Phantom Lighting System

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.

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.