hi forest,
the lights i put in the coves are as bright and are a better quality light. you will have to build stands like i did to get them up towards the top of the cove or you will lose alot of light.
the tradeoff is brightness for power. i used the lower power 3528's at 60 led/meter. if i had used the 5050 even at 30 led per meter they would have been a little brighter, but alot more power.
the cove lights look like regular florescent fixtures but i assure you they are not. they have an inverter circuit in them so they convert 12v into 110v. so with straight 12v going to them, they just hook up right to the strip lites. your switches are rated for both AC and DC so no problem with them.
led's are funky about dimmers, so be careful about that.
the thing to pay attention to on the led's is the color temp. i dispise warm light colors (3000k). i love white or cool white (6000k min). you have to decide what look you like and want.
i spent more in the wood to build the platforms than i did for the cove led's i think. i had 25 feet of cove lights front and back and paid ten bucks per 16 foot strips. but, i took the coves entirely off and that takes a little while. i have tips for it if you have not done it before. i screwed the platforms i made down to the cove base.
i love them.
tom
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