Home Automation Lighting Control THE IMPORTANCE OF DIMMING

How we control our lighting is RadioRA 2, UPB, almost as important as what lighting we choose. When I think about lighting control, I’m reminded of Goldilocks. Often controls are either too simple and don’t provide the level of finesse necessary to really make use of the lighting provided. Otherwise, they are the exact opposite; they are incredibly powerful in terms of control, but also too complex. The trick is finding a lighting control option that’s “just right.”

There are essentially three major types of control systems: local dimming/switching, single area controls, and whole-home systems. Before we get into the characteristics of each one, a few general principles on lighting control:

The biggest failure in lighting control is often that the controls, whether a slide dimmer or a keypad, are misplaced in the room. Entrances make sense, but people often don’t think of where they’d most like to control lighting within a room. The best example of this is the bedroom. It’s great to have a light switch at the door, but wouldn’t it also be nice to have controls near the bed? That way, you won’t have to get up to turn the lights out before you go to sleep.
Dimming makes lighting more sustainable. If you dim your lighting at all, no matter how you do it, you’re helping reduce energy consumption. Not only are you saving energy, but you are extending the life of your light source. Remember, all light sources in the end are based on using electricity to burn something. Anything you do to slow the burning extends the life of the light sources.
Dimming needs to be thought through in the beginning of a project. If your intention is to dim the lighting in a room, make sure that’s expressed early to your team. Any light source can be dimmed, as long as the proper components are specified at the beginning. It’s as simple as telling your electrician at the start of the project, “I want the compact fluorescent lights in the kitchen to be dimmable.” Any qualified electrician will know what it takes to make that happen, and the cost increase should be minor.
Think about your lighting control needs, but don’t make them too complicated. As we’re about to see, advanced lighting control systems are incredibly powerful. With devices like photocells, timers, and automated routines, lighting can be designed to anticipate your needs. If you’re the kind of person that loves that idea, I say go for it. Most of us, myself included, just want basic control of our lighting. If you’re talking to a lighting professional about dimming and you’re starting to lose track of all the things your system is doing, take a step back. Lighting, ultimately, should be simple.

Sustainability Tip: The Importance of Dimming

It’s impossible to understate the role dimming plays in making lighting more sustainable. Dimming your lights reduces electricity usage immediately, but just as importantly, it extends the life of your light sources, no matter what type. The rated life of a given light source assumes its run at maximum brightness. There’s no hard and fast rule for how much longer a bulb will last if dimmed (it varies by light source, shape, input voltage and other factors), but dimming your lamps over the life time of owning your home will dramatically reduce how often you replace the bulbs thus reducing your maintenance costs.

You can read more about the important role of lighting conservation and energy efficiency at Lutron’s website.

TYPES OF LIGHTING CONTROL SYSTEMS

Lighting control salespeople will tell you that there are myriad options when it comes to dimming and lighting control. They’re not wrong, but when all is said and done, there are essentially three major types of lighting control:

Local Dimming and Switching

Lutron Lumea Dimmer

These are the dimmers and switches we are all familiar with; usually they come in the form of a slider or a rotating wheel. By creating resistance, they lower the amount of current delivered to the light source, thus making it dimmer. Here are some things to remember when thinking about this type of system:

It’s dead simple. These controls are physical and intuitive; a small child can operate one of these dimmers because they are so straight forward.

It’s cheap! By far, it is the least expensive of the dimming options in small applications; the tradeoff is the enormous amount of wall space sacrificed for each dimmer.

Only one lighting concept is controlled at a time. As we discussed earlier, our lighting designs will require layers of lighting. Using this style of dimmer, every layer will require its own dimmer. That can make for very busy walls.

No technicians are required. While the dimmer itself will need to be installed by an electrician-once the dimmer is installed and working, no further technical help is needed. Like I said: dead simple.

Single Area or “Wall Box” Style Dimming System

Keypad for the Lutron RadioRA 2 System

The next step up in the dimming world makes the jump from analog to digital. These are single area or wall box style dimming systems. These systems do all of the electrical dimming in a recessed wall box usually mounted behind the main control panel. They are capable of controlling multiple loads and multiple kinds of loads (low-voltage halogen, line voltage halogen, dimmable fluorescent etc), but are generally designed to take on one area or room in the home. They can be controlled at multiple points in the room via remote wall-mounted keypads. Manufacturers also sell remote controls for these units. Some are even wi-fi enabled so you can control them from your smartphone. Digital lighting systems are more complicated than analog systems at the outset, but are ultimately simpler in day-to-day life. Digital systems rely on just two basic concepts in order to function:

Zones – A “zone” in lighting terms is any light or group of lights you want to control. So in a dining room with a chandelier, recessed accent lights, in-cabinet lights, and wall sconces, each of these would be a zone. Every zone (assuming it’s dimmable) is set to a level based on a percentage. In many cases, that’s a literal description of a change in electricity the fixture(s) is receiving; in the certain cases it’s more of a descriptive term for the effect rather than actual electrical change.
Presets – Once you’ve determined the levels at which you’d like all the fixtures to be dimmed, to you’ll want to save them for quick recall afterward. Control systems use presets to do this (sometimes called scenes). A preset is a series of dimmed levels that the system can recall when prompted. So in the same dining room scenario, you might create three presets: one has all of the lights on at full intensity for when you’re setting up for your dinner party, the next is a setting for dinner itself that you might activate before your guests arrive, and the last is everything turned off.

In this way, you can create recallable scenes for every room. It takes some forethought in the beginning of a project, but ultimately with one button push, you can recall a scene just as you created it months or years prior.

Some things to remember about single space dimming systems.

More complex up front, dead simple afterwards. Beyond the simple elegance of not needing to clutter your walls with multiple dimmers, lighting control systems mean one-touch control of your lighting.

Not as cheap. There are two main cost increases with this type of system. First is the equipment itself; this will involve the main unit (typical dimensions are a nominal 9”W X 5”T X 2” D and the depth is recessed within the wall), which houses the dimmers themselves, and the computer unit, which stores the dimming information for the project. The system will likely also include at least one auxiliary keypad. Keypads are generally placed in the same locations as light switches. Second is a system technician who can set it all up for you. While major lighting control companies offer excellent technical support, I don’t think of lighting control system installations as a DIY job. Not only does a licensed electrician have to do the wiring in most cases, but also a trained technician should be there to do the initial set up for you. Once the system is up and running (usually in less than an hour), you and the tech will set your dimming levels and you’ll be all set.

Computerization. I like lighting control systems a lot. I think they are best way to get total control over your lighting in a given area, but once a system is automated, there are the inevitable trade offs you get with computerization. Every time you make a change to your fixtures, it likely means an update to the programming. Some users will be able to make these changes themselves, but the majority will either need a technician to talk them through the change over the phone, or they’ll need someone to come out and make the changes for them. Either way, I have often heard the complaint that these systems are supposed to make lighting more simple, but they end up creating unforeseen headaches. My personal recommendation is to get to know your lighting control system as well as you know the other systems in your home. Once you’re familiar with it, you’ll jump the gap and learn to love lighting control systems.

Whole-Home Systems

Example of a touch-screen keypad from the Lutron HomeWorks QS System

The granddaddy of all lighting systems is a whole-home system. These systems require space on their own (usually a space the size of a broom closet) to house a central computer as well as the dimming modules for every lighting zone in your house. These whole-home systems use the same principles as their single area counter-parts but extend them to work in multiple areas. Generally, manufacturers price these systems so that if you wanted to put computerized lighting controls into your entire home, ordering one of these central systems would be less expensive than multiple single area systems.

The other major difference you’ll see with these systems is the introduction of time code events and multiple inputs. While single-area lighting control systems are capable of time-code events and receiving inputs from light sensors and the like, it is generally rare that you’ll want a single room in your house to operate on a time code or other such automated input. It’s when we get to whole-home control that these concepts become important.

Some important definitions:

Time code – this sounds exactly like what you think it is. At a specifically prescribed time every day, certain events are triggered. It could be the raising or lowering of motorized window shades or the turning specific lights on or off.

Photocells – essentially a light meter that is placed in a specific area to tell you how much natural light is entering the space. Photo cells are typically not employed as often when it comes to residential applications, but they can still be useful, especially if you have automated shades. In the summer, the system could lower or raise the shades when you’re not home based on the amount of light the face of the house is getting from the sun. In many ways, that’s simpler than setting a time code event.

Networked controls – Lighting control companies are touting the connection of lighting control systems to mobile devices and the Internet. The example often used in advertisements is turning on the lights for your home right before you arrive. There are lots of minor applications I could envision for this technology (scaring your family with turning on/off the lights while away on a business trip is one!) but it’s pretty rare that you need to control the lighting of your home remotely so often that you need an app for that. That said, having the ability to review and manipulate your programming from a laptop or other portable device in the house is valuable.

Take the suggestions above about needing a technician to come in and set up your system and multiply it when it comes to whole home systems. These systems can be complicated to set up depending on the size of the home and the complexity of the programming desired; they are also expensive compared to the other two options. At the end of the day, centralized dimming control is amazing. Setting dimming levels for every light in your home means having the perfect lighting scheme for all conceivable situations instantly recalled.

Recommendations for Control Systems

Budget will largely determine the nature of the lighting control system that makes sense in your home. Look at the rooms in your house and find the showpiece areas. While I’d love to say that every home should have automated lighting control, the reality is that the budget will determine these things more than anything. If you can afford to integrate digital controls into your most prized areas, I recommend you do so

You might have noticed that the links included in this tip are all from Lutron. That’s because they are best known and most complete lighting control company in the nation. I recieve no payment or sponsorship from Lutron of any kind.

Source: http://jamesbedell.com/basics-of-residential-lighting-control/

Home Automation Lighting Control

About UPB Technology

UPB technology provides an inexpensive and reliable solution for residential and commercial powerline communications applications. While other powerline communication technologies exist, none compare to UPB in cost per node, functionality and reliability. Highly Reliable — The UPB method of communication is 100 ~ 1000 times more reliable than current X-10 technology and 10 ~100 times more reliable than CEBUS or LONWORKS powerline technologies.  UPB is 99.9% reliable versus 70%-80% reliability of X-10.* UPB transmits farther (over a mile), is less susceptible to powerline noise and capacitive attenuation (signal reduction) than other technologies for three reasons: Pulse Position Modulation is a highly reliable time based method of sending bits; it narrows the possibility of power line noise affecting communication, unlike X-10 and other carrier modulation technologies. UPB pulses on the power line are approximately 40 volts; more than five times greater than the 5 to 7 volt signals of X-10. UPB transmits at low (4 to 40 kHz) frequencies, carrying much more power than higher frequency technologies like X-10 that transmits at 120 kHz. When put on one phase of a home’s two phase power line, the signals are so strong they go out to the street side transformer and are induced on the opposite phase, returning back to the home.  Since UPB transmits at a low frequency, it does not affect other powerline devices or appliance/loads. No New Wires – UPB dimmer switches are installed exactly like regular dimmer switches.  They connect to a home’s standard wiring. Since no new or special wiring is required, they work great in retrofit applications too. Affordable — UPB dimmer switches can be as affordable as high end non-communicating dimmers.  When comparing costs of home upgrades (theater TV, remodeled bath or kitchen) adding lighting automation and control to a room or whole home provides a surprising improvement in quality of life at a comparably low cost. Simplicity – Adding lighting control can be as simple as plugging in dimming modules or replacing dimming switches Pre-Configured Series. Unlike radio frequency (RF) wireless switches, where reliability is proportional to the number of ‘mess-networked’ switches installed, UPB provides reliability and performance anywhere in the home without the need of repeaters.        Peer to Peer – No host computer or central controller is necessary for single, point-to-point control or group (lighting scene) control.  UPB is a no-host, peer to peer network.  Interruption of power, or single point controller/repeater failure, will not affect a stand-alone UPB network. Two Way Communications – Hardware, software and protocol design allows for two-way communication in all products.  Status can be confirmed with polling or automatically transmitted upon local/manual load changes.   House Separation – Neighbors with UPB will not control each other’s lights.  The UPB addressing scheme allows for 250 systems (houses) on each transformer and 250 devices on each system. It incorporates over 64,000 total addresses compared to 256 for conventional X-10. Interaction – UPB communication can be used in the presence of all X-10, CEBus, HomePlug or LonWorks compatible equipment with no interference between either. The UPB technology uses a completely different frequency range than any of the wide-band, narrow-band, or spread spectrum technologies. The physical method of UPB communication is entirely different than the modulation-demodulation techniques of all X-10, CEBus, or LonWorks. Higher Speed – 20 to 40 times the speed of X- 10 in terms of data transmitted. This is equivalent to over ten full commands per second. The average latency of command to action is less than 0.1 second.   UPB System Description X-10 to UPB Migration   * Reliability is defined as the percentage of transmitter/receiver pairs that correctly operate upon initial installation. The UPB test units are randomly installed in the environment typical of the target market. This market is defined as the single-family residential market in the US, homes with a median size of 2500 Sq, Ft. This environment is defined to be the existing base of homes, without any modifications, which means there should be no “fixing” the electrical system of the residence by adding couplers, repeaters or filtering.