Presented by Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP, education director for the Lighting Controls Association, this 30-minute webinar provides a deep overview of tunable-white lighting, a relatively new dimension of LED lighting control that is pioneering new capabilities and applications.


Steve Mesh on the Building Blocks of Tunable White, Part 2
The previous post on Tunable-White Building Blocks talked about differences between using low-level analog control technology as opposed to networked lighting control (NLC) systems that employ digital communication between components. Analog technology such as 0-10V dimmers can in fact be used to control certain color-changing luminaires. Let’s be specific about which types. There are actually three main types of color-changing lighting systems – “dim-to-warm”, “tunable-white”, and “RGB.”

Steve Mesh on the Building Blocks of Tunable White, Part 1
“Tunable-white and other forms of color-changing lighting have added an extra dimension of capability, flexibility, and complexity to the lighting industry,” writes Mesh. “It’s almost as though we’ve gone from a 2-dimensional world to a 3-dimensional world based on the added complexity of controlling the luminaire’s coloration (typically measured by Correlated Color Temperature

IES to Host Webinar on Color Tuning on June 4, 2020
On June 4 at noon EST, the Illuminating Engineering Society will host a free webinar, “Show Me the Data: Characterizing the Performance of Color Tunable Light Sources.”

BOM Magazine Covers Tunable-White Lighting
BOM Magazine recently published an article advising building owners and managers about how to select the right tunable-white lighting solution for their buildings. Written by Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP, education director for the Lighting Controls Association, the article covers applications and benefits, theory of operation, types, typical approaches, protocols, and application considerations.

C. Webster Marsh on Alternatives to DMX-Controlled Tunable-White Lighting
In this guest post by lighting designer C. Webster Marsh, he discusses alternatives to using DMX to control tunable-white lighting.

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

DOE Evaluates Tunable-White Classroom Lighting
Tunable-white LED lighting offers highly efficient general illumination combined with dimming and the ability to tune correlated color temperature (CCT) from warm- to cool-white. A strong potential application is classrooms, where teachers can set lighting/visual conditions to support classroom activities. In May 2019, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) report evaluating a trial installation of tunable-white lighting systems at three classrooms in an elementary school in Folsom, California.

Hubbell on “Human-centric Lighting”
Hubbell’s Summer Albergotti and Marissa Keisler contributed an article to Facilities.net, “Human-Centric Lighting for Schools, Hospitals, and Offices.” The article describes how color tuning enables lighting systems to better serve the needs of users and spaces.

A New Report on Tunable Classroom Lighting
Republication of Postings from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid-State Lighting Program by Jim Brodrick, SSL Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy A new GATEWAY report on a trial installation of tunable-white LED lighting systems in three Texas classrooms provides valuable insights into the use of this technology in a real-world setting. While reducing […]