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iLights range of iCAN control products have been carefully designed to meet the needs of all people involved with a project including lighting and interior designers, installers and the final users of the system.
Explain the different Lighting Communication Terminologies
Light industry is rich in codes, acronyms and technical names used to describe the communication between lighting control devices. Some of them define industry standards, other manufacturer specific solutions.
Fluorescent ballast control
1 – 10V
Mains power to the ballast is switched separately and externally to the ballast. Ballasts with this control incorporate a dimming circuit controlled by an analogue 1 – 10VDC control voltage (EN60929 standard). It remains the standard means of controlling the light level of fluorescent ballasts.
DSI
This digital ballast control offer an advantage over the 1-10V control having an internal electronic power switch. It removes the requirement to separately switch the power supply to the ballasts, as the power can be switched on/off as part of a control message.
DALI
Offering similar benefits to DSI, Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) is a standard devised by major European ballast manufacturers. The concept requires a random addressing of each ballast and is limited to a maximum of 64 DALI ballasts or devices such as control panels and sensor.
Audio Visual Integration
Manufacturers use the RS buses with their own protocols written in HEX code or ASCII characters. The Recommended Standards (RS) are the means of communication not the message / protocol.
RS232
RS232 offers simple point-to-point communication between two devices at relatively slow data rates (up to 20K bits/second) and short distances up to 15m.
RS422
Designed for greater distances (up to 1200m) and higher Baud rates (100K bits / second) than RS232 is also specified for multi-drop applications where one driver is connected to, and transmits on, a "bus" of receivers.
RS485
RS485 has replaced RS422 and allows multiple devices to talk to each other. It is similar to RS422 in terms of data rates and distance.
Entertainment lighting control
DMX512
This internationally accepted standard of communication offers 512 control channels available on a single network. The protocol runs on a RS485 bus at 250K bits / second (Baud) at 750m. It is commonly used in entertainment lighting products, such as control desks, dimmer packs, moving lights and colour scrollers.
ACN
New control protocol being currently designed in the United States, that will run on a standard ethernet bus.
Integrated bus and protocol systems
All these systems are open source and their protocol is available and open to manufacturers to create compliant products. They offer distributed control (no central control system) and each device on the network is part of the intelligence collective.
CAN
Developed by Robert Bosch GMBH, Controller Area Networ (CAN) is used in the automotive industry. Designed to work in hostile environments, it is intrinsically stable and reliable. Due to its reliability and cost effectiveness it is used by a number of control manufacturers.
LonWorks
An open standard for control networks offered by Echelon.It can be made up of a variety of LonWorks compliant products linked together on the same LonWorks network used in factory and building automation.
EIB
Widely used in Europe for building automation, European Installation Bus (EIB) control components are made by a collective of German electrical accessory manufacturers called Insta.
What are the features found on a touch screen?
Comprehensive graphical control of all circuits within an area with virtual fader control for manual operation of circuit levels. Touch panels feature a hidden page for lighting designer to program pre-set scenes. These panels automatically fade down screen brightness to non-intrusile levels after a period of inactivity. The LCD touch screen communicates directly with the iCANnet™ network. Messages are both transmitted and received, allowing remote monitoring of control panels and sensors.
What is a touch screen?
Offering great flexibility, this method of control is ideal for areas where complex control is required. It is completely software based, and programs can be tailored to suit the precise needs of the user. All manual, scene set, time clock and graphical control can all be integrated into one simple control panel. It provides an intuitive "user friendly" method of interfacing to the lighting control system. Touch screen panels can be programmed to control the lighting, the motorised curtains, the air conditioning, the TV, and any other device that is fitted with the appropriate control interface. The screens can be programmed in a highly graphical way to guide the user through what they should do to achieve the desired result. This is particularly useful where users have a variety of languages or levels of skill.
What other methods could you use for scene setting?
There are various solutions available - some offer an automated scene selection, like time clocks, PE/PIR units ensuring that the correct scenes are set at the appropriate time of day and day of the week. PE/PIR units allow scenes to be triggered or selected automatically, depending on ranges of natural light intensities or by persons entering a room or area in a building. Other solutions are also available, like LCD touch screen controllers, wireless remote hand held controls, central PC controllers with remote access and Audio Visual and Home control systems, as well as Building Management Computer systems.
How would you use a user interface?
Push-button control panels are most common interface solution. Placed in a logical position within a room these panels feature back illuminated caps and legend with the scene name. They can operate in parallel with other controls.
What products would you use to program lighting scenes?
Different applications for the scene setting are available. You can use control panels themselves, a hand held programmer or a laptop computer with suitable software (iCANsoft™). The secure memory facility in the iCAN™ source controllers provides a capacity for over 128 scenes, which is more than adequate for even the most demanding of installations.
What is scenesetting?
Lighting is a fundamental part of scene setting - a process of setting a mood in a theatrical play. During a play, the scene may change dramatically to create background for the storyline or it may remain unchanged throughout the play. Light is very important, as it directs our attention to where the action is. Clever and creative use of lighting in theatre enables very basic Sets to be dramatically manipulated to spectacular effect by the director. The same principles of lighting apply in an architectural application
How do you dim fluorescents?
There is a vast amount of fluorescent lamp types available on the market today but only these with four pins are dimmable. Additionally, they must be supplied with ballasts that are electronically dimmable. Please note that while there still are mains voltage dimmable ballasts available on the market, these are very expsnive and do not comply with CE directives on EMC, Safety or the Low Voltage Directive and their use in EU is illegal.
iLight™ offers a range of HF Ballast controllers that are compatible with all commercially available dimmable ballasts available in the EU:
- the most common units require the mains supply to be switched on or off, and the intensity of the lamp is determined by a control voltage in the range 1->10 volts.
- digital ballasts available from Tridonic and referred to as DSI ballasts. The primary advantage that these ballasts have over the 1->10-volt units is that they have an internal electronic switch. By using the digital control pair, the power can be switched on/off as part of a control message. This removes the requirement to separately switch the power supply to the ballasts.
- DALI ballasts offer integral controls and scene setting functions. The concept requires a random addressing of each ballast. This means that commissioning or maintaining installed systems is difficult and expensive.
What the advantages of adaptive dimmers
FET source controller (field effect transistor) developed by iLight™solves compatibility issues in loads controlled by triac and transistor dimmers. Voltage and current are monitored in Adaptive Dimmer, which dynamically controls the dimmers operation. This solution offers several major benefits over conventional dimmers:
- it works with resistive, capacitive and inductive loads and detect reactive loads. If a reactive load is connected to the dimmer, it will immediately switch to full on avoiding any possible damage to the gear associated with that circuit. Alternatively, the unit can be configured to switch off, if that is the user preference.
- adaptive source controller “sees” an inductive load, it adopts a leading edge dimming mode. Furthermore the patented iProtect™ circuitry within the source controller can determine if the load is too great for it to cope with. In this case the unit will immediately switch off.
- it adopts a trailing edge dimming methodology to resistive or capacitive load. This has the added benefit that the unit will be then totally silent in operation - because trailing edge dimming techniques result in there being no magneto-striction in the suppression chokes (used for RFI (EMC) suppression).
- the speed of “turn on” can be precisely and dynamically controlled. In entertainment lighting, there is a requirement to be able to flash lights on very quickly. However, when theatrical lamps are turned full on instantly, the filaments suffer thermal shock. This shock reduces the life of the lamp. By optimising the turn on time in a dynamic way, the fastest possible turn on times may be achieved whilst minimising the thermal shock to the lamps and thus dramatically extending lamp life.
What is a transistor dimmer?
Transistor dimmer, unlike triac dimmer is compatible with electronic transformers even if they are not designed for dimming application. It eliminates the possibility of voltage peaks by switching the current off and is known as trailing edge dimmer.
What are the concerns with electronic transformers?
Electronic transformers can induce problems with some dimmers. Most dimmers in UK employ triac or thyristor pair circuitry to control the mains voltage and reduce the light output in a lamp. Triac dimmers can produce voltage peaks when used with electronic transformers. Transformer designed to work with triac dimmer will not produce these peaks and will not emit noise when dimmed, indicating internal stress and possible failure.
What is the difference between triac and thyristor dimmers?
Both components are very similar and operate on the same basis. Thyristors are more expensive than Triacs but are more robust.Triacs are two thyristors combined in one module and are less likely to emit headache inducing flickering (50Hz) on failure and reduce the damage to transformers.
How does a dimmer work?
Dimmer controls the amount of energy passed to a lamp. There are different types of dimmers available on the market but most of them employ triac or thyristor devices. Their operation is very similar and used for resistive and inductive loads like incandescent, low voltage and cold cathode lamp sources. Firing pulse dictates when the device starts to conduct and chop the sinusoidal mains voltage waveform.
