I installed simple single color “white” LED’s under the cabinets/island in our kitchen around ~2017. They were 12v, and using home automation to switch a smart outlet the power supply was plugged into, they came on at dusk and off at dawn. No frills. They worked, mostly. There was a short in one of the segments, the adhesive gave up the ghost along the way, and I was never totally happy with the way I’d handled power between the island and the under cabinet area. It was time to repair or replace.
Enter ADHD hyperfocus! I dove into learning all I could about LED pixels. lol I decided it was time to upgrade to addressable 5v pixel strips in place of the ‘dumb’ 12v strips I had. This would allow me to produce the same/similar “white” for basic use but also add color, motion, effects, possibly music reactive…the possibilities are limited only by budget and imagination.
I tackled the island first. I selected 5v WS2812B RGB pixel strip. I sourced a spool from BTF Lighting, a well known brand on Amazon; and another from a cheaper brand “Sinbrilgt”. Both 5 meters or 16.4 feet.
Measuring a pathway to wrap around three corners underneath the island countertop I determined I could fit 191 pixels worth of strip total, broken into seven segments.
I cut, scuffed, and pre-tinned the solder pads on each end of each cut segment on the bench to simplify installation.
Using tape to temporarily rough in the segments I began the arduous task of soldering…upside down. On my back, careful to sit slightly off from the overhead work in case hot solder fell which is almost inevitable, I ultimately made up all the segments and installed them in their final positions as I finished each.
Learned a lesson here. The less expensive “Sinbrilgt” brand strip has performed flawlessly to date since installation, however the adhesive that came on the strip has already started to come loose in some spots. I used 3M VHB tape between the strip and the countertop, but I didn’t remove the original adhesive that came attached to the strip. For the under cabinet portion I’ll be sure to remove the factory tape in lieu of the much stronger VHB tape.
Once all connections were made I ran a pair of 18awg wires (red/black) to either end of the run (opposite corners of the island) back to the center point where the power supply would be mounted near the outlet. This power injection ensures that the voltage drop from one end to the other doesn’t detract from any color/brightness I should desire. There are sites that will help you calculate every aspect of this from the points at which to “inject” power along the strip, to what size wire to use, to what the anticipated voltage drop would be at different points along, etc.
Control is handled by WLED software flashed to an ESP32 (for the island) and ESP8266 (for the under cabinet lighting). The original 12v strips had been powered by a common 12v 6a power supply for both sections and subsequently switched on/off all at the same time. The new installation would utilize separate smaller 5v 18a power supplies, and a unique controller for each. They can be ‘combined’ or synced through the software so I no longer require a physical path between the two. They say no man is an island…but this man’s island can now light up with OR separately from the cabinets…sorry, the dad jokes just show up. I’m no happier about it than anyone else, but I dye grass.
So there it was, the first ‘half’ was done and I had a plan for the next bit. Had to order some more VHB tape, another power supply and wait long enough to forget how much I hate soldering upside down – but ultimately I’ll tackle the under cabinet lighting next…in good time lol
Fast forward to August 15, 2023, I had worked a few evenings getting the strips prepared and roughed in for the under cabinet portion of the project. In much the same way as with the island I wired each section to the next then applied VHB tape and complete the installation. One key difference with the under cabinet lights was the two longer three conductor cable runs required to ‘jump’ over the sink and stove respectively. Initial installation started with power injection strictly in the ~middle of the strip and while this worked it’s clear end point power injection is likely necessary to address some fluttering at full brightness (white). The controller was placed on the far end nearest the islands ‘end’ point such that any animations will hopefully flow well from the end of one to the beginning of another in a big loop.
Have to admit another goof/learning moment here: I was so excited to test out my theory of mid span power injection that when I wired the power supply up and plugged it in – nothing, zip, zilch, nada…but how? Why?! Broke out the multimeter to check along the length of the strip and found 5V give or take a tenth at the end points. Ok so I’m getting power where I should. Pulled one of the other breadboard circuits I’d built to compare and realized I’d never run traces to power the esp8266 from the rails. smh Quick fix and the moment of truth…drumroll please…IT WORKS!! My back says I’m done for the night so I tidied my tools and cleaned up. Will need to revisit some wire management as well as the end point power injection, but everything functions as expected/intended!
Leave a Reply