Here are a few tips on how to successfully specify a wireless system:
WHAT ARE WIRELESS LIGHTING CONTROL?
Learn About Wireless Lighting Control
Rockgate excels in designing and delivering advanced lighting control solutions, including both wireless and wired systems. As leaders in the field, we offer award-winning wireless lighting solutions paired with widely interoperable luminaire components. Our expertise ensures the creation of top-tier smart lighting solutions.
What is Wireless Lighting Control?
In wireless lighting systems, control signals are transmitted via radio waves rather than using traditional low-voltage wiring. These systems use a mesh network for communication, allowing for easy and secure addition, removal, or replacement of devices. Most smart lighting setups use low-power, short-range radio technologies, with Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) being the most common.
The benefits of managing lighting wirelessly include increased flexibility during installation, easier scalability, and reduced costs. The quick installation process and straightforward maintenance, combined with advanced control features, make wireless lighting an excellent choice for both renovation projects and new constructions.
The benefits of wireless lighting control
Lower Installation Costs
Wireless lighting control reduces the need for extensive wiring, leading to fewer labor hours and materials. This is particularly advantageous in hard-to-wire spaces, significantly cutting down installation time and costs.
Easy to Set Up
Installation is straightforward with wireless lighting control. Typically, you only need electricity and a control device, like a mobile app or a wireless switch. Systems like Rockgate ActiveAhead can even operate automatically, simplifying setup further.
Flexibility
Wireless systems offer the freedom to add, remove, and replace devices as needed. Devices can be installed across various spaces and materials without the concern of a single point of failure, thanks to the mesh network design.
Scalability
Adapting to changes in space is easy with wireless lighting control. You can scale the system to accommodate new walls, rooms, floors, or buildings without the expense of rewiring or complex commissioning processes.
Reliability
Device maintenance and replacement are straightforward and efficient. The high degree of device interoperability enhances network management, ensuring secure data transmission and easy recovery, while future-proofing the infrastructure.
Security
Wireless lighting control employs encrypted communication protocols, ensuring that only trusted and compatible devices can join and communicate within the network, enhancing overall security.
How to Specify Wireless Lighting Control
For those specifying a lighting system, it’s important to know that wireless lighting controls offer all the advantages of wired systems without sacrificing usability or energy efficiency. You can set up groups, create scenes, use daylight harvesting, and automate the system just as you would with a DALI system.
The key with wireless systems is to ensure that all devices can communicate effectively with each other. When specifying a wireless project, consider the system’s functionality and interoperability. Are the required devices compatible? How scalable is the system you’ve chosen?
Ensure Communication
Verify that all devices can communicate effectively. This means ensuring no weak or blocked signals that could impair the system’s functionality.
No Weak Signals
Ensure that the wireless system is designed to avoid weak signals. Consider the placement of devices to prevent interference and signal loss.
Check the Guidelines
Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for installation and configuration to ensure optimal performance and compatibility.
Interoperability
Confirm that all devices in the system are compatible and can interact seamlessly. This includes checking the interoperability of different devices and systems within the project.
How to design wireless luminaires?
Designing wireless luminaires is crucial for effective wireless lighting control systems. To guarantee that all devices can communicate properly, it’s important to prevent unintentional blockages or weakening of the radio signal. You can use familiar designs and materials, but following a few key guidelines will help ensure your wireless design works perfectly.
Additionally, the variety of available wireless systems can influence your luminaire design, as the compatibility and availability of wireless LED drivers can differ significantly between systems. You should also consider whether your luminaire requires an integrated sensor.
Here’s a useful checklist of how to design a wireless light fitting!
Optimize the Signal
Ensure that the radio signal is not obstructed or weakened by physical barriers. Design layouts to maintain strong, consistent communication across all devices.
Know Your Environment
Understand the physical and electromagnetic environment where the luminaires will be installed. This includes considering potential sources of interference and signal-blocking materials.
Test the Connectivity
Before finalizing your design, test the connectivity between all wireless components to ensure reliable performance.
Add Sensors
Incorporate sensors into luminaires if needed. Sensors can enhance functionality by enabling features like occupancy detection and daylight harvesting.
Need more tips on how to succeed in wireless design or system specification? Contact our wireless lighting experts today!
Where can wireless lighting control be used?
Wireless lighting systems are ideal for new construction projects like offices, warehouses, stairways, and parking garages. They’re also a great choice for renovation or refurbishment projects where adding new wiring would be challenging or costly. The main advantage is their scalability—whether you need to control a single space or a vast building with thousands of devices, the system adjusts seamlessly. Below are some common scenarios where wireless lighting control shines and how it's typically used in each setting.
OFFICES
Offices feature a variety of spaces, each needing high-quality lighting to enhance productivity, creativity, and wellbeing. These spaces must be adaptable for evolving needs and events, energy-efficient, and easily controllable. Wireless lighting control in offices provides the flexibility needed for dynamic environments, with control options that adjust seamlessly to changing requirements.
Key Spaces:
Open-plan offices
Corridors & stairways
Meeting rooms
Social areas
Single office rooms
EDUCATION
Wireless lighting control is highly effective in educational settings. Its minimal wiring requirements and quick installation make it ideal for school renovations during breaks or weekends. This system can manage both individual classrooms and entire school networks, ensuring safe and well-lit environments that support learning and working.
Key Spaces:
Classrooms
Corridors & stairways
Office areas
Social areas
Gyms & sport halls
Libraries
Key Spaces:
Classrooms
Corridors & stairways
Office areas
Social areas
Gyms & sport halls
Libraries
RETAIL
Retail spaces vary widely, from produce displays to luxury showcases, and often need adaptable lighting for different seasons, campaigns, and store activities. Wireless lighting control offers an easy and flexible solution to meet the diverse needs of retail environments, whether in boutique stores or shopping mall food courts.
Key Spaces:
Store & showcase lighting
Food courts
Galleries
Backroom
Parking garages
Restrooms
INDUSTRIAL
Switching industrial spaces from traditional fluorescent to wireless LED lighting control involves less wiring, resulting in substantial savings and minimal downtime. This upgrade provides excellent lighting conditions and energy efficiency with a straightforward setup and easy maintenance.
Key Spaces
Parking garages
Warehouses
Corridors & stairways
Storage areas
Where can wireless lighting control be used?
Wireless Open-Plan Office Lighting Control
An open-plan office demands a flexible lighting solution that is easy to use and ideally fully automated for optimal comfort and energy savings.
- Energy Efficiency: Achieve maximum energy savings through daylight harvesting and automatic dimming when areas are unoccupied, all while maintaining user comfort.
- Control Panels: Install control panels for manual, overall management of main work areas. These areas can be further divided and managed with daylight harvesting through individual or luminaire-based sensors.
- Personal Control: Allow individuals at work desks to adjust lighting according to personal preferences and tasks.
Wireless Lighting Control in a Single Office Room
In a single office room, the focus is on maximizing energy savings while ensuring user control.
- Energy Efficiency: Utilize movement detection and daylight harvesting to save energy without sacrificing user control.
- Task Lighting: Desk lighting is controlled locally to ensure appropriate levels of comfort, with options to adjust settings via a wireless control panel or mobile app.
Wireless Lighting Control in a Classroom
Classrooms need a versatile and user-friendly lighting solution to accommodate various activities such as individual work, group work, and presentations.
- Control Points: Place control points at each entrance to facilitate scene-setting and adjust lighting according to the classroom’s current use.
- Energy Efficiency: Achieve maximum energy savings through absence detection and daylight harvesting while ensuring users retain control over the lighting.
- Teacher’s Control: Include a master control point at the teacher’s desk for easy scene-setting and adjustments.
- AV Integration: Ensure integration with audio-visual equipment for seamless control and enhanced functionality.
Wireless Lighting Control for Meeting Rooms
Meeting rooms need a flexible and intuitive lighting system that adapts to various uses, including meetings, presentations, and video conferencing.
- Control Points: Install control points at each entrance and on the meeting table for convenient access.
- Scene and Light Level Control: Adjust control scenes and light levels based on user actions and the room’s current activity.
- Personalized Control: Allow users within the space to personalize and adjust scenes and light levels according to their preferences and needs.
Wireless Lighting Control in Corridors
Effective lighting in corridors ensures safety and comfort for all users. A wireless lighting control system offers easy customization to meet various corridor needs and allows for straightforward adjustments.
- Automatic Movement Detection: Control lighting based on movement to ensure illumination when needed.
- Energy Savings: Maximize energy efficiency by grouping luminaires and incorporating daylight harvesting.
- Corridor Hold Feature: Keep corridor lights on while adjacent rooms, like meeting rooms, are occupied, enhancing comfort and safety.
- Safety and Signaling: Grouping corridor lights not only improves safety but also signals the use of nearby rooms to corridor users.
Wireless Lighting Control for Stairways
Stairways benefit greatly from automatic lighting control to enhance safety and comfort. Wireless lighting systems offer a streamlined approach to managing stairway lighting with minimal effort.
- Automatic Activation: Lights turn on automatically when someone enters the stairway.
- Enhanced Safety: Ensure lights illuminate the area in view, such as floors above and below, to improve safety.
- Adjustable Dimming Delays: Customize dimming delays to align with typical movement patterns, preventing lights from turning off too quickly.
Wireless lighting control in parking garages
Parking garages can be intimidating spaces. To increase the feeling of safety, lights need to be on, but not all the time. With wireless presence detection sensors and well-planned logic with lighting groups, scenes and delay times, the garage can become a much more comfortable space to use and find the spot for your vehicle.
- Lights by the entrances should be always on for safety reasons.
- Presence detecting sensors on top of the driveways will react on arriving car or a person and will give light where the movement is detected to support good visibility.
- When someone enters the garage, the lights should turn on at low light level in driveways to give the feel of comfort and safety.
- Energy savings are the biggest benefits of garages with fully automated lighting.
