Lighting control and home lighting automation in Sydney
Home lighting automation, done as a proper lighting control system, replaces a wall of switches with a few engraved keypads that set a whole room, or the whole house, in one press. Designed properly, it's the system you'll use more than any other.
Scenes, not switches
Instead of five switches to get a room right, a keypad by the door recalls a scene: the downlights at 40%, the pendant at 70%, the joinery strip on and the garden lights following. Every room gets the scenes it needs, and every keypad in the house works the same way.
Typical scenes are Welcome, Dining, Relax, Cleaning and Off, with house-wide Goodnight and Leaving at the front door and the bedside.
What we control
- Downlights, pendants and feature lighting
- Joinery, cove and stair lighting
- Façade, garden and pool lighting on astronomical time
- Sensor lighting in halls, robes and bathrooms
- Night lighting to the ensuite at low level
- Exhaust fans and heated towel rails where useful
Which lighting control system?
We design on four platforms and recommend the one that suits the house. Where there's already a system in the walls, extending it is often the better call.
KNX
Open standard, programmed in ETS. Widest choice of keypads, from Basalte to Gira to Jung, and serviceable by any KNX integrator. Our default for new builds.
DALI
Every fitting individually addressable, 64 addresses per line. Ideal for architectural schemes and tunable white (DT8). Usually run under KNX or Dynalite.
Dynalite
Philips Dynalite on a DyNet network. Strong dimming and a large installed base in Sydney homes built over the last twenty years.
Dynalite servicingC-Bus
Clipsal's Australian system. If a house already has healthy C-Bus, extending it is often the most economical path.
C-Bus servicingDimming that doesn't flicker
Most lighting problems we're called to fix aren't the control system. They're a dimmer and an LED driver that don't agree: flicker at low levels, a faint glow when the light is off, or a fitting that drops out below 20%.
We check every fitting against its dimmer type (trailing edge, DALI or 0-10V) at the design stage, and we'll tell you before you buy if a fitting on the schedule won't dim well. It's the least glamorous part of lighting control and the part clients notice most.
Working with your lighting designer. We resolve the circuit schedule against the lighting plan and the switchboard so the design, the electrical drawings and the programming agree. If there isn't a lighting designer, we'll lay out the scenes ourselves.
Part of a bigger system
Lighting is usually where a smart home starts. On the same keypads it can close the blinds, set the climate, arm the alarm and start the music. See whole home control.
What drives the cost of lighting control
We don't publish package prices, because two houses that sound the same can be very different on site. These are the things that move the number.
- The number of lighting circuits and how many are dimmed
- Dimming type per fitting: trailing edge, DALI or 0-10V
- Keypad count and the range and finish chosen
- Whether a lighting designer's scheme needs DALI addressing
- Integration with blinds, climate and audio
- New build or retrofit, and access to the switchboard
Questions we get asked
Can you install lighting control in an existing home?
Often, yes. It depends on access to the switchboard and the existing wiring. Where circuits can't be separated without opening walls, retrofit dimmers behind existing plates can still give you scenes on a smaller scale.
Will my lights still work if the internet goes down?
Yes. A wired lighting control system runs locally on its own bus. The keypads and scenes keep working. Only remote access and voice control need the internet.
Why do my LED downlights flicker or glow when they're off?
Almost always a mismatch between the dimmer and the LED driver rather than a faulty system. It can usually be fixed by changing the dimmer type or channel settings, without replacing the lights.
What's the difference between KNX, DALI, Dynalite and C-Bus?
KNX is an open standard for the whole house. DALI addresses individual light fittings. Dynalite and C-Bus are established lighting control systems from Philips and Clipsal. We recommend based on the house, and often extend what's already there.
Can lighting control work with blinds and climate?
Yes. On the same system, one scene can set the lights, close the blinds and change the air conditioning. That's what we mean by whole home control.
Is lighting control worth it?
For most people building or renovating, it's the system with the most daily use. You touch the lighting dozens of times a day, and a wired system lasts decades.
Planning the lighting?
Send the lighting plan or the architectural set, or tell us about the house. We'll tell you what's involved.