6 minute read
Paradigm Shift
By C. Webster Marsh, Penumbra Controls, Lighting Controls Association
The simplicity and effectiveness of lighting controls can change dramatically when lighting fixtures are dimmed via digital protocols, such as DMX512 or DALI. This change has facilitated more advanced controls solutions, improved interoperability, and has altered the landscape of lighting control systems and how they are installed.
Many people are resisting this change, however, and it appears as though we are headed towards another paradigm shift that will sustain those who adapt and eliminate those who don’t.
At the outset, electric lighting controls began with a simple control scheme: lighting can be on or off. This was often via a light switch or a relay that would control groups of luminaires that shared the same circuit. Power to the luminaires was cut off by physically severing the circuit that powered the luminaires. With this scheme, it was common to assume that control groups shared a power circuit and that any new zones needed a new circuit and switch.
1.Lighting can be on or off.
Eventually, a new scheme was introduced with the innovation of dimming controls. No longer was it just on or off, but it was also: lighting can be brighter or dimmer. This new truism still relied on the same principles of the first control scheme, in that zones shared the same circuit and were switched and dimmed together, and it was very expensive to provide individual control of each luminaire. At the outset of this new principle, phase dimming was the most popular option available, which used the power feeding the luminaires to also dim them.
2. Lighting can be brighter or dimmer. static or dynamic.
Following this improvement, we saw another moment of change with a new scheme: lighting can be static or dynamic. Traditional dimming systems would only be able to adjust the brightness of a static white luminaire, but many luminaires today are no longer just static white. Luminaires can be color changing, tunable white, or dim to warm. Whether it’s a trend or not, dynamic color control capabilities are currently in a phase of growth, and their controls needs are much more advanced than their predecessors.
3. Lighting can be static or dynamic.
Dynamic lighting was not possible when luminaires were shackled to each other via a shared control circuit or dependent on phase dimming, but nowadays, luminaires don’t have to be switched via the power circuit or dimmed with their own power source. Luminaires can now be circuit agnostic, which means that luminaires can be controlled individually even when they share the same circuit. And, they can have multiple attributes, which means that they have different independently controlled colors or functions.
Because of this new relationship with circuits, the cost of controlling single fixture zones plummets in comparison to previous iterations. Additionally, with open standardized protocols, such as DALI, dimming compatibility is guaranteed, unlike with phase-dimmed fixtures, where there’s always a worry that dimming won’t work.
4.Lighting can be circuit dependent or agnostic.
These new schemes throw out a lot of the traditional assumptions about lighting controls and introduce a whole new paradigm for the industry to consider. This new paradigm has a great amount of friction with those who are resistant to change, and it’s understandable why there are those who want to keep the status quo.
But many people have made the argument that those who rigidly hold on to the “old ways” will fade away and be replaced by those who adapt, because the benefits of the new technology far outweigh the time and effort in learning how to install them.
Smartphones were once a rarity that people refused to adopt because they were new, unfamiliar, and incredibly expensive. Now, it is hard to find people, in the modern world, without a smartphone. Looking through this lens, we can see the parallels in our own industry. Digitally dimmed fixtures are the smartphones of lighting installation, but we are, at current, still discovering how they fit into our projects.
It’s clear that they can reduce labor, improve interoperability, and even decrease the total cost of a project. Without the need for a dimmer or a relay for each group, the size of the control system can shrink from dozens of devices to a small panel. Countless wires routing around a project are reduced to a few wires daisy-chaining all the fixtures in an area. With standardized digital protocols, dimming compatibility issues are waning. This new scheme's simplicity requires some knowledge and skill, but the end product is significantly better in many ways.
Lighting controls are not the same as they were, and so the question being asked is: Will you resist the change or adapt to new technology?
Modern controls are more complex than they have ever been, but, much like how people accommodated going from switching to dimming, the benefits outweigh the costs. Early versions of dimmers were marketed as energy-saving devices, but modern lighting installations rely heavily on the ability to dim luminaires, and this change took time, effort, and a rethinking of how to work with lighting.
Similarly, changing our mindset to accommodate digitally dimmed luminaires, instead of just maintaining the same analog dimming, will also take time and effort, but it will be worth it and will improve the success of future installations. Thanks to new controls systems, we can think bigger when it comes to lighting installations. Big ideas can’t emerge if we adhere to the comfort zone where complex control systems are thought of as an “expensive add-on” feature. To improve installation and the industry, start thinking about lighting with these new schemes that state that lighting can be dynamic and circuit agnostic.
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