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Lighting Control Systems
Lutron Homeworks is a powerful control system capable of managing the largest lighting scheme and integrating with home automation controls to produce a complete home control system. Lutron Homeworks is highly programmable - every button on every keypad can be programmed for scene control, whole house control activities like "Whole House Off" or even audio video or blinds control. Lutron seeTouch keypads can be customised with backlit buttons engraved with their function.
At its most simple, a Lutron keypad controls either individual circuits of light or groups of lights which can be programmed as scenes. In a smaller system you might see this as a simple control system for a kitchen / dining area as an example. There might be 10-15 circuits of light across that area- some providing focused task lighting in the cooking area, others providing soft background light in the dining area. Selecting a scene such as dining or cooking sets all the circuits of light to pre-defined light levels to give you the ideal lighting setup for the mood.
Taking this example a step further, what if you wanted to set the patio lighting to trigger on certain scenes but only at certain times. By programming individual buttons on the keypads we can make the light levels and circuits react in different ways at different times of the day. This has many application for security lighting, external circuits etc. Buttons can even have multiple functions. A good example of this is how we program bedside keypads; a single press on the off button can turn off the room, double pressing the off button can turn the whole house into a night time setting, turning off all internal circuits, maybe setting some external lighting. The flexibility of the Lutron programming means we can tailor the behaviour of your lighting to suit just about any requirement.
We use a variety of lighting control systems but we design and commission a lot of systems that feature Rako controls. Rako is easy to use, it integrates with other systems well and yet offers great functionality when deployed in isolation.
It can be integrated with Audio / Video systems, Curtain and blinds systems, even whole house control systems. Rako can be used to provide fine control over lighting, curtains and powered screens in a home cinema room or can offer the ability to switch off all the lights in a house at the touch of a single button. So it's versatile and well supported, but why might it work for your project?
We particularly like using Rako lighting control system when clients have the following criteria:
- Where the lighting control system is being retro-fitted in to an existing house. The wireless technology minimises the amount of electrical work and ‘making good’ required, and there is no need to take all of the wiring back to a central point.
- Where a high degree of flexibility of control over freestanding light fittings is required. You can for example keep including different floor or table lamps in to your lighting scheme without the constraints of a 5amp circuit. This is particularly important in rooms which will change use over time, or where the installed lighting doesn’t give you any flexibility over moods (eg; where is it a single circuit pendant or grid of downlighters).
- Where there are a particularly small number of circuits per room. Because one dimmer unit controls one circuit (unlike many systems where one dimmer module controls a fixed number of circuits, often 4 or 6), this is a cost effective solution for simpler room schemes.
- At the other end of the scale, where there are a particularly large number of circuits per room. One Rako controller will ‘talk to’ up to 15 different circuits in any one room. This is beyond the capability of many mid to low range control systems, unless you double or triple up the fixed modules (ie; install multiples of 4 or 6).
- Where replicating lighting patterns for security reasons is important. Rako allows you to ‘record’ your natural patterns of light and replay it whilst you are away. So instead of having plugs on timers exhibiting a predictable pattern of lighting, the Rako system will replicate you being in the kitchen particularly early one evening, moving in to the lounge, taking a loo break, etc etc.
- Where you wish to integrate lighting control in to wider house control, without investing in a whole house control system. The Rako system will interface with things such as blind control, electric gates (so when the gates open the lights come on down the drive and in the hall), security (so when a window is opened all of the ground floor lights will come on), etc etc. Usually, if the question is ‘can it do this’ the answer is yes
- Where simplicity of installation and programming is key. We have for example installed this for clients with houses abroad, with electricians who speak no English. They were quickly able to understand the wiring, and we were able to help the client fine tune the programming by talking him through it on the telephone.
