LED light bulletin board under cabinet, above desk

I'm doing a lot of reading about under cabinet LED lights but wondering if there are some unique things to consider with my application. We have a home office with a 64" L X 33" H bulletin board on the wall that is flush to the desk. That is, the desk faces the wall. Above the bulletin board are cabinets that span the length. I want to light the bulletin board without having direct light in my eyes while sitting at the desk. The cabinets have a 2" bottom trim board. Should I mount the lights on the back of the trim board facing the bulletin board? Would that light the full height of the bulletin board? Should the lights be mounted directly under the cabinets, facing down, close to the trim board? What about at a 45 degree angle behind the trim board? Thanks much!

 

Power up your LED's and hold them or temporarily tape in different positions to see which you like best.

 

I think mounting LED strip on the back of the 2 inch cabinet trim would be the best.


This shelf above my desk is actually a 6 X 6 inch fluorescent fixture with one 8 foot tube.

For comparison, this is underbed LED lighting with the strip mounted on the backside of the bedrail. The book simulates what the light should look like on the bulletin board. This is at full brightness and is dimmable.

 

I would really test. I have tape LED's mounted to the bottom of my upper kitchen cabinets. The LED's emit light almost 180 degrees but most comes out in about a 90-90 degree cone straight out the top. I first tried mounting my LED strip vertically behind the upper cabinet's lip facing toward the wall. The counter wasn't illuminated well enough but worse was stepping back and being blinded by a bright reflection off the glossy backsplash tile. With the LED's a couple inches back from the lip of the cabinet and aiming down provide great task lighting on the counter but still totally illuminates the backsplash area (and if you stand in the right spot you get a nasty reflection off the shiny counter).

 

Great suggestions everyone! Thanks for all the info and the pictures. I will get some lights and experiment a bit. I'm thinking I will get lights with filters/diffusers rather than the naked LED strips for the most even lighting. What will be on the bulletin board is writing and diagrams that I will need to be able to read well from my chair. I'm open to suggestions otherwise. I also want to do LED lighting under cabinet in the kitchen, but I'm thinking for that area I can get by with the LED strips.

 

I like Super Bright LEDs. They have a lot of good, accurate technical information for the LEDs they sell. A contrast to the info available from other retailers. I don't necessarily think SuperBright's products are any better quality but with the tech specs you at least know what you are getting and are able to compare specs to choose the best option for your project.

 

I appreciate the resource recommendation!

 

I have had good luck with https://www.inspiredled.com/ and https://www.aspectled.com/ . Both have quality lights and components. I have purchased many strips off amazon and they have been hit and miss as far as color, brightness, and the stickiness of the tape.