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We have led strips in the kitchen, on the top and bottom of the wall units which give enough light to mean we don't use the "big lights."
They were fitted a couple of years ago by a local electrician. They run off the mains and have transformers sat on the top of the cupboards.
The top light on one cupboard has gone a bit yellow, and the corresponding lower strip has dimmed.
Bearing in mind have no electrical skills, what's the best course of action? Just phone the guy who fit them? I have a feeling he's not self employed anymore and getting someone round to check them will probably be impossible, we've struggled to find electricions round here before.
There's doesn't appear to be anything loose at least.
When you say transformers, are there several? Do the two lights that are playing up share a transformer? That's an easy thing to swap, about the same as wiring a plug. You could swap light fittings and transformers and see if the problem moves with the transformer or stays with the light. Then replace the faulty part. Just make sure the power is isolated when doing the swapping
Have you checked they are clean, stuff gets really greasy in a kitchen and then the dust sticks to it.
Have you checked they are clean, stuff gets really greasy in a kitchen and then the dust sticks to it.
Yeah they're ok. I know what you mean. Kitchens are rank really. The change was instant. Worked fine yesterday morning, then dodgy in the remaining.
When you say transformers, are there several?
There's three units in the wall. Each unit has an under and over light. There's a transformer sat on top of each unit.
It's one cupboard that's gone dodgy. The light is usually just white, but the top has gone quite yellow and the bottom is half brightness.
You could swap light fittings and transformers
You see, I'd never think of doing that! I'll try swapping the transformers today hopefully.
Transformers are these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lowenergie-Driver-Transformer-240V-Lighting/dp/B008DFSU7O
Just isolate kitchen, unscrew everything and screw back together?
It’ll be the LED strips themselves. Most people just fit cheap self adhesive strips direct to units, which over heat as really the should be on some sort of heat sink, and degrade over time.
If wanting to talk to the original fitter do you have contact details for him still? Some guys might do a weekend job off the books.
The end closest to the power supply tends to overheat first and this yellows the waterproof rubbery coating. This is often compounded using kettles underneath them.
Recommended fix:
1. Replace with the COB version (this looks like a solid strip of light and in my opinion is a million times better than the individual LED chips). eg https://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/cob-led-tape-16w-seamless-high-cri-priced-per-metre.html but eBay will be same product and probably cheaper.
1a. Use this advice and components from efixx for joining the strip. https://robus.com/catalogue/led-flexi-strips/macau-cob-strip/macau-easy-clip-connector-for-cob-24v-ip67-strip-to-strip-without-wires-priced-per-1-pc
2. Use warm or neutral white, not cold white (avoid anything colder than 4000K).
3. Supply from both ends if it's a continuous long run. If you cut it, don't jump from the end of strip A to the start of strip B, run a second cable from the power supply.
4. Use an LED driver that lets you adjust the voltage (eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164636015985?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item2655123d71:g:0~EAAOSwWe9f-qaI& ) and drop the voltage to 11V. This will make the LED strip marginally dimmer but run much, much cooler.
The COB strip is available in a mixture of 12V and 24V. It doesn't really matter which you use provided you don't overload the power supply, but 12V is easier if you want to dangle other stuff off the power supply.
Are you sure they aren't designed to do that. We had a new kitchen fitted in October and we got a remote control for the lights under the cupboards. We can change the colour from bright white to a warmer yellow using it. I didn't realise until Miss OTS started messing about with it.
Definitely sounds like what flaperon and blazing saddles say. It's the unit closest the power supply and where the kettle is!
Bit more complicated than swapping the led drivers then. As much as I might be able to tackle it myself, think I'll get hold of him and talk about upgrading the lot in one go!
Funny timing that this came up. We had a study fitted two years ago, including two long shelves. Had LED strips fitted to both shelves. We noticed yesterday that the bottom shelf, the one in near constant use, is now a warm yellow whilst the top shelf is a more clinical white. I had just put it down to overuse. I
It should be easy to swap out but the wiring goes through the wall and is sealed and decorated, changing any part of it will cause a bit of a mess.