I've been spending some time trying to figure out what type of lighting I wanted to put in my Ikea Detolf cabinet. Being made mostly of glass, with a very slim metal frame inside, I didn't want any kind of wire clutter, or clutter from connectors and current 'boxes', transformers (electrical), etc.. I wanted something as clean as possible, with easy wire routing. I can deal with wires outside the cabinet just fine.
Another concern I had, was the lighting itself. I wanted that "neon" or Fluorescent look, not your typical LED that has overly bright spots. I also did not want to have the LEDs glare when I looked at my figures/curios.. so I needed something that was on an angle (in other words, spreading light downwards and backwards, not towards the front glass.
I hesitated between the importance of dimming LED's... but I'll explain that later on in the review.
On to the review now:
I came across this kit just yesterday (the day before writing this review and setting the lights up). It was very cost effective compared to many other kits. Upon checking out the details, I was surprised and happy to see all the cables were the length I needed for them to make it out of the Detolf. That meant, no trasnfer boxes, control boxes or any other clutter inside the Detolf.
I decided to hit the Add to Cart button and went for checkout. That was in the mid to late evening. The package was in my hands the next morning. The packaging is unassuming, but that is fine, I hate wasteful packaging and I don't need to spend extra money for good looking packaging. As long as it does its job of protecting the parts inside. Which it did.
I was glad to see everything felt solid and well put together. Nothing was out of place or looking lousy. So I started setting it up.
The double sided tape to stick the lightbars to the glass feels way good enough for the very little weight of them. In any case, if ever anything was to unstick in the future, I will make an update here and it would be an easy fix anyways.
I was also very glad that the wires for the lights were plenty long enough for nice clean routing on the slim Detolf frame and had plenty of room for controller placement on top of the Detolf as well. Yes, I did not rout anything through the bottom, I made everything go to the top of the Detolf.
The setup was simple and easy, the connectors we simple enough to pass through all the gaps and frame and I was able to do a very tidy job.
ONE NOTE TO MAKE; the ends of the lightbar wires have small two-pin female connectors, you can pass 2 through the top hole before the space is then too restrictive to pass the two other connectors. This isn't a problem, because the wires just go in the same as most computer wires connected inside Molex plugs.. it's a small metl detent you press down and you can take the wire out no problem... rout it through the hole and then jsut push them back into the plastic connector.
Once everything was routed, tie-wrapped and well setup; I went ahead with conencting it to the swithc and wall socket. I had tested them before naturally, but I was extremely happy with the lighting in the Detolf. I swear, I never thought I'd find such perfect lighting. The bars are 12 inches long, so they cover the vast majority of the width of the glass shelves.
The lightbars have a milky white cover, so the light isn't glaring (you can take them off if you prefer full LED power). The metal frame for the lightbars is a corner, so the light only goes downwards and towards the back of the Detolf. No light appears towards you as you look into you Detolf. While the lighint isn't OVERLY bright.. I find it looks PERFECT and it's a very cool white. No yellowing or blue tint either. Pure white. Perfect to bring out the right colors in your Figures or curios.
The 'brightness' also falls into my plans for dimmable LEDs. I have no need of a dimmer, because the brightness is JUST RIGHT and NOT HARSH. It looks very professional and meant to be there.
IN CONCLUSION;
You cannot go wrong with this kit. When I purchased it, it was CAD $34. I mean, kits twice the price have issues with wire length, connectors or box placements. Here, no issues. Everything worked as advertised and shipping was lightning quick. I will be buying more of these as my 1/6 Figure collection grow along with my Detolf collection.
Thank you and happy collecting!
The PERFECT lighting for your DETOLF !!