinet lighting deserved an upgrade after its 15-year-plus stint bathing my granite countertops with harsh light produced by house-fire-waiting-to-happen festoon bulbs offering 15% light and 85% heat. I guess they doubled as an ersatz warming lamp, so I shouldn’t complain. Though they did also agnostically “warm” all things underneath them, including birthday cakes, ice cream, and donuts. Thankfully, the folks at American Lighting were kind enough to send me 50 feet of their Trulux High Output COB Tape Light to save the day.
Unboxing the American Lighting Trulux COB Tape Light
The Trulux High Output COB Tape Light arrived in an installer-friendly Ziploc bag that I opened to reveal the tape light on a reel, various connectors, and a quick start guide. The LED transformer shipped in a white cardboard box cocooned in foam. Both products appear squarely aimed at the busy installer looking to get the job done quickly with minimal waste. The fact that they’re helping to save the planet along the way doesn’t hurt either.
Installation
I pulled down the old lighting and prepped the surface for the new tape. The tape itself is “self-diffused” with a phosphor coating covering more than 90 CRI LEDs nestled closely together. The end result is a seamless line, which is a huge departure from the “dots” one is used to seeing with LED tape lighting.
The back of the tape is covered with 3M adhesive (you know, the good stuff). I’ve used 3M double sided tape in the past and my experience is that it doesn’t come off (sometimes even when you want it to). I toyed around with the idea of installing the lighting with the included extruded metal channel and frosted diffuser but the more I read, the more I became convinced for once that the easy thing and the right thing were the same this time.
I began unrolling the tape and peeling back the red plastic adhesive to expose the sticky back. The tape went on without a hitch and soon I had installed 10 feet of the stuff within two minutes. Not bad!
Next came power. The process appeared fairly straightforward since it involved swapping out old parts for new, 1 to 1. The included transformer requires the breaker to be shut off and the two sides (input and output) wired to their respective terminals. Since the old transformer wired the exact same way, installation was a breeze. I was even able to re-use the 2-conductor cable running from the transformer to the first run of LED tape.
I stripped back the low voltage 2-conductor cable and wire nutted it to the included adapter. The tape light comes with a bare wire adapter pigtailed to one end, so that became the leading edge of the installation. I arrived at the end of the first 10-foot run and crimped on another adapter and wire nutted it to the bare wire jumper over to the next three-foot run. So far so good. Another three-foot strip, and I was done.
Now the moment of truth came. I turned the circuit breaker back on and tapped the light switch on. A soft warm glow began emanating from underneath the cabinets. I was immediately struck by how consistent and steady the light quality was. No more hot spots!
Final Report
American Lighting Trulux High Output COB Tape Lighting does a great job in both new and retrofit projects. Installation couldn’t have been any easier, and we’ll be adding their products to our line card inside my integration business. The lighting isn’t cheap at around $200 per reel, but you get what you pay for. Life’s too short to live with lousy light quality. Run, do not walk, to your nearest electrical vendor and get some today!
RTT Podcast #100: How David Warfel Made Professional Home Lighting Design More Attainable
