Lighting a small closet can be a pain. Reddit user kavisiegel suggests adding rope lights inside the door frame with an automatic switch to make things easier. The system kavisiegel set up includes a relay and a switch so that the light turns on by itself when the door is opened and shuts off when it closes. If you’re not keen to mess around with wiring, plugging the rope lights into an outlet tied to a wall switch (if you have one available) could work just as well.
Quoted from Reddit user Kavisiegel:
Took about an hour to install, and about an hour to source the parts. Before this, the only light came from the room next to the closet and I regularly needed a flashlight.
The procedure was simple. On the other side of that wall is the refrigerator, so I actually plugged the transformer in with the fridge. The transformer rests on top of the water tap that’s meant to hook up a fridge water dispenser. Perfect little cubby since we don’t use it. I then used a stud finder and realized it’s pretty much solid wood and had to poke a hole about 6 inches back to push the wire though. Unfortunate, since you can see that wire and it’s less hidden than I wanted. Oh well! Since this is 12v, it’s low voltage and therefore no permit is required in my area.
The LED strip had the same plug as the transformer did, so I recycled it to plug the strip into the relay. I couldn’t find a reed switch rated high enough for the current of the LEDs, so that’s where the relay came in. I just crimped on the wires to stick with the style of the relay. I had them laying around, so it made this all really easy. The lights now come on when you open the door, and come off when you close it. Plus there’s a bonus satisfying “click” coming off the relay to let you know the light did in fact turn off.
Parts list:
Relay – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002KR9GG
LED Strip – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002QQ48TK
Power Supply – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003Z6ZR5O
Switch – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009SUF08