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Trying to understand Dali Lighting system

newbieuser

So a DALI system is a ‘smart’ lighting system with different options of setting groups, dimming changing temperature etc. 

In a simple Dali system, where a set of of led lights are dimmed is this how it would get wired/connected. 

The main Lighting control module (dali) gets fed the incoming supply from local DB. Then the  cables connect from the LCM to the indivudal dali ballast of the lights. Then control wires go to the switches and/or PIR sensors. Then the retractive switch can be used to dim the lights?

Does it require any specific swtiches ?

Thanks.

Regards,

Sam

  • 0

    in a word, yes  it does. Every switch, dimmer, light fitting, LED or tube driver, has to be on the bus and have a unique address, and so has the controller.  There are also DALI adressable relays for the control  of non DALI devices.

    The controller can be thought of as a bit like a telephone exchange - when the signal comes in that switch no 123 has changed state, the controller looks up its settings and then sends the command to turn on lamp no 37 or whatever it is associated with. 

    But it gets better - the controller can be programed to do things based on clock times as well, or in response to external commands (internet/ over phone lines etc) so perhaps turn off all the lights in the office after midnight, or maybe every second one…  or to switch something on before folk get in - it does not have to be just lights… most sorts have options to allow them to be reprogrammed from afar.

    If it is not programmed properly it can be very confusing. When it works well it is impressive. If it gets hacked it can take ages to untangle..

    The DALI bus lines are low voltage but neither PELV nor SLEV, and can be wired and routed alongside the mains.

     

     

  • 0

    mapj1: 
     

     ..and can be wired and routed alongside the mains.

     

     

    Graham might be on in a minute with 50mm separation gap, or bigger.

    Can't seem to delete the picture in quote I'm afraid. It is not exactly a work of art ?

  • 0

    Graham might be on in a minute with 50mm separation gap, or bigger.

    No need for separation from mains for FELV - it's treated pretty much as just another LV circuit as far as distancing is concerned. 

       - Andy.

  • 0 in reply to AJJewsbury

    ....so provided you use a suitably rated cable for the DALI bus it can share the same compartment as LV wiring.  Typically I have seen this wired in 2-core 0.5mm² or 1mm² flex.  Rather helpfully, the DALI bus is insensitive to polarity and can be merrily swapped over en-route with no issues.  There is a limit of 64 individual device addresses on a single bus-chain with DALI.  You can have more than 64 devices but addresses will then need to be shared.

    There is a useful guide (from the entertainment lighting industry) here: https://artisticlicence.com/WebSiteMaster/User%20Guides/the%20dali%20guide.pdf

    Hope this helps.

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