How to Order LED Lighting?

The following steps are just a high level overview to get you started in designing and buying LED lighting for your project:

1. Measure and make a sketch of the room where you are adding lighting. If your project is kitchen lighting, measure all of your cabinet widths and heights as well as your appliances and mark them on your sketch. Be sure to note where available electrical outlets exist in the room and what types of outlets they are...120V/240V. See Basic Understanding of Home Electricity for an understanding of how the electric works in your home.
   
   Your sketch can be as basic as a hard drawn sketch or as complex as a professional computer-aided design drawing.
     
   
    
2. Look at the room and decide where you need to put more lighting or where you want to add accent lighting and make notes in pencil on your sketch.
   
    
3. Decide what kind of lighting you want to add... puck lighting, linear stick lighting, or cut-to-size flexible tape lighting. Also, decide whether you need your lighting to be warm or cool lighting (Guide to Color Temperature). See the LED Light Units section in Understanding LED Lighting Components for an understanding of these different components.
   
    
4. At this point, you'll want to start planning where you will put the lighting units and how to get power to them based on where your outlets are located in the room. Keep in mind that different lights have different power requirements. Your planning should take into account calculations of what size power supplies you will need for different areas of your design. See How Many Lights Can I Install? for a better understanding of the simple calculations needed to make your plan work.
   
   Also, keep in mind how you want to control your lighting design. If using a wall switch with a dimmer control, you'll need a dimmable power supply. Otherwise, for controllers plugged directly into power supplies/mounting blocks, you can use regular power supplies.
   
   
   
   
   As an alternative option, you may skip this step by sending a copy of your sketch to the experts in the Tresco by Rev-A-Shelf Free Lighting Layout Assistance program (the link opens in a separate tab). Tresco's team looks at your sketch and recommends lighting products, power supplies, and wiring for your needs. They'll send back to you a recommended parts list and modified version of your sketch showing the placement of the different lighting units and power supplies. See How Does the Tresco Lighting Layout Assistance Program Work? for more information.
   
   
   1. Send Tresco your kitchen design or sketch...
      
      
      
   2. Get back an annotated drawing and recommended lighting parts list...
         
       
   3. Order your lighting products from the Parts List.
   
    
5. Select the actual LED Lighting products you want to purchase and place your order at WoodworkerExpress.com. While ordering your lighting products, consider the True Position Lighting Installation Jigs as a way to make your final installation look professional and clean.
   
    
6. When you order arrives, check that you received all items and everything is ready to be installed. Test the lighting products together to make sure everything is in good working order. Return/exchange any problematic components.
   
    
7. Check the electrical loads with your components plugged in to make sure you calculated everything correctly.
   
    
8. With your plan in hand, check the placement and positioning of all components for your lighting project to make sure everything fits well in your space.
   
    
9. Begin installing your components.
   
    
10. After everything is installed and working, step back and admire your work and newly lighted space.