Lighting Controls Association

The Lighting Controls Authority

C. Webster Marsh on Overcoming the Challenges of DMX-Controlled Tunable White Lighting

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DMX-controlled tunable dynamic white luminaires are luminaires that use DMX controls to change their correlated color temperature (CCT) on demand, which provides a dramatic design tool to the modern lighting designer. These luminaires are different from dynamic color changing luminaires because instead of using colored LEDs, they use a mix of white LEDs such as warm white, neutral white, and cool white. When these hues are mixed at different intensities, the overall delivered CCT of the luminaire changes. It is very important to have a robust controls system specifically designed and programmed for the control of tunable dynamic white luminaires. Any compatible controller will control a DMX tunable white luminaire and can adjust from one hue to another, but that’s only half the story …

Steve Mesh on Troubleshooting Networked Lighting Control Installations

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Last year, the Lighting Controls Association published the first version of a generic Troubleshooting Guide for Networked Lighting Control Systems. This guide is primarily meant to address issues that may arise with Networked Lighting Control (NLC) systems. There are plenty of things that differentiate one vendor’s NLC system from those made by other vendors. Different systems have different UIs (user interfaces), and a specific NLC system may or may not have exactly the same features or benefits as any other system. Having said that, enough similarities exist to have made the creation of this manufacturer-agnostic Troubleshooting Guide worthwhile.

ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2019 Decoded

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The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) recently published ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2019, Energy Efficiency Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. This edition includes more than 100 changes from the 2016 version, covering administrative and enforcement, commissioning, mechanical, and lighting. For lighting, the new version adjusts interior power allowances, updates several control requirements, and introduces a simplified compliance method for office, school, and retail buildings.

Lutron’s Brent Protzman on Embracing Daylight as an Opportunity for Collaboration

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We’re still finding ways to take full advantage of daylight’s benefits. It’s a challenging issue, leaving daylight in an uneasy battle with electric light for brightening our spaces – ignored or underrated in lighting designs, and poorly controlled to boot. Fortunately, this is starting to change. Along with the growing awareness of the WELL, LEED, and BREEAM building standards — which incorporate a variety of recommendations for daylight exposure and control — and acceptance of building codes that support more use of daylight harvesting, there’s a greater incentive to embrace daylight as part of the overall lighting design of a space.

HLB’s C. Webster Marsh and Adam Levine on Digital Lighting Control Protocols

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C. Webster Marsh, Designer with lighting design firm Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design, provides the final installment on his series of articles about dimming and lighting control protocols. In this last installment, he teams up with HLB’s Adam Levine to tackle digital control protocols, covering when and how to specify it, and how to overcome some of the challenges.

Guidance for Net-Zero K-12 and Office Buildings

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The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recently published guides on how to design buildings that achieve net-zero energy consumption without compromising quality.
Building upon previous guides targeting deep energy savings, the first two new guides were developed in partnership with the American Institute of Architects, Illuminating Engineering Society, and U.S. Green Building Council, and target K-12 and small to medium office buildings.

Here Comes BACnet Secure Connect

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By early 2020, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is expected to release a new version of the BACnet building automation system protocol. BACnet Secure Connect, or BACnet/SC, brings this popular open industry standard into the Internet of Things (IoT) age by enabling the easy and secure transfer of large volumes of data.