Lighting a closet - strip LEDs?

[psteinx]

Plan to add lighting to a linen closet that does not currently have lighting, and that exterior lighting (the hallway) doesn't really light well.

I've lit other closets before with 1-2 bar lights along the top and been pleased with the result. May do that again for this closet, but am also intrigued with the flexible/rollable LED strips.

Advantage/difference of this would be to run the strip from (just inside the closet) the left side floor to the ceiling, across the ceiling, and back down to the right side floor - i.e. an archway of light. The shelving in this (shallow) closet comes almost to the door and lighting from the ceiling may be blocked by pillows/blankets etc. on the top shelf or two (i.e. bottom of the closet only dimly lit if done standard way.

Concern is that it would feel weird to the eye - lit in a very non-standard "glow-y" way.

Has anyone experimented with this, and what did you think?

[imyeti2]

There are many of those lights out there that are remote controlled and come in many colors. A neutral color would be fine in the closet.

[HomeStretch]

I have a small fixture (rather than strip lights) that gives good linen closet light. What I like about it is that it conveniently goes on/off automatically when the closet door is opened/closed.

[enad]

Battery-powered LED strip lights or under-cabinet lighting that are motion-activated are easy to install and provide good illumination.

[crefwatch]

Many local building codes may be, perhaps, out of date. But they may require certain height or distance separation between light fixtures and clothing. Current codes allow less separation for fluorescent sources, but may not yet reflect LED sources.

[lthenderson]

Have you thought how you are going to get power to the LED strip lights? Do you access to whatever space is above the hall and closet? Are you going to use a remote control/phone app to turn them off and on versus a dedicated switch inside the closet? If the former, are you going to mount it somewhere in the closet, use an app on your phone or have to go hunt up the remote control every time you need want to turn on the light in the closet? These are the sorts of questions I would be answering first before going down the rabbit hole of how it will look, which with a diffuser, I'm guessing will be overkill for what you need but will look okay.

[michaelingp]

My daughter used lights like you describe to light up a china closet. They plug in (wall wart) and have a little remote control to turn on and off, which you could attach to the door jamb. It looks really nice, and the cost is so low, I'd recommend just doing it and if you don't like it, use the lights some where else.

[bobn60014]

Recent discussion might be useful.

viewtopic.php?p=8209723&hilit=Light+pantry#p8209723

[bombcar]

Sometimes the light quality is very "bad" - if you notice that kind of thing. They will often have a noticeable 60hz flicker if they're the cheap ones, and some people really notice it.

Higher end true-DC ones do not flicker.

They can also get noticeably hot.

[suemarkp]

I'm assuming a linen closet has the same restrictions as a clothes closet. You may have some issues with the NEC. First, a strip light if you mean the tape style with little square LEDs on that tape, I would argue is not an enclosed light source. An LED bulb, bar light, or complete fixture is an enclosed light source. In clothes closets, surface mounted lights need to have enclosed light sources. An exception would exist if you could find a tape light identified as suitable for use within clothes closets.

You also need to watch the distance from the light to the shelf space. NEC section is below with non-LED parts removed:

2023 NEC 410.16 Luminaires in Clothes Closets.
(B) Luminaire Types Permitted. Only luminaires of the following types shall be permitted in a clothes closet:
(1) Surface-mounted or recessed incandescent or LED luminaires with completely enclosed light sources
(3) Surface-mounted fluorescent or LED luminaires identified as suitable for installation within the clothes closet storage space

(D) Location. The minimum clearance between luminaires installed in clothes closets and the nearest point of a clothes closet storage space shall he as follows:
(1) 300 mm (12 in.) for surface-mounted incandescent or LED luminaires with a completely enclosed light source
(3) 150 mm (6 in.) for recessed incandescent or LED luminaires with a completely enclosed light source installed in the wall or the ceiling.
Exception: Surface-mounted fluorescent or LED luminares shall be permitted to be installed within the clothes closet storage space where identified for this use.

[LifeIsGood]

The final product. My daughter is "over the moon" happy with the end result. A bit of a learning curve soldering connections between the shelves.
Here's where I purchased the LED's and the power supply - https://www.ledsupply.com/led-strips/no ... led-strips



Here's the before for comparison: