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I am making a built in bookcase and am planning on lighting it with LED tape lighting. I can source 10m of the lights at Lee Valley for $139 or from Amazon for less than a tenth that price ($12). Both have the same specs, but I have no idea about relative quality. (It’s not like LV makes these, like they do their tools, or at least I can’t imagine they do...) Anyone have any experience with these - or other - options?
I’ve bought LED tape from Lee Valley, and from SuperbrightLED.com. They have similar prices, and both gave me good service. I’m surprised that Amazon can give you a 10:1 cost advantage. Are you sure they’re the same product?
I’m sure they are not the same exact product, but they are the same color temp, number of LEDs per meter, etc. I’d hate to buy cheap and have to redo it, but I can’t imagine there is a ton of differences in quality in LEDs.
Compare lumens per foot. That’s the brightness of the tape.
I purchased an LED tape roll from Amazon about 3 years ago along with a power source and dimmer control with remote all for less than $50. The roll was just long enough for me to get 4 almost 4 foot strips to put in 2 glass door cabinets. The only issue I had was one of the strips coming partially loose after about a month. I just temporarily pulled the strip off and cleaned the surface well with rubbing alcohol and have not had a problem since. The cabinets have glass shelves and I used a halogen puck light in the top when I first built them years ago. The LED lights down the sides give much better even lighting.
There are differences in quality of the LED diode, backings, and adhesives from different sources. I can’t speak specifically to LV vs. Amazon. We install a bunch of LED tapes in our projects. I’ve never tried Uber cheap stuff but the the stuff we use it about half of the LV price you mentioned. The tape hasnt failed but about one out 10 drivers do seam to fail after a few years in heavy use applications. Make sure you feel confident you can source a replacement driver if need be. I’d try a local lighting shop or electrical supply house and ask for their input.
In addition to these recommendations, I advise you to oversize your driver/power supply by about 50%. They're inexpensive enough that the additional cost should be marginal, but you will increase the probable life of the driver by reducing the load on it.
I have used HAFELE Loox strip lighting. Use to be able to download catalog but now it seems to be on-line only. The catalog has design information, 12V and 24V strips/tapes, drivers for different loads, switches, and other accessories. You can purchase different lumen/watt per meter, as well as temperature and colors, etc. It is fairly easy to determine what to buy that will meet your needs. It is quality system.
Google Haffle loox and then look under catalogs for lighting. Then go to strip or tape lighting and look at the graph that shows temperature and height of lighting off the work surface to select which lighting will work best for your use. Be cautious of voltage drop in the DC lines if you are installing larger systems.