Phantom Lighting System

LED cove lights are highly decorative and have to be able to generate the ambient warmth associated with high-end linear lighting. When building cove lights they also have to be bright enough to effectively compliment general room lighting and contribute noticeable quality to the decorum of interior architecture.

Now when we talk about quality, we have to step back and identify the type of quality we are looking to define. Are we talking about the actual amount of light? Are we talking LED energy savings lamps? Is color rendering or color temperature our primary concern?

Each one of these variables represents a different set of considerations that go into selecting a light source. Historically, cove lights prior to LED have been based on the following technologies, all of which had their unique benefits.

     • Cold cathode and fluorescent lamps tended to produce the brightest light.

     • Incandescent lights known for their golden hue

     • Xenon lights used for high-quality lighting with a distinctively white color to their luminance

Although only capable of producing a pale bluish light in their early days, newer generations of LED linear lighting strips have now begun operating at color temperatures comparable to incandescent. People tend to judge the quality of a light by incandescent because this was the very first type of light invented, and it was used for most of the 20th century.

While it is true LEDs have grown competitively warm in color temperature, only Phantom cove LED accent lights now equal both the warmth and ambience of incandescent lights and the brightness of xenon lamps. The added advantage we offer an equally decorative and truly energy conscious solution that saves money and drastically slashes maintenance and replacement costs.

In fact, our level of quality has earned a reputation for warmth, mood, and ambience in the most high-end display, cabinet, and cove lighting applications. Our color temperatures (LED comparison chart) start from the very warm 2700K, which is virtually identical to incandescent, to the ultra-cool, contemporary 5000K.

The success of our Phantom LED lighting lies in the unique engineering of our festoon lamps. We do not use 5mm “toppled” LEDs like other linear strip light manufacturers use. Such a configuration never results in any more than 5 to maybe 10 lumens in the best of possible worlds.

On the other hand, Phantom LED cove lights have always output over 40 lumens per festoon—and this was with our original festoon design, which has now been redesigned for even greater performance!

Our first LED festoon lamps were comprised of 3 LEDs that operated at a combined 1.7 watts per lamp. We have since doubled the number of LEDs per lamp and simultaneously cut the wattage to only .6 watts. This has negated all but a trace amounts of heat produced by the circuits in the lamps themselves.

These new LED cove lights are a brighter source of light than ever, burn cooler than anything else on the market, and will last longer than anything you buy. Even better, you only need to buy the lamps—not the linear strips themselves. Our festoons are made to retrofit any existing cove lighting system operating at 12V or 24V.

Phantom Lighting is a pioneer, Houston-based art lighting supply company and low voltage cove lighting manufacturer established in 1980 to service the lighting and design community. Phantom Contour Projector and Phantom strip lights feature lighting technology that is completely unique, 100% proprietary, and found nowhere else in the world of lighting. Phantom’s revolutionary approach to decorative picture lighting and low voltage display, shelf, and under cabinet lighting has taken it from humble origins to the level of an international leader in lighting manufacturing on two continents.

We invite you to contact us direct at 800-863-1184 to obtain more information on our LED lamping options. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed, view an LED brochure, check out our Phantom Lighting mobile website, or read through the many informative summaries and Phantom FAQ's located on our Phantom Lighting blog.

In the past, designers have shied away from LED cove lighting because of the low lumens output and poor color rendering that plagued previous LED technology. With the advent of Phantom LED festoon lamps, however, building cove lighting has evolved to entirely new heights. Our festoons output 45-50 lumens each, while operating at only 1.7 watts of power.

This allows LED replacement festoon lamps to effectively improve previous lamping technologies and offer builders, homeowners, and commercial property managers a cost effective, high end accent light source that is characterized by minimal energy use, low heat output, and exceptionally long lamp life that drives down the frequency and costs of lamp replacement.

There are two factors that contribute to making our cove LED accent lighting fixtures more energy efficient than incandescent or xenon equivalents. The first reason is the nature of LED bulbs themselves, which typically use anywhere from 60-80 percent less power than incandescent bulbs. The second factor that goes into our amazing energy savings comes from the proprietary design of the Phantom festoon lamp.

Phantom LED Lamps run on 12VAC and is built with three one-half-watt LED bulbs featuring tight color binning and a CRI of approximately 80. Standard beam spread is 120 degrees, but for special cove lighting applications, 60 degree beam spreads can be custom manufactured. All festoons are completely dimmable as well, giving the end-user control of both brightness levels and energy usage.

Another advantage our LED energy saving lamps offer is the minimal heat output that allows the fixtures to operate for longer periods of time and keeps room temperatures at a constant without inflating cooling costs. Our festoons are built with an integrated thermal design that dissipates heat on the back side of the circuit board.

Only a fractional amount of heat ever reaches the front of the lamp—roughly equivalent to that of a 1 watt incandescent. This combined with the unusually long lifespan of LED in general, gives our cove lighting lamps a 50,000 hour average lamp life when comparing LED lamps to other festoon light bulbs. This is more than twice that of xenon and approximately four times as long as incandescent.

The new generation of Phantom LED strip lighting now gives the interior decorator total wish fulfillment when it comes to accenting interior room color. A variety of color temperatures exist from which the interior designer can choose. Warm white 2950K, 3500K, 5000K, and daylight 6500K represent a full gamut of color temperature selectivity. For decorators looking for the closest approximation to xenon, the warm 2800K offers a robust accent light source that can compliment both residential and commercial venues.

CM series linear fixtures are just as versatile and unique as our festoon lamping design. All fixtures are custom-built to client specifications. Three custom trim profile options are available for the architect or builder to choose from, and eight popular painted colors guarantee a seamless blend with surroundings. Each trim option can be field cut or notched to achieve a radius or irregular shape. CM series fixtures make ideal accent lights for domed ceilings and serpentine coves.

Our LED under cabinet lighting manufacturing facility is located in Houston, Texas, which in turn distributes these specialty linear lights through a nationwide network of lighting supply channels, distributorships, and sales representatives in cities such as Rhinelander, WI (RHI), Yakima, WA (YKM), Windsor Locks, CT (BDL), Mason City, IA (MCW), Sault Ste Marie, MI (CIU), Binghamton, NY (BGM), Lawton, OK (LAW), Pasco, WA (PSC), St Cloud, MN (STC), and Hyannis, MA (HYA). We also service clients internationally, with lighting manufacturer representatives working out of Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America.

We invite you to subscribe to our RSS feed or call a contact us toll free 800-863-1184 to obtain more information on all of our accent lighting fixtures for art and display applications. You can also request literature on our main website, visit our mobile website, or read through the many informative summaries and Phantom Lighting FAQs located on our lighting blog. All of these resources contain a wealth of information about our custom; low-voltage lighting products that are the dream come true of art lighting designers and cabinet lighting builders on two major continents.

Retail Display Lighting constitutes a very complex science and generally requires the help of a lighting designer or retail display expert who can help you choose the right fixtures, bulb types, voltage settings, and lighting controls for your store. Any online query will quickly produce an endless array of retail display light fixtures that can quickly overwhelm your senses and your pocket book if you are unsure of what you need. While specialty lights will always have their place in the world of design and merchandising, it is normally not necessary to buy a different type of fixture for each separate display in your store. In most cases, custom-built linear lighting strips can be mounted in a variety of environments and provide optimal, safe, efficient, and high quality luminance that will place your products in the best possible light.

Under Cabinet Light
Under cabinet fixtures are often used for retail display lighting anytime a shelf beneath a cabinet offers sufficient room for merchandising. Linear strip lights are usually the best source of illumination in these cases because they tend to blend more with the under belly of the cabinet that do puck lights and fluorescent under cabinet fixtures. Also, they can be fitted with any number of bulb types that are both dimmable and free of ultraviolet light—something fluorescent lights are notorious for producing.

For rich, dark colors, you might want to use retail display lights fitted with energy saving LED light bulbs. Phantom LED lamps have a warm color temperature, that is close to incandescent lamps.

Window Display Light
Retail lighting here has to be cost effective before it is anything else. Some window displays are left on 24 hours a day and can run a light bill straight through the roof if low voltage and cost effective lamping technologies are not utilized to offset power consumption.

Any number of linear strip lights for retail displays can be fitted with low voltage transformers to curb electrical usage. The Phantom Linear Lighting Strip, for example, can be custom manufactured as either a 12V or 24V fixture, and it can operate incandescent or xenon festoon bulbs at much lower costs than line voltage puck lights, flex lights, or even overhead fluorescent panels.

Even better, consider investing a little more on the front end to fit your retail display lighting fixtures with LED festoon lamps. Even on a line voltage system, LED bulbs use only 20% as much power as incandescents and xenon. On a low voltage window lighting strip, there is an exponential multiplication of power savings.

Display Cases
Virtually any type of accessory case can be fitted with linear retail display lighting fixtures. The only exception to this rule is any case with a mirrored back plane. Linear strips contain many small festoon lamps that will appear like white or golden dots along the top of the mirror, ruining the aesthetic of the display. However, if the case is made from clear glass, or even better, has a dark backing or cloth on which the merchandise is laid, linear strips provide some of the very best display lighting for retail display cases you can imagine.

The type of low voltage lighting you choose really should depend on what type of merchandise will be showcased your display. Toys look great under incandescent light because it makes them glimmer slightly with a cheerful, white aura. Ladies clothing accessories such as hats and scarves look better under xenon. The slightly golden aura it casts about the items makes them look well worth the price tag.

LED lights can be fitted to retail display light strips to create a near equivalent effect to either incandescent or xenon. This all depends upon the color of the bulbs used, and it also depends on the sophistication with which the festoon lamps themselves are designed. Phantom linear strips use a patented lamping technology that combines LED bulbs into a radiant output equivalent to that of incandescent lamps.

In cases where very expensive fabrics colored with highly sensitive dyes are showcased, it is best to use LED cabinet lights because any ultraviolet output from other bulb types could cause the color and material to degrade over time.

Jewelry displays can be lit with virtually any type of bulb. The colour temperature and lighting levels, however, should be carefully adjusted to match the types of precious metals and stones that compose your selection. For more information on retail jewelry display lighting, click here to read our full-length article on the subject.

For any other questions, information about Phantom Lighting or to place a custom order call toll-free at 1-800-863-1184. You can also visit our helpful and informative lighting blog "Tips from the Manufacturer" to see first hand hand our low voltage lighting products.

Our lighting manufacturing facility is located in Houston, Texas with professional lighting sales agents located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, Reno Nevada. Portland Oregon, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Phoenix Arizona, Los Angeles California, Atlanta Georgia, and Culver City California.

Houses today are much larger and very different than they were in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. Homes are now built with a level of customization previously reserved only for the Elite and their mansions. Because of this, the home interior design industries, as well as home lighting manufacturers, have exploded. Eclectic furniture and cabinetry has become a mainstay for making a home interior look equally unique and sophisticated in comparison to its exterior architecture. LED accent shelf lighting strips bring electric, rare, and highly aesthetic displays out of the shadows so everyone can see them. This adds accents task-oriented areas under cabinets with a decorative touch that achieves a more balanced aesthetic with kitchen and bathroom lighting design.

This emerging and very powerful linear LED lighting technology is just as important to corporations and retailers ad as it is to individual homeowners and families.

Living rooms and office spaces that decorate floor space with mini-libraries need led accent lighting because it offers the safest and least expensive source of hardback and rare book illumination. LED light bulbs radiate no ultraviolet or infrared light and will therefore not degrade the binding or lettering along the spine of a book. In office libraries that promote corporate value production with displays of technical and marketing literature, Phantom LED light strips make company branding readily evident to visiting clients. Our CM series strip light designed specifically for cove lighting also works very well in to set the right mood in offices and clinics where visitors wait for a short time in the lobby prior to meetings. LED accent strip lights produce a softer, more pleasant field of light that calms the mind and makes for a better exchange once the meeting is underway.

LED replacement lamps produce a form of illumination that very closely mimics certain qualities of traditional incandescent or xenon light sources. As such, they are ideal replacements for incandescent lamps that are fast becoming obsolete due to environmental concerns and recent legislation in California. Because Phantom LED’s are directional lights, they also focus a softer light more tightly in one direction and minimize excessive, radiant glare. They fulfill the specialty niche requirements of lighting displays, cabinets, and under cabinet lights found in bedrooms, living rooms, dens, kitchens, fine baths, and commercial interiors. People often invest hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in the finest cabinetry, display shelving, bookshelves, and eclectic furniture, only to realize that the interior of these fine pieces remains in shadow.

One might think of Phantom LED accent lights as low voltage lighting for fine furniture and cabinets.

Homeowners and businesses are not the only ones to benefit from riding this new wavelength of light. Jewelry stores who once exclusively relied upon fluorescent showcase lighting are now beginning to change their minds as they see what LED energy saving accent lighting can do for gold, silver, and gemstone displays. Fluorescent lights produce a great deal of reflective glare and aside from energy efficiency offer little value as a showcase lighting fixture for fine jewels.

LED’s, on the other hand, use even less electricity than fluorescent, and because of their directional wavelength, they minimize reflection just enough to make a diamond sparkle without blinding the shoppers’ eyes with glare. Diamond cuts look even more sophisticated—almost magical— under a combination of blue and white led accent cabinet lighting, and Phantom linear strips of different color temperatures can be combined in this way to produce a special effect unique to particular metals and gems. Guest areas in homes and meeting rooms in offices also look more sophisticated and feel more comfortable when any display, shelf, or cabinet is accented with LED light bulbs and LED lamps.

The cost of all this is shockingly low at Phantom Lighting. Even at normal voltage levels, LED accent lights never use more than 20% of the power required by other forms of lighting. Click here to read how this works.