SmartHome Controls

Lighting systems

Scene lighting

The smartkontrols intelligent lighting control system allows the mood of a room to be altered at the touch of a button. Each individual circuit can be combined with blind or curtain controls to give maximum flexibility.

If you select the scenes in the drop down box, you will see the room lighting change

A smartkontrols Lighting System offers wide-ranging advantages and incredible versatility in contrast to conventional light switching.

Scene–setting

This is an increasingly popular technique for creating the right ambience in principle rooms. The different light sources in a room are split into several different circuits; for instance the central light on one circuit, uplighters on another, table lamps on another and so on.

Each circuit can be turned on/off and dimmed up and down independently. Conventional wiring would employ a row of switches, or dimmers, one for each circuit. To create a required scene (or “mood”), the user would have to adjust each dimmer to a predetermined level - clearly with 6 or 8 circuits in a typical reception room, this would be totally impractical, and create huge and unsightly switch congestion on the wall.

Intelligent Lighting controls from smartkontrols offer a vastly superior approach.

home automation heating, lighting and curtain control

- each room has a simple smart wall plate in place of the light switches. The 4 buttons allow 4 different preset scenes to be recalled - much like the preset tuning buttons on a car radio. - each of the preset scenes can have any combination of circuits, set to any dimming level - the scenes could be for “dining”, “watching TV”, “reading”, “party” or any other activity - multiple plates (of different types, if required) can be used in the same room (for rooms with several doors, for instance)

Route Lighting

This technique allows a series of lights to be turned on (at predetermined levels) to light the route from one room to another at the press of a button. Particularly useful when entering a darkened property, or going downstairs in the middle of the night, corridors, stairwells and the destination rooms themselves can be pre-lit. With smartkontrols a Route plate can have dedicated buttons for each pre-set route “front door to kitchen” “front door to Master Bedroom” etc.

Multi Press Lighting

Whole-House Functions By using smartkontrols’ unique Multi-Press functions, lights can be turned on and off all over the house. Suppose the homeowner is asleep in bed, and hears a noise downstairs; from the bedside lighting plate, one press will turn on the bedroom lights, two presses will turn on all “public” areas, but not other bedrooms whilst three presses will turn on all the (designated) lights in the house. The “off” button can be set to mirror these actions in reverse.

How does the wiring differ from conventional wiring?

It is no more involved or expensive than conventional wiring, but it is different. In a conventional scheme, the lights are usually wired from a distribution board to a lighting “ring” for each floor. Wires then drop to each wall switch to create the different circuits.

With a smartkontrols system, each lighting circuit is wired back to the centrally-mounted smartDimmer panels (you can have smartDimmers at several locations in the house, for instance, one on each level). The smart wallplates are wired in low-voltage data cable back to the smartDimmers.

One major advantage of the smartkontrols approach is that conventional flat twin and earth cable can be used.

Integrated Blind and Curtain control

In a smartkontrols system lighting can be linked to interact with blinds and/or curtain operation, all from a smart wall plate. The blind or curtain motor is wired back to a smartDimmer panel. Within the dimmer panel are as many blind/curtain smart modules as needed, each one controls two blinds/curtains. Thus, the blinds/curtains can be made part of a lighting scene, especially useful in dedicated home cinema rooms or other feature areas of the house.

Security Interlocks

The Lighting system can be interlocked with the security system to bring on all the house lights if the alarm is triggered, a feature which can also be linked to activate on signal from the fire alarm system. In addition, when the alarm is set, the lights will “play back” learnt scenes in real time, close curtains etc in order to simulate occupancy

Minor Rooms

Areas of the house, such as Cloakrooms, WC's, and utility areas can, of course, be wired with conventional light switches. Consideration should be given, however, to fitting one of the simpler intelligent smart plates (on/off, or on/off with rotary dimmer) so that the whole-house functions and security aspects of a lighting control system can apply equally in these areas.

Infra Red Control

All smart wallplates have built-in Infra Red receivers. A wireless IR handset can therefore be used, either a smartkontrols unit or a combined lighting and audio-visual device.

Gates, Driveway Lights, External Lights

These items can all be controlled with a smartkontrols system, along with other miscellaneous items such as, water features, gas fires, etc.

Presence Detection and Daylight Linking

These functions can be achieved using the ceiling-mounted Multi-Sensor. Rooms can be lit automatically upon entry, and light levels in a room can be automatically kept constant if desired by monitoring natural light levels and adjusting dimmers accordingly

How does the smartkontrols lighting control system work ?

Lighting control is based upon two components. Smart wallplates, which fit in place of conventional light switches, and smartDimmers, which are panels containing the dimmers for each individual circuit. The smartDimmer panels are remotely mounted behind the scenes, in a cupboard, riser, audio/visual equipment room, garage, etc.

- the smart wallplates signal to the smartDimmers over a low-voltage communications network, commanding the appropriate scenes, routes etc
- the smartDimmers switch or dim each circuit
- the smartDimmers are typically noiseless in operation, but they do generate some heat, so the cupboard must allow for natural ventilation

Design Guide