The choice for the optimal lighting control system

There are many things to consider when selecting the right lighting control system for a project or building. In order to properly assess the various aspects of these systems, Wim Hogenhout of Chess Wise will be giving a knowledge session at the upcoming LED Event list a number of important assessment criteria.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

Hogenhout states that smart lighting is already a given in many places: “We believe that we have arrived at a time where smart lighting is more or less the standard. Because who wants a dumb LED lamp? When you want to take a step towards making your lighting more sustainable, there appear to be dozens of systems on the market, both wired and wireless. To help parties in their choice, we have drawn up a checklist.” Chess Wise itself focuses on wireless network technology for lighting control in the built environment.

According to Hogenhout, property owners, municipalities and asset owners in the industry are struggling with the choices. By working through a list of clear selection criteria and comparing systems on those points, the best one will automatically emerge, he says.

“The first question is: what functionality do you want exactly? If you want automatic controls, you can think of motion detection. But there are many more possibilities. Think of dimming, scenes and swipe switches. You have to think about that carefully in advance.”

“In lighting management software, dashboard functions are important for energy consumption and reporting of faults. Do you also want to be able to operate remotely and change settings? Then take this into account.”

How is the system constructed, such as the network topology and the question of which hardware components are needed. “Also consider the question of whether you want a wireless mesh system or a wired bus solution, such as the wired DALI system.”

Scalability is also important. Philips Hue, for example, popular among consumers and small businesses, works with up to 50 lamps. “In SMEs, you quickly have a scale of up to 250 lamps,” says Hogenhout. “But especially in larger buildings, you quickly get multiple systems next to each other. Do you want that? On an industrial estate, for example, a project we are working on at Chess Wise, you are talking about more than 10,000 lamps. That is possible in one network.”

Security

As in other connected electronic products, a critical look at security is an important point of attention. “If you want to protect your network against unauthorized use, then a private network has advantages over an open source application. And ask yourself the question: to what extent is the network prepared for possibilities in the future”, says Hogenhout. He is referring directly to the aspect of future-proofing, for example through a modular design of the lighting control system or the possibility of reading data via APIs.

“And then there is the question: can a system also run reliably without a cloud connection?” says Hogenhout. “Think of smartly lit cycle paths, for example, which work completely autonomously.” Do you have to replace a component during an update, or can it be done via a over the air-network update. Finally, the complexity or simplicity of the required hardware and software is a point of attention.

During his presentation at the LED Event Hogenhout will go into the various criteria in more detail. It is clear that companies can achieve significant savings by making the right choices. “You can achieve a 50 percent saving on your energy bill just by switching from conventional lighting to LED. And with a good lighting management system, this can increase to 80 to 90 percent,” says Hogenhout.