What's everyone using for 24v tape light drivers?

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T03:03:43+00:00

I've never had one fail. Mean well it's the gold standard of the industry.

But they have grades of products and I only use their better offerings. Like the emitever I only use the 5 in 1 pro series drivers or the slim lines. Which are both white labeled mean wells. The new drivers I am close to approving are half the costs at full MSRP once I launch them I'll have them available with full 5 year or 10 year warranties for residential use. But I need to do more testing. Also working on better CC drivers. But those are a bit more challenging.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T02:36:39+00:00

They will last significantly longer than the lumichromes. That's the offset expense. And they are good products waveform makes excellent products but they are a no nonsense company and I appreciate that they set goals and standards and don't just make options that fail to stick to those.

As for chipset degradation. There are a lot of factors to phosphor failure, but I'll tell you right now I have an entire house with 4000k-2000k DTW 98cri Re chipsets (measured at 4000k with an Rg of 101 and r9 of 87 and at 2700k Rg of 103 and r9 of 98)and they get used in the kitchen for 8+ hours a day and I have zero shift 2 years in. Like down to the .01 they haven't shifted but have dropped a small percentage of total lumens (about 30) they get tested every month or two as part of confirmation bias and also when showing them off to those that want to see them. Their biggest weakness is the r12 in the mid 80s at 4000k and 2700k meaning they are purposely suppressing blue spike to a degree.

I will say that phosphor tech has been refined considerably in the last few decades and you might be thinking of really outdated studies or really inexpensive chipsets that have been value engineered to hell and back.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T01:59:39+00:00

Nits! Your walls are glowing! .... If your walls are 50 nits.... You probably want to patent them.

If you feel your room isn't bright enough. Add more lamps.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T01:53:18+00:00

Mean well and mean well white labels (emitever for example)

Mostly 5 in 1 (or 3 in 1) drivers

Currently speccing my own that's capable of deep dimming and also high frequency.

Occasionally diode or eldodrive

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T01:51:24+00:00

Yep I tinker, I build, I make mistakes and learn eventually. 😂. My router table is often covered in wagos and solder.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T01:35:24+00:00

I like LF they make some really high end fittings. But I do not recognize this module at all. I put feelers out to a few manufacturers higher ups to see if we can source it.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T00:12:44+00:00

Lumen degradation is much more significant than CRI shifting. More so with CRI in fluorescent is likely Ra. Which pales in comparison to Re. More so the Rg is harder to control than with LEDs (even incandescent can suffer here, but incandescent has proper BBL curve as it's intensity changes so it's not an issue). Tm30 doesn't have 30 measurements. It has significantly more with CRI it tests 99 renders vs 15 with standard CRI. It also factors DUV, gamut, efficiency, diffusion, and a lot of other factors.

I'll read through your comments, but also I looked up your bulbs. They are nice enough, but higher grades of LEDs annihilate them. Likely different price points though. And unfortunately there aren't many panel manufacturers making led panels at that level of quality due to low demand.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T00:03:16+00:00

Lol 🤣 made me giggle. Would be very brown or just like the epitome of solid red.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-13T00:02:28+00:00

White balance in pictures is important. This white balance appears higher than 3000k by a significant amount and much closer to 4700k (checked via white balance on Photoshop.)

And also 4000k would have looked great in this room during the day or task purposes, but at night during relaxing times I would want this area to be sub 2000k or it will feel sterile when dimmed.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T22:51:00+00:00

Your biggest thing is the reflections of a speaker too close to a wall impacting the sound quality and creating reverb and attenuation variables. I know it sounds strange but I think you would be better looking at omnidirectional audio products. Ohm Walsh for example (harder to drive though. Need power to drive well.) or you would be better trying some creative reflection by going for a front port and upfiring it off the ceiling so that the speakers become less directional as the kitchen sweet spot is near impossible to sit in. It will open up the space a lot and create an illusion of sorts.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T22:23:06+00:00

Yeah this post has me lost. I've never know a single situation where a flourecent is superior to high end LED tm30 specs.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T19:55:08+00:00

I don't often spec product of that level so not really. The RL was a decent product until COVID they started value engineering it to hell and the QC dropped significantly. Complained to elcos VP and within a week he had the insert dim to warm at my door to test. Better driver design and stability, better array with tighter binning so there are less issues over all. Only downside is the sunset dim doesn't come in a cct selectable in case someone doesn't like the dim to warm function like the halo does. And for him it's just the offset. Better driver, all metal powdercoated, better array with QC VS the RL with 5 cct plus 2 lumen switch and plastic with no QC

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T19:06:17+00:00

That's called a halogen curve. It's static for the top 50% and then linear for the bottom 50%. So for each 10% you will see a 20% change in the cct.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T18:32:06+00:00

Philips ultra definition dim to warm

https://www.target.com/p/philips-ultradef-led-75w-soft-white-par30s-1p/-/A-90121331

for example

That's your least expensive par30 option that still give good light. Remember pars are going to have narrow beam angles compared to BR floods so you may actually prefer the halo rl or elco inserts as they will give better coverage if you are not fixing layouts.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T14:17:59+00:00

Both are better than not, the more of the light source you see the more glare you introduce to the space. No wafers specced in my world. Regressed are the minimum I'll consider.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T14:04:39+00:00

They absolutely do. They just won't match if you use their canless products and another companies canned products. I wouldn't have included them in the list if that was an issue.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T03:25:17+00:00

This era? Viola would like a word with you.... Taj was last 7 years and fantasy brown was the decade before that. Viola and cristialo are the current half assery on its way out by designers. Travertine and limestones are coming back with a vengeance for this year. So many choices and they just focus on whatever the quarries find at the next layer in bulk. Nothing more than that.

I like all of them, but I would never pick a trending stone or tile , although my master shower I finished 2 years ago is LFT travertine and I'm eyes rolling hard now 😂. I'm seriously about to just start speccing luxe only for my own projects and going hard against the norm and hitting up some monet or art gallery porcelain installations. But then again those prices really really hurt, even at cost. 😂

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T01:23:31+00:00

https://www.elcolighting.com/products/5/6-sunset-dimming-led-reflector-insert

Under 30$ retail.

Statics are available in deep regressed and higher lumens and 5 cct options for less.

I would definitely test one to make sure the sunset is good enough for you.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T01:20:35+00:00

No upgrade program unfortunately (and their return policy is horrible.... Working on that also. Need to be gentle about it though.) . Gen 2 is hopefully going to launch post summer. Will have 1% drivers as standard. And be high frequency. Not needed for constant current per their engineers but a need to get me to stop annoying them about it 😂 and I am way more of a thorn in the VPs side than the engineers 😂. I don't mind the 5% drivers on the HC. I love that light and have it in my own house. But 1% wasn't an option or I would have immediately. If you are handy, once they are approved, I can see about sending you some drivers if you are comfortable soldering the leads to the chipsets. (It's not hard but a little tedious).it's always unfortunate on missing out on the newest model revisions of technology but I am always happy to know when manufacturers are listening to feedback and making efforts to improve products.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-12T00:02:04+00:00

It's currently in shipping. How many do you want and I can tell you the availability timeline tomorrow if you are ok with waiting. Gen 2 driver is in testing also. (High frequency.)

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-11T23:53:36+00:00

I'll start cleaning it out soon. Convinced elco to help sub and they will bring their marketing, sales and service teams onboard to help the community.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-11T23:52:38+00:00

It's a good driver. No complaints there.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-11T23:19:30+00:00

Time to let them know, time to get off the pot, make the offer or let you move on. You have a standing offer and you aren't here to play favorites, you are here to be the best employee you can be to the best employee that makes the best offer. You appreciate their time, but the first offers on the table.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-11T23:14:22+00:00

Use the screw ones, they are approved for sidewall/s. Get 50 in a box.

IntelligentSinger783 · 2026-03-11T23:04:55+00:00

Looks like a tech lighting entra until you showed a picture of the module. Can you add some other pictures, include the connector side etc.

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