Lighting Control Suppliers
   
There are a dozen or so reputable
vendors as well as a
number of suppliers of industry standard X10 devices.
Lighting control for the residential market
often refer to "zones" where a zone is the light (or lights)
controlled by a single switch or dimmer. Commercial suppliers often
refer to "channels" where each channel controls
a light or a
lighting feature - thus
in some commercial applications, you may need 4, 6, 8 or even 16
channels to control
a single light. Our discussion will focus on the suppliers
more frequently
found in the UK and will use channels and zones interchangeably (but
note that in some cases you may need more channels/zones than lights
you want to control):
iLight supplies an impressive range of lighting control
equipment, accessories and proprietary control panels. It can support
up to 65,000 iLight devices and each device can have up to 255 channels.
A channel supports a lighting feature - at its simplest switching a
zone on or off. However, several channels can be combined in support
of a single zone to provide for other lighting features such as colour,
patterns and movement.
The various systems offered can handle all types of
lighting (tungsten, fluorescent, halogen, etc.) for both indoor and
outdoor/architectural lighting. Single loads of up to 16 Amps can
be accommodated.
The system
operates
using a networking protocol termed iCANnet (based on the industry
standard CAN protocol, see glossary) using
screened CAT5 cable but has also built-in RS485 port for integration
with other Main Control Units such
as the ones supplied by AMX and Crestron.
Further details can be obtained from the iLight's
website.
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Supplies two communicating ranges equipped with RS485
interfaces: The Environscene (bare terminals connector) and
the PFX
(RJ11 jack connector) lighting control systems.
The limit on the PFX range is
8 devices (1 master can control 7 slaves) and 32 channels per device.
Beyond that you need to provide the integration using either an RS485-capable
Main Control Unit.
In this configuration you can operate up to 32 devices per RS485
port. So for instance, with a standard AMX/Crestron Main Control Unit
you can get 6 RS485 ports x 32 masters/port x 8 devices/master x 32
channels/device or
over 48,000
channels. And you can still add more RS485 ports, if required.
As with iLight, it supports all types of lighting and
has its own proprietary panels and can connect with the Elan
Via colour touchscreen using a RS485/RS232
adaptor.
Interestingly, Futronix is the only supplier that rates
the noise of their switching equipment: 30db at 1m. Maximum load
on commercial dimmers is 20A.
Further details can be obtained from the Futronix
web site.
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LiteTouch provides solutions suitable to medium-sized
residences. A LiteTouch's Central Control Unit can control up to 32
dimmers/relays devices, each with
up to 8 channels using standard RS485 interface. So the system is designed
for up to 256 channels/zones.
The control unit in itself can be controlled
through a RS232 port and it would be feasible to connect other control
units to different RS232 ports and thus extend the range of the installation.
The maximum number of
channels in this configuration using a standard AMX/Crestron Main
Control Unit this would be 6x32x8 or over 1,500 channels. Not a small
number but
not
as impressive as
iLight
or Futronix.
Maximum load is 20 Amps and the system supports all
standard types of lighting.
An interesting feature is that the LiteTouch control unit can perform
many of the control functions that are typically relegated to a security
system or
the Main Control Unit (such as holiday mode or touchtone phone control)
and therefore it can be installed on its own (initially) to provide
these capabilities.
You can learn more about this system at the LiteTouch
website. A similar offering is Vantage.
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Lutron offers four basic switching/dimming
units (GrafikEye 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 series) as well as a whole-house
solution similar to the one offered by LiteTouch and Vantage above.
Each
GrafikEye series comes in different zone configurations, to help you
defining your requirements
below we summarize the key parameters (largest configuration) for each
series (as of 1 June 03):
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GrafikEye
2400 - 4 zones/channels, 4 scenes/setting, 6A max.
Entry level light control system (1 room).
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GrafikEye
3500 - 6 zones/channels, 4 scenes/settings, 12A max (power boosters
and special loads available)
Extensible to 48 zones and 16 scenes by chain-link a further 7 units.
RS232 interface.
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GrafikEye
4500 - 24 zones/channels, 16 scenes/settings, 12A max (power boosters
and special loads available).
Extensible to 64 zones and 16 scenes by chain-link a further 7 units.
RS232 interface.
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GrafikEye
6000 - 512 zones/channels, 512 scenes/settings, 32 local areas, 4
master areas.
Unit used for whole-house lighting control (say, up to 32 rooms). RS232
interface. DMX512 interface.
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In addition, Lutron has developed
a number of products to make whole-house, and whole-building, light control
easier without the need of additional hardware:
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HomeWorks
Series 4 - a control unit which containing 8 switching/dimming (up
to 4 channels each) modules plus the ability to interconnect up
8 GrafikEye modules (wired). It
can interface
with home automation
systems
through
a single built-in RS232. The unit can replay light patterns while
on holidays and respond to touch-tone phone commands. The unit
is similar in features to the LiteTouch and Vantage systems, but
can
also
interface with wireless controls.
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HomeServe
- a wireless control unit which can communicate with various HomeWorks/GrafikEye
systems.
A similar unit for a smaller number of zones (up to 32)
is the "RadioRA".
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You can obtain a great deal of information
(albeit somewhat disorganized!) from Lutron's
web site.
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Both AMX and Creston supplied lighting systems for commercial
applications which already have AXlink (for AMX) or CrestNet (for
Crestron) interfaces built-in so simplifying installation. AMX light
control systems
are branded "Radia".
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