Lighting control have just completed commissioning the latest Table table from the Whitbread Family.
Working Along with Electrical Contractors PEI Delta and Manufacturers Mode lighting
These units have a Tiger control system along with a timer module recalling scenes to ensure the lighting remains as designed throughout the units operation.
New restaurant in Glasgow
Lighting Control have been working hard to complete the lightiong control systems at the latest Sapporo Teppanyaki restaurant in Glasgow.
The systems control all sorts of lighting types including fluorescent, incandescent, LED and many types of control.
Control systems from Mode lighting allowed the control of all units from a single unit in the form of the workhorse Tiger lighting system.
LED colour change was dealt with by the dedicated Colourstyle DMX controller.
The new range of VELUX INTEGRA® skylights allow remote control via infra red for skylights above stairwells and at height.
The infra red control while very advanced can be imitated by an infra red blaster as part of your lighting or building control system. In this way the control of the windows can be grouped into system macros or timed rules as part of the overall control schema.
The control over roof lights in this way allow groups of roof lights to be controlled together.
Contact us to discuss your integration needs.
The Mulberries
Lighting control’s Engineers have completed commissioning work on the second phase of this prime Edinburgh development.
The Lighting system includes some simple automation of cupboard lights using simple magnetic contact closures.
In General the lighting is controlled using impulse control via mode evolution plates. Whole house control is also available to the user from two main function plates.
Loch Maree
Our work in Scotland often takes us to the far corners of our beautiful country and last week was no exception.
Dan Aberdeen our senior engineer travelled up to the north west of Scotland near gairloch to complete the programming of a unique luxury redidential project at Slattadale on the banks of Loch Maree.
The Lighting design for the project was carried out by Gavin Fraser of Foto-ma and utilized a wide variety of types of luminaires in the complex lighting scheme.
The system control used the mode evolution system throughout.
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Microphonics™ isn’t a word is it? It is now!
Microphonics
As those of you who know me will be aware I am a big fan of Automation. The use of sensors in control systems is the clever and progressive way forward.
Putting light switches when they are not the best solution is a waste of money, time and energy. However specifiers and installers are still scared of occupancy sensors.
They are scared of the call-out when Mr Client has been plunged into darkness while reading his paper in “The Library”.
This has been a real problem and often the only way to counter the problem is to up the time delay off to a sufficient level that we are confident that a traditional good quality PIR occupancy will re-trigger the time delay off.
This of course is not an ideal solution as we end up having lights and fans on burning energy for longer than we should have.
Some companies looked at gate sensors systems by which a control system could monitor a person entering and leaving a space and combine these with a PIR to get a more accurate result. These systems have a number of limitations including the problems cause by multiple users and high cost due to the requirement for multiple sensors.
Sensor Switch have produced a dual technology sensor which combines a PIR detector with a high gain microphone and some clever audio processing to achieve a good result.
Motion is first detected by the PIR and the the microphone is switched on to listen for continued occupancy.
The system filters out repetitive noises such as plumbing and HVAC sounds to allow the sensor just to trigger from sudden noise changes such as created by a user.
I will be very interested to find out how well the unit deals with background music!
Lighting controls were showing the colourstyle controller at the recent Bar 09 Show at The highland Showground in Edinburgh.
The Colourstyle controller is the perfect controller for back bar effect lighting. The controller allows complex colour effects to be setup using the setup wizard and then provides a very usable interface for day to day use.
The system can also be programmed with timed rules to allow automation.
DMX as a standard was developed for the entertainment industry and has been adopted for use in large architectural projects over the last few years.
Lot of articles on the internet cover the electronic details of what DMX is which is of interest to those wishing to create products that send or receive and wish to comply to the standard. This is of no interest to lighting designers and electrical contractors. The architecture of a DMX control system is governed by the other side of the standard EIA485 this describes the electrical system that DMX uses as it’s bedrock. This is the roadway that the communication runs on; if this underlying infrastructure is not correct then the communications trying to use it will falter and the system will never be stable and reliable.
DMX Standard was originally adopted for use by “lampys” at touring events where large entertainment systems are setup up for a show or a series of shows before being all packed up into a number of trucks and moved to the next show.
Power distribution for these shows is all done using flexible rubber cable and Ceeform cables connecting different parts of the systems using portable distribution units. The construction industry has a more cost effective and longer lasting method using steel wire armour and fixed distribution boards around a project.
The distribution for a project is designed in a drawing office by an electrical engineer.
Power Distribution Drawing
The engineer designs the system by completing calculations and specifying suitable cabling and distribution panels to ensure that the system will work correctly and safely.
DMX is used by the construction industry primarily to control colour change lighting. By it’s nature a single colour change unit uses three or four channels of DMX and puts a unit load on the DMX controller of the system.
In the same way as the electrical distribution example above DMX requires design. It’s a simple thing to say but frequently the architecture of a DMX system is left to chance. When a ring main is required in a electrical system often the exact numbers of outlets and types of outlets will not be specified or indeed if a small change is required then the installing electrician will make the design change in a flash. This is simple as a the architecture (limits on length, number of outlets, spurs) is well known by that electrician through years of installing these simple systems.
DMX is a simple architecture however colour change systems can use a large number of DMX recievers and control channels. In addition to this systems should be designed to allow section testing by isolation and also to ensure downtime in certain areas of the system will not affect control over other parts of the system.
Simple DMX systems have a single cable connecting a number of fittings allowing a controller to control attributes on all these fittings independently. In reality all but the most basic DMX systems require boosters, splitters and termination to allow a stable system to exist and to ensure minimum installation time.
DMX is a not a proprietary control standard it is used by countless manufacturers and the size and complexity of DMX control required in a project is on the increase all the time.
So don’t chance it ! Were here to help!
Lighting control have carried out specification creation , programming , testing and end user documentation for this top end luxury residential development in Edinburgh.
A substantial detached Victorian house, restored and redesigned by Livit Construction utilising the very best in modern fixtures and fittings to form a state of the art home, ideal for modern family life and entertaining with interlinking and flexible accommodation. Standing within landscaped garden grounds in one of Edinburgh’s most exclusive areas, The Hermitage offers magnificent views of the City skyline including Edinburgh Castle and The Braid Hills along with extensive off road parking.
Lighting control have programmed scene and fade control in each area using the mode lighting Evolution lighting control system. In two local areas the mode Scenestyle was chosen as a solution a demo of this product can be found here.
The programming has been completed for the viewing of the property but is of course fully customisable 
once the new owners take control of the property.
Additional features which can be added include timed control, remote lighting control via the Internet, Exit corridors and daylight harvesting.
Lighting control have completed programming of the function areas at the Ramada hotel inverness.
The system has scene control using the Tiger lighting control system.
The Tiger system is a great system for small independent spaces where control over commercial 0-10V fittings is required along with traditional halogen dimming.
