JCC Catalogue 30

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260 Technical
Components of lighting
control systems
A lighting control system is constructed from a range of individual components that may be supplied by different
manufacturers. Understanding these components and their ease of integration is important when designing a good
lighting control system.
DRIVERS
Drivers are the electronic systems that manage the power to an LED fitting and therefore change the light output.
The primary driver types are:
Non-dimmable The driver cannot adjust the power to the LED fitting and can therefore only
be switched on/off.
Dimmable The power to the LED fitting is changed by the driver when it receives a signal from
a controller.
Step dimming The power to the LED fitting can be changed but only in fixed incremental amounts.
This is useful when limited illumination is required for safety or security.
DETECTORS
Detectors provide the lighting control system with information on its environment; has the light level changed or are there people
in the area? Multi-sensor technologies can be combined into a single detector or operate separately.
The primary sensor types are:
PIR Identifies people by looking for changes in the heat pattern, heat is always
generated by people.
Microwave A transmitter sends out microwaves that bounce off people and are received back
at the sensor. These detectors can be more robust than a PIR but travel through
walls and can cause unplanned detection.
Ultrasonic Operate on the Doppler principle by emitting ultrasonic high-frequency sound waves
into the room and then monitoring the variations of that signal as they return
to a microphone within the sensor.
Photocell Detects the amount of light entering the sensor.
SWITCHES
Switches are the manual method of managing lighting.
The primary switch types are:
On/off Simply interrupts the electrical supply to the light fitting.
On/off timed Switches the lights on for a pre-programmed time and are often used in communal
access corridors and staircases.
Dimmable Switches allow adjustment of the lighting, often adjusted by rotation or the length
of time the switch is held down.
TRANSMISSION OPTIONS
There are three primary types of transmitting control information to light fittings:
Mains power Simple to install as it only requires a mains supply cable and is used for applications
that use limited power such as domestic lighting. Phase dimming uses this form
of transmission and the dimmable FGLED® range uses this technology.
Separate control wire Used to control most commercial applications where the power usage is greater.
Allows the transmission of 1-10 Volt, DALI, and DSI directly to the light fittings.
Wireless transmission Used to transmit a digital signal and doesn’t require a separate control wire, however
wireless links can suffer interference and are limited in range particularly where
walls and metal objects exist. ZigBee is an example standard that allows meshing
to increase range and reliability.