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March Magnitude Madness Week 4: T-Series Transformers

The last week of March has arrived, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has narrowed its way down to the Final Four with some exciting upsets and impressive at-the-buzzer wins! This year’s tournament was initially described by fans and commentators as an unusual combination of teams, making bracket predictions particularly challenging. Yet despite the initial odds, four highly skilled college programs have made a place for themselves in the finals: top seeded Kansas and Villanova, along with defensive power-house University of Michigan, and eleventh seed Cinderella story, Loyola Chicago. Semi-final games are set to take place this Saturday, March 31st,…

NEW DIY 1″ Radiant Edge Panels

When Inspired LED opened its doors back in 2009, our owners began with a mission to provide high quality low-voltage fixtures to the public. LEDs were already well-known within technology and commercial sectors, especially around Silicon Valley. However as a contractor or homeowner it was more difficult to find reliable affordable solutions for replacing fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. Many of our original products, including the Pro Series and Designer Series Kits were specially designed to suit this purpose, providing simple plug & play options that allowed customers to add light wherever they needed it most, (without having to hire an electrician). While…

March Magnitude Madness Week 3: LinDrive Transformers

It’s time for another March Madness Monday at Inspired LED! The NCAA tournament continues, with our first few rounds of elimination leaving some key teams out in the cold, while others continue the march to victory. We’re officially down to the Sweet 16—and this year’s top contenders are being dubbed an unusual mix of everything from “unlikely” to “surprising”. Only two No. 1 seed teams managed to survive the first week of games. Meanwhile Kentucky seems to have finally hit its stride, while Loyola Chicago (perhaps with a little help from a special team chaplain) has claimed a few miraculous…

March Magnitude Madness Week 2: Electronic Transformers

The wait is over! After weeks of speculation and anticipation, the arrival of Selection Sunday means it’s officially time to fill in those brackets and give in to the March Madness fever! The top four seeds of the NCAA tournament have been announced, with Virginia, Villanova, Kansas, and Xavier leading the pack. As with any year, there were a few unexpected upsets, including Notre Dame, Middle Tennessee, and USC, who sadly missed the mark with this year’s selection committee. But there were also a few surprises, including Texas, Oklahoma, and AZ State making the cut despite some rocky games earlier this…

Accessory of the Week: New White Screw Terminals

For the past few years, Inspired LED’s patented family of LED Tiger Paw® connectors have set us apart in the world of low-voltage lighting. Developed by our owners and lead engineers here in Tempe, Arizona, these handy little accessories have allowed homeowners and electricians alike to build custom LED systems using little more than a pair of scissors! Our Plug-in Tiger Paw® connectors, featured in our popular Cut & Connect Series kits, are designed to quickly and easily combine with standard interconnect cables. By comparison, our Tiger Paw® Screw Terminals are favored by contractors and other lighting professionals for their…

How-To: Installing Glass Cabinet Lighting

glass cabinet lights

How to Install Flexible LED Strips on the Interior of a Glass Faced Cabinet Under cabinet lighting is not your only option when it comes to adding LEDs to your kitchen. Glass cabinet lighting serves as a great source of accent lighting, helping to make your cabinets pop and your glassware glow. After years of design consultations, our expert Lighting Designers have found the easiest way install glass cabinet lighting is an an upside down “U” position along the front of your cabinet. This ensures an even distribution of light throughout the cabinet, while ensuring the LED light strips stay hidden…

Get This Look Part 4: Ceiling Accent Lighting

LED flexible strips have transformed the lighting world, making it possible to create stunning visual effects which would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to achieve using standard bulbs. Among the many lighting trends to emerge as a result of LED advancements is the ceiling accent light. Whether you’re working with a cove, soffit, tray, or coffered ceiling, you’ll find there are many high end, expensive fixtures designed specifically for these types of applications, or cheap rope lights that do not last. But one of the great things about ceiling accents is their natural ability to hide LED light strips out of sight while…

Inspired LED Lighting Controlled by Apple Home

smart home with Apple Home

Last week we released a blog post detailing how to pair Inspired LED products with smart-home and voice-control devices like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, using the new DW1KD-1BZ Wi-Fi Smart Switch from Leviton. This week, after some additional testing, we are excited to announce that Inspired LED lights and Magnitude brand dimmable transformers are also compatible with Apple iOS software, using a similar Leviton dimmer model with Apple HomeKit™ techonolgy! Unlike the Google Home and Amazon Echo systems, the Leviton Dimmer with Apple HomeKit pairs directly with your iPhone or iPad using the Home App, and does not require a separate control “hub” (although we are anxiously awaiting…

Is It Up To Code? Dimmable LED Systems

At Inspired LED, we’ve been in the business long enough to have learned a thing or two about building and electrical codes. And over the years, we’ve seen some of the many creative ways that people have attempted to cut corners, or “hack” their lighting systems, using everything from soldering irons to spare lamp cords… But before we get on to the big infractions, let’s start by reviewing the correct way to lay out a dimmable LED system. Conventional Installs: Up to Code Generally speaking, low voltage LEDs can be powered in one of two ways. The simplest set-ups utilize a low voltage plug-in power supply combined…

Accessory of The Week: Blue Mid-Connector Tiger Paw

blue TP

It comes as no surprise that around here we think our patented Tiger Paw® connectors are the best thing since sliced bread!  This ingenious little product line began with a few simple and commonly used styles, like our standard screw terminal and plug-in connectors, which allowed electricians and DIYers alike the freedom to cut, connect, and design low-voltage lighting systems in-field. But we didn’t stop there! Over the years we’ve designed thousands of custom LED layouts, and in the process discovered innovative ways to make our products easier to use in a wide variety of applications. We adopted new connector sizes and styles, and even…