Phantom Lighting System

When LED energy saving festoon lamps were invented just a few years ago, they changed decorative lighting forever. Up until this time, it was always something of an expensive chore to light ceiling, cabinets, bookshelves, and special displays with incandescent and xenon lamps. Any attempt to use cheaper lights like fluorescents in cove lighting yielded bright light but very little decorative ambience. It was always this tradeoff between quality and power savings.

Before LED festoon lamps, there was also another problem with heat. Incandescents produce a light that is very similar to that of the sun. They can also get very hot. The issue here is not so much one of fire hazard but rather overheating a room in general. The AC is going to kick in when the thermostat rises, and the cost of cooling the room down is going to compound on top of the cost it.

Linear lighting with 5-7 watt festoon lamps will overheat a room quickly. Just one watt of power emits 1 BTU in heat. Multiply that by 5 watts per lamp, and you can see how hot your room gets, and how much extra you have to pay to cool it down.

This all changed when LED festoons came on the scene. They made decorative lighting affordable. LEDs typically use 60% less electricity as incandescent lamps. However, heat was still an issue in spite of the power savings. While LED light bulbs did not produce heat, the printed circuit boards that power them do —even those with lamps of less than 5 watts of power.

However, things have changed again thanks to Phantom Lighting’s LED replacement festoon lamps. Each of these new lamps requires only .6 watt of power. This results in negligible heat output, which in turn offsets the cost of cooling a room. The savings curve is even greater, and the quality of the lighting is greater as well.

The new 6-emitter led lamp design emits plenty of light in a 120 degree pattern of distribution and a better blend of color temperature. Our lamps also emit 5 times the amount light as competing models. Phantom LEDs, you can have the same lumens output as incandescent and xenon without the additional costs.

Phantom LED cove lights are available in superb color temperatures of 3500K, cool white 5000K, and 2700K. They operate at a CRI of 80 and also have a 50,000 hour average lamp life. They can be retrofitted to linear strip lights made by almost any lighting manufacturer, and they can work on either 12V or 24V magnetic lighting transformers without any need to rewire your fixtures. This means you do not have to buy new strip lighting fixtures. You only need remove your original festoons and replace them with Phantom LED lamps to make the switch.

Phantom lights are ideal for under cabinet lighting, display cabinet lighting, and custom furniture lighting. They have also proven valuable in nautical lighting, aviation lighting, and under the adjustable shelf lighting applications.

Contact Phantom Lighting now toll-Free at 1-800-863-1184. Speak to a US lighting sales representative today about specific strip lighting series and the many aesthetic and practical benefits that led light bulbs add to display and showcase lighting on all levels of function and form.

You can also subscribe to our RSS feed, request literature on our main website, visit our Phantom Lighting mobile website, or read through the many informative summaries and frequently asked questions located on our Phantom Lighting blog.

Together, the professionals at Phantom Lighting will ensure that your next project is an astounding success!

What types of businesses benefit the most from LED cove lighting?
Generally speaking, large hospitality businesses with tall ceilings, long operating hours, and massive square footage receive the greatest financial and decorative returns on their investments. Hotel lobbies look superb with any number of Phantom LED lamp color temperatures. Light output from any of our lamps is equivalent to xenon and incandescent, so the luminance has a good, robust distribution that fills the ceiling area all around the room.

Casinos need both bright lights and specialty lighting to keep the excitement levels high. The money saved on cove lighting with superb color rendering goes a long way to cutting overhead in the gambling industry.

Restaurants, of course, are all about atmosphere and really have to watch their overhead to maintain profits. With new Phantom LED light bulbs, they can count on having the very best in décor, lower cooling cost, and spend less money overall on specialty lighting. All of this ultimately means greater attraction factor for customers as well, because these lights are practically indistinguishable from previous generations of luxury cove lighting lamps.

How are businesses able to save money with LED cove lighting?

There are several ways. The first and most obvious is reduced power consumption. LEDs use less than 60% the amount of electricity than incandescents. Furthermore, the new LED festoon lamps by Phantom Lighting now only require .6 watts of power per lamp. This means there is less than one BTU of heat for each lamp in operation. This drastically reduces heat and lowers electrical cost on air conditioning. Finally, each festoon’s 50,000 hour lamp (that is the equivalent of just under six years of non-stop use), sees to it that you will not have to replace them any time soon.

What types of residential properties can benefit from LED cove lighting?

Any home with decorative ceiling architecture can theoretically benefit from warm, ambient lighting at the top of the wall. The luxury nature of these linear cove lighting strips places them more in the custom home marketplace than the home of average size.

Where can I use these lights?

Places in such homes that can always be enhanced by LED cove lighting include master bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, foyers, and media rooms. Media rooms especially gain a certain magic from the presence of ambient lighting near the ceiling—especially those that are used as home theaters.

What if we already have cove lights?

That’s where Phantom comes in and offers you and advantage other competitors cannot offer. You see, we are not here to insist that your fixtures. Instead, we are offering you LED cove lighting lamps than can be retrofitted to almost any linear fixture you already have in use.

Will these replacements still cost me a small fortune?

No. Provided that you already have more than 100 linear feet of strip lighting, the savings that our LED cove lighting lamps will immediately begin accumulating for you will very quickly pay for the cost of your upgrade. After that, all the money you save will go right back into your pocket.

Do you only sell retrofits?

No. We specialize in custom linear strip manufacturing, so if this is your first time ordering this type of fixtures, let us custom design you an LED cove lighting system that will enhance the ambience of your general lighting throughout your home or business.

Our LED linear 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 LED cove 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.

What is the best way to light exposed truss beams using your lighting strip?
Indirectly lighting the top of an exposed beam or between truss sections can be a very effective form of ambient mood lighting. Depending on the shape or style of the truss construction, more than one section of cove lighting must be used to completely illuminate the structure. Because Phantom fixtures are low profile and flexible cove lights, they can be custom fabricated to fit most designs. Small blocks or strips of wood can be strategically placed inside the truss members to completely conceal the light source. Upon installation, the lights may be shimmed or repositioned to alleviate shadows and to expand lighting coverage across the ceiling.

We actually build every cove lighting fixture according to the dimensions of the mounting surface. To ensure a seamless fit to trusses and curved ceilings, our strip lights feature a unique engineering design that allows them to be molded to fit any radius, or bent to a full 360 degrees when necessary.

What size groove should I route into the top of the beam to conceal your cove lighting fixtures?
We recommend that you install a 1-1/2” wide x 1-1/2” deep groove in the top of the beam. This allows enough room for heat dissipation, beam spread and height to fine tune the lighting eliminating seeing the source from severe angles. During cove light construction, provisions must be made to allow for wiring to and from the remote transformer during installation. For existing beams, small strips if wood can be added on top of the beam to conceal the lights and low voltage wiring to and from the remote transformer may be surface mounted and concealed.

What is the best wattage lamp to use if I have a dark wood ceiling?
Dark wood ceilings do not reflect light well and require higher levels of illumination compared to a white drywall ceiling, for example. You can offer business owners and residents a wide range of lighting choices and effects with Phantom CM cove lighting fixtures. Lamp options for our linear strips include 3 watt, 5 watt, and 10 watt Incandescent festoon lamps (rated for 7,500 hours) or Xenon festoon lamps (rated for up to 20,000 hours).

We recommend that you use 10-watt, 24-volt lamps spaced 4: on center for best results. For hard to reach areas or where routine maintenance is a concern, one should use LED energy saving lamps. Click here to compare festoon lamp specifications.

Are cove lighting fixtures from Phantom lighting dimmable?
Yes, all Phantom lighting strips are manufactured to operate on a dimmer control. As a leading linear light manufacturer, we feel it is important for not only aesthetics, but for energy saving and to extend the lamp life of the Xenon, incandescent or LED festoon light bulbs.

Incandescent lamps are generally preferred by home builders who need a warm color lighting source over an interior soffit or custom cove. Xenon lamps, due to the exceptional quality of the white light they produce, are also the favorite source of display lighting for commercial lighting designers. LED festoons are made with a patented 3-bulb design that allows their luminance to closely approximate the luminance of xenon lamps. Older festoons can be removed and new Phantom festoon light bulbs can simply be snapped into place—provided, of course, that the existing linear cove light fixtures are low voltage and support the festoon lamping design.

How far away can I position the low voltage transformer from the cove lighting fixtures?
We recommend that you try and locate the transformer 20-30 feet from the lighting strips to avoid voltage drop problems. Voltage drop is a condition where the lights appear dim due to inadequate voltage supplied from the transformer. This is caused by improper wire size which restricts the flow of current causing this unfavorable condition. To assist our clients and contractors we have a helpful and informative voltage calculation chart complete with fusing requirements in our low voltage transformer literature.

How do I know what wire size to use from my transformer to the cove lighting fixtures?
We suggest using a wire gauge matched to the secondary fuse(s) on your Phantom transformer. Of course, length of run, wire size and operating voltage may require some engineering to determine the correct size. Any qualified electrician or lighting agent will be able to assist your with these calculations.

The following are some of the common wire sizes:

#14 gauge wire - 15 Amps
#12 gauge - 20 Amps
#10 gauge wire - 30 Amps
#8 gauge wire - 40 Amps

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 of Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States including Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, Reno Nevada. Portland Oregon, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Tucson Arizona, Los Angeles California, Atlanta Georgia, and Palm Springs California.

We invite you to call toll free 800-863-1184 to request literature online or visit our lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage lighting products.

Linear light strips are idea cove lights to install in new construction projects. Most public buildings, new houses, and new office buildings have some type of cove or variance at or near the ceiling. Installing cove lighting in these areas adds aesthetic and contributes an additional functional element to the building-- provided you use a flexible cove lighting source that can be adapted to virtually any environment. It also adds value to new construction pricing when you install a cove lighting source that can be controlled by the user, and that you can have custom made to seamlessly mount to any environment and any radius bend. Phantom linear cove lighting strips fulfill all three of these requirements in the form of a low-profile and flexible light strip that will fit in building coves as small as 3” from the ceiling and wall.

In new construction homes and offices that have extraordinarily narrow coves or valances, linear strips offer a distinct advantage over fluorescent light fixtures. Fluorescent transformers and fixtures are clearly visible in these narrow coves and can detract from the ambiance effect of the light itself. The same quality of lighting can be achieved with a Phantom cove light without revealing its visible presence. It can be field cut or notched to bend and follow any radius along a serpentine cove. Its narrow design also makes it ideal for kitchen soffits, beam trusses, and valances.

Phantom cove lights utilize remote magnetic transformers concealed from normal viewing angles. These low voltage transformers are fully dimmable and allow the end user to dim the lights at will for accent lighting. This offers the facilities manager or homeowner the added value of minimized maintenance through prolonged bulb and fixture life over such products as cove light rope.

Further value is added with your choice in lamp types. Cove lighting fixtures by Phantom can be fitted with incandescent, xenon, or LED festoon lamps. If you are working on any level with new construction LEED certification, you really want to take the time to look at our proprietary LED festoon lamping technology. We have created a lamp design that combines multiple bulb combinations into a single festoon unit that can be fitted to any cove lighting strip. These festoon lamps are so efficient they rival the lumens output of incandescent lamps and nearly approximate those of xenon. This gives the lighting designer who is bidding an install for a new construction project the full range of cove lighting accent options ranging from cool and warm color accents to state-of-the-art green technology that mimics traditional technology with minimal forward throw heat and 80% less the total power costs.

No cove is designed or manufactured the same, and the professionals at Phantom can assist with design development as well as engineering retrofit applications. Phantom Lighting energy saving LED festoons can act as replacements to lamps in existing linear strips provided certain compatibility requirements are met. Power leads can also be ordered to accommodate unique wiring runs, and to balance loads to secondary transformer fusing. The greatest benefit you will gain from our unique approach to cove lighting is a very precise and custom approach to applied technology housed within a fixture that is pure aesthetic on the surface, pure engineering underneath.
Phantom Agents will help you decide which cove lighting options will best meet the needs of your current construction project and act as liaisons between you and the factory to place your order and arrange for drop shipping to your site.

Call an Agent to discuss your clients’ needs and how the versatility and flexibility of Phantom custom cove lights can add value to your lighting design proposal today. We have lighting agents in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America who will answer any questions, provide literature and schematics, and arrange for local product demonstrations.Our team of experienced technicians is always willing to share their knowledge of fine art and display lighting.

Together, the professionals at Phantom Lighting will ensure that your next project is an astounding success! We invite you to call 800-864-1184 to request literature online or visit our lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage cove lighting products.

Cove lighting in buildings is a great way to accent variances in ceiling elevation or variances in the adjoining space between the upper portion of the wall and the ceiling. Cove lights can be used as either the primary lighting source in the room, or a luxurious and ambient source of accent lighting. Because this form of luminance has become so popular in custom homes, many builders install rope lights or fluorescent fixtures. Both of these cove lights are very energy efficient, with rope lights also offering the building contractor a lower purchase cost. However, there are some drawbacks to both light sources. Cove rope lights operate in a series, so if one bulb fails, the entire rope light will need to be replaced. This will pose hassle to the new homeowner, who will have to find a lighting designer or electrical contractor to replace the string. Fluorescents have a much longer lamp life in comparison, and they can offer quality lighting at a fixed level. Fluorescents cannot be dimmed, however, making them incompatible with lighting controls and dimmers.

In buildings and homes where users want a controlled and flexible source of cove lighting that will save power and provide a long-term, low maintenance source of general or ambient lighting, linear strips are a much better choice for builders, architects, and electrical contractors to install. One of the primary advantages that low voltage lighting systems offer over other lights sources is a concealed presence. Strip lights such as the Phantom CM series are extremely thin and can fit into any soffit, cove, or valance in an office or home. These fixtures are designed to keep a low profile in cove lighting applications and feature a remarkable adaptability to any commercial or residential environment. They can be fitted to any radius desired because they are custom cut to the exact specifications of the contractor. This ensures the most seamless fit possible to produce the special sourceless lighting Phantom has become known for.

With energy costs rising, it is also important to point out the power saving benefits that Phantom CM cove lighting offers to any building or residence that is conscious of electrical costs. Low voltage linear lighting strips are a significant solution to high price points that people have to pay for the luxurious qualities of xenon lighting. An added benefit that low voltage strips offer is the extended lamp life they create. Provided that natural lighting levels are relatively low in the room, the lights can be powered up to full and provide a primary light source over a foyer or a hallway without fear of running up the light bill. When other lighting is in use, they can be turned down to provide ambient, supplemental lighting.

This type of controllable, low voltage xenon cove lighting is often found in buildings and homes that feature faux painted ceilings or detailed block paneled ceilings. For warm ceiling colors, we recommend using incandescent lamps, and for cooler colors or very dark colors of wood, xenon lamps. Both sources will provide an excellent source of controlled lighting that the end user can adjust at will.

If you are working in California, or another locale that discourages the installation of incandescent fixtures due to pending laws, we recommend installing LED linear strip. LED lamps are available for all Phantom linear fixtures, including CM series cove lights. These unique, patented festoons offer the commercial builder and electrical lighting designer a “green solution” to pass onto clients interested in lowering operating costs and contributing to a more sustainable future. Phantom’s unique lamping technology allows white or colored LEDs with a lumens output equivalent to that of incandescent and nearly approximate to xenon. It might be best to propose to your clients the advantages of investing in LED replacement lamps now rather than later.

If you have been hired to replace existing linear cove lights in a building with a better or more energy efficient solution, you can save your client a great deal of money by simply replacing the lamps in their existing fixtures. Provided these fixtures are currently using festoon style lamps, you can obtain LED festoon lamps from one of our Agents and simply to the existing cove lighting strips in the building. This is an excellent way to win bids with companies worried about the costs of upgrades in the midst of the recession.

Boardrooms, halls, restaurants, private clubs, and meeting rooms are some of the many areas where commercial building cove lighting may be used with success. Call an Agent today for more information on Phantom CM custom cove lights for buildings and homes.

Our Agent network functions as the backbone of our sales, customer service, and technical support. Agents assist commercial contractors and private individuals with developing entire strip lighting systems for homes and offices. We have lighting agents in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America who will answer any questions, provide literature and schematics, and arrange for local product demonstrations. Our team of experienced technicians is always willing to share their knowledge of fine art and display lighting.

Together, the professionals at Phantom Lighting will ensure that your next project is an astounding success! We invite you to call 713-863-1133 to request literature online or visit our lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage lighting products.

Phantom’s unique linear strip light fixture engineering allows the product to be field cut for right angles, radius bends or serpentine applications. This allows our fixtures to be used as flexible cove lights in environments too difficult to fit standard, pre-manufactured linear strips. Regardless of the bend or angle in the ceiling, flexible Phantom lighting installations can seamlessly fit ceiling interiors, valances, and foyers. Many contractors will also install CM series linear cove lights in kitchens above custom cabinets in order to provide an ambient wash of light along the ceiling, and to compliment the illumination of cabinet lighting.

Phantom’s agent services and low voltage manufacturing processes are extremely contractor-friendly and highly flexible. Cove light fixtures are custom manufactured after an extensive consultation with an Agent. The Agent will gather data things such as foot candle minimum requirements, interior design themes, and interior structural keynotes that distinguish the interior architecture of a home or office. This data is further used to determine the exact dimensions for the cove lights themselves as well as the low voltage transformer requirements. After manufacture, the finished product will be shipped in sections labeled for easy installation in the field.

Unlike fluorescent cove lights or rope cove lights which are clearly visible to the viewer, Phantom’s flexible cove lighting strips can be repositioned inside the cove itself and hidden from normal viewing angles. This ability to conceal our light sources led to the origin of our company name-“Phantom”-because the apparently sourceless light our flexible linear cove lights and display lights generate adds mystique and eclectic accent to any room or display. Because of the way our strips reflect the light off the ceiling in a more diffused, even pattern of dispersal, they also do a much better job of overcoming unsightly shadows that may occur from more awkwardly positioned, bulky, and less flexible cove accent lighting fixtures.

Unlike cove rope lights which are wired in series, Phantom uses a parallel wiring method. This means that individual festoon lamps may be replaced if a bulb happens to fail. Contractors who are building out large custom homes should think twice about installing rope lights in ornate and eclectic residences. New homeowners will not like the inconvenience of having to replace an entire string of rope lights when a single bulb fails. Phantom offers a much more convenient and cost-effective method of both maintenance and future upgrades. Thanks to a patented engineering design, our lamping technology is far more original, user friendly, and flexible as an accent lighting tool. Cove light strips by Phantom are manufactured using a heavy duty galvanized steel trim with individual festoon sockets with standard and custom on center spacing. This enables individual lamp replacements without the hassle and cost of replacing the entire cove lighting fixture itself. It also offers additional advantages and flexibility for cove lighting upgrades. Incandescents can be upgraded to xenon or LED light bulbs by simply leaving the cove lights in place and switching out the festoon lamps.

Phantom linear cove lights are designed for flexibility and versatility in a wide range of residential and commercial settings where ambient, sourceless down light is required to contribute to an eclectic sense of decorum. Phantom cove light fixtures are fully dimmable and can be linked to automation or lighting control systems so the home owner or office manager can manipulate them at will.

Call an Agent to discuss your clients’ needs and how the versatility and flexibility of Phantom custom cove lights can add value to your lighting design proposal today. We have lighting agents in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America who will answer any questions, provide literature and schematics, and arrange for local product demonstrations.

Our team of experienced technicians is always willing to share their knowledge of fine art and display lighting.Together, the professionals at Phantom Lighting will ensure that your next project is an astounding success! We invite you to call 713-863-1133 to request literature online or visit our lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage lighting products.

Is the kitchen really a good place for cove lighting?
Yes. The kitchen actually has a variety of interior architectural features that provide cove or cove light structures in which to mount concealed linear light strips. The space above cabinets is an excellent location for installing a Phantom CM series linear strip. These strips are much slimmer and keep a much lower profile that standard fluorescent over cabinet lights. In both instances, this has the effect of causing light to flow along the surface of the ceiling, reflecting downward onto counter tops and tiles as it gently fades toward the ceiling center.

Phantom cove lighting strips can also be custom cut to the exact dimensions of kitchen valances and installed above them with concealed transformers that hide their visible presence. The light then shines up the wall from the window and fills the top corner space between the wall and the ceiling. If the kitchen has been designed with ledges or coves along the top of the wall, CM cove lights can be custom cut to the exact dimensions of these structures and manufactured to fit any radius specified by the general contractor or lighting designer.

What type of light do cove lights produce?
Cove lights in kitchens, like they do in all rooms, shine light up toward the ceiling. This light is diffused along the ceiling surface, spreading out evenly in a warm, gentle glow that adds to general lighting and creates its own subtle mood shifts toward the ambient. Cove rope lighting is another low output and effective cove lighting product.

Can kitchen cove lights be adjusted?
Yes. All Phantom linear lighting strips are dimmable and operate with wireless technology. Linking them to switches allows them to work in tandem with cabinet and under cabinet lights. This allows a homeowner to create anything from supplemental general lighting to warm tones of subtle mystique. If the cove lights in the kitchen are fitted with low voltage xenon lamps or energy saving LED festoons, the homeowner can produce special effects and variances in color and count on saving money in the process. Some people even choose to leave their low voltage cove lights and under cabinet lights throughout the night, simply turning them down rather than completely turning them off.

For people who entertain at home and have a high frequency of visitors and family coming over, using kitchen cove lights as accent lighting helps provide just enough light for late night visits to the kitchen or quiet, private conversations after parties, formals, and reunions.

What lamp types can work in kitchen lighting strips?
If the kitchen has interior recessed halogen picture lights, incandescent cove lighting provides an excellent supplemental lighting source, and xenon will add a bit of a “golden” aura to the interior architecture. Xenon low voltage lamps should be used if the counter tops are made from marble or granite with “cool” colors like deep reds or blues. Incandescent lamps do better with white and off-white counter tops and cabinets.

A third lamping option is LED, and provides possibly the best all around source of accent lighting, period. Operating at only a fraction of the cost of incandescent and xenon, LED festoon lamps can light both warm and cool colors and can also be manipulated to produce some outstanding special lighting effects. Even better, they can last anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 hours and save homeowners a great deal of hassle and money on replacement costs. One of the many advantages of Phantom LED accent lights is the interchangeability of the festoon lamps.

Should a homeowner initially purchase their strip lights with incandescent or xenon lamps and later wishes he or she had invested in LED, the lamps themselves can be individually replaced without having to install new strip lights. 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 of Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States including Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, Reno Nevada. Portland Oregon, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Tucson Arizona, Los Angeles California, Atlanta Georgia, and Palm Springs California.

We invite you to call toll free 800-863-1184 to request literature online or visit our lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage lighting products.