Classic Rocker switch / Dolly switch / Button / Rotary

These switches are intuitive to use, unobtrusive and can be made to match the decoration of the room.

It may be possible for instance to combine up to three button switches and a rotary switch in a single plate to provide on/off control, dimming and selection of between 2 and 4 scenes. For more details see Lighting Control.

These switches retail between £5 and £50 (at the top end).

For some examples see, for instance, Forbes and Lomax.

 

Lutron control panel

This is a typical wall panel provided by many suppliers of lighting systems. We pick up the Lutron one as representative.

The panel provides control on dimming and pre-set lighting scenes. It is easy to integrate with the lighting system of choice but most clients opt for hiding it away behind wooden panels (as this one is!) or similar items matching the decoration of the room.

Crestron Isys TPS-6000

This is a 15" touch screen with a 1024x768 resolution and 64000 colours. It is also capable of displaying video and graphic animations which allows for a rich user interface.

An optional two-way RF module allows for almost wireless operation - although you still need mains power cable and any video feeds that you may want to see, but it means that you can relocate the panel without too much trouble. You can find further details at Crestron's web site.

A similar panel is the AMX Modero.

Portable Personal Computer.

It uses 4.8/2.4GHz radio frequency band with IEEE 802.11a/b protocol to communicate two-ways with a base station.  Portable PC retail for about £1,500 ($2,200) but this does not include network hub and control base station.

Display can be up to 17", 1280x800, 16M colour touch screen.