Crestron announces SSL control system, Luxera ships dimmable LED system

Jan. 3, 2014
Lighting designers working on small commercial projects can apply the Crestron Green Light Integrated Switching Panel for eight-circuit lighting controls including sensor support, while Luxera is now shipping the SmartSwitch product line to retrofit legacy phase-cut dimmers.

Crestron has announced the GL-IPAC-SW8 Green Light Integrated Switching Panel that enables on-off control of up to 64 lighting loads spread among eight circuits. The intelligent control system is designed for use in smaller commercial applications in retail, offices, and parking garages while also offering the ability to serve in a larger lighting network based on Crestron's enterprise-wide control systems. Luxera, meanwhile, has announced the availability of a $199.95 kit that includes four LED lamps and its SmartSwitch designed to replace legacy phase-controlled dimmers.

Simplified small-scale controls

The Crestron panel can handle on-off control to eight lighting circuits with wiring routed through the enclosure. The eight circuits would be sufficient for many smaller commercial projects — for instance, in a convenience store and gas station. The panel comes preconfigured as the central control system for a lighting installation, although it can also work as a secondary slave controller in a larger distributed installation.

The control panel includes inputs for 24 occupancy sensors and 24 photo sensors to trigger lighting controls based on need and maximize energy savings by turning lights off when they aren't required. Uses can configure the system using an LCD and simple pushbuttons. The system includes the capacity for programming 100 events based on time settings in addition to the autonomous adaptive-control operation based on the sensors.

The UL-listed enclosure can be mounted in a variety of ways including in the plenum space above a drop ceiling. Alternatively it can be surface mounted to walls. You can connect up to 16 Crestron keypads directly to the panel and two additional keypads remotely when used with a larger network. The panels enable users to control the lighting with no need for a PC or dedicated control software.

The GL-IPAC-SW8 can be used globally with an input-voltage range of 100–277V. Each of the relays can handle a 16A load. You can expand the eight-circuit capacity by adding additional GL-IPAC-SW8 panels to an installation with a maximum of 64 circuits.

Luxera SmartSwitch

Moving to Luxera's new lighting-control offering, the company has a new approach to dimming LED-based lighting in commercial and residential applications in place of legacy triac and electronic phase-control dimmers. Moreover, the Luxera SmartSwitch dimmers enables wireless control over Bluetooth by smartphones and tablets.

The catch is that the Luxera technology works only with the company's proprietary DC-powered LED lamps and only in scenarios where three wires, including hot and neutral, are accessible in a junction box. For now Luxera only offers 14W PAR30 lamps for the system designed to replace 75W incandescent bulbs. The company says that it will soon offer a larger selection of lamps and also ceiling troffers.

The advantage to the technology is smooth dimming with 1000:1 granularity along with the wireless controls. Initially the products are being sold in a kit at warehouse retailer Costco including the dimmer and four LED lamps for $199.95. We have a more detailed article on the SmartSwitch technology over on our LEDs Magazine website.