In several places throughout my house, I am using dimmable fluorescent lights. Such lights, require special dimmable ballasts.
There are 3 methods to control such ballasts.
1. Via analogue 1-10 V input.
This is the oldest system in the industry. Dimming is performed by varying voltage between 1 and 10 Von a special input in the ballast. It can be easily driven from a QAO output configured as a dimmer, but I cannot completly switch off the light by varying the voltage, since even at minimum power, the lights don't get completly extiguished. An extra relay connection is needed to turn off the light completly. I have managed to automate the relay operation using the 'set on' and 'set off' connections from the QAO Dimmer to the relay, but the solution is quite complicated and uses one QAO and one relay output per light. It also has some stability problems, since sometimes the relay doesn't open when the QAO dimmer is turned off.
2. Using a Touch DIM interface
Many fluorescent ballasts (ex. Osram QTI DIM series) can be controlled using a touch dim interface. The ballast is permanently connected to AC power and its operation (ON/OFF/dimming) is performed by briefly powering an additional contact in the ballast. I have connected such a ballast to a QRI relay configured as an ON/OFF (lamp) load and I am able to control the ballast using a follow state/state input connection from a press button. A brief press (pulse) turns the light on or off and a long press dims or undims the light. The problem is I am unable to use lighting automation to control these lights since an ON/OFF load is not a light in Cortex sense. Another problem is that the actual light doesn't really follow the state of the ON/OFF load. It changes from dark to light after every ON/OFF load 'pulse', so Cortex doesn't really know the state of such a light.
3. Via the DALI interface
Several manufacturers (Osram, Philips, Tridonic) use an interface standard called DALI to control a network of dimmable fluorescent lights. It can be connected to a PC using a USB or RS232 interface and from there, it should be possible to interface with Cortex - perhaps using the xAP/xPL protocol. Has anyone tried this approach??
None of these 3 methods is fully satisfactory. I would very much like to use method 2 (Touch DIM) since only 3 wires are needed for each light. Does anyone have an idea how to make an ON/OFF load behave like a light in Cortex sense? Maybe a different type of object could be used for this purpose. What I think would be perfect in a longer term, is a kind of 'logic' dimmer object, that could be bound using appropriate connections to different physical interfaces used for light dimming.
Thanks for Your input
Stachoo
There are 3 methods to control such ballasts.
1. Via analogue 1-10 V input.
This is the oldest system in the industry. Dimming is performed by varying voltage between 1 and 10 Von a special input in the ballast. It can be easily driven from a QAO output configured as a dimmer, but I cannot completly switch off the light by varying the voltage, since even at minimum power, the lights don't get completly extiguished. An extra relay connection is needed to turn off the light completly. I have managed to automate the relay operation using the 'set on' and 'set off' connections from the QAO Dimmer to the relay, but the solution is quite complicated and uses one QAO and one relay output per light. It also has some stability problems, since sometimes the relay doesn't open when the QAO dimmer is turned off.
2. Using a Touch DIM interface
Many fluorescent ballasts (ex. Osram QTI DIM series) can be controlled using a touch dim interface. The ballast is permanently connected to AC power and its operation (ON/OFF/dimming) is performed by briefly powering an additional contact in the ballast. I have connected such a ballast to a QRI relay configured as an ON/OFF (lamp) load and I am able to control the ballast using a follow state/state input connection from a press button. A brief press (pulse) turns the light on or off and a long press dims or undims the light. The problem is I am unable to use lighting automation to control these lights since an ON/OFF load is not a light in Cortex sense. Another problem is that the actual light doesn't really follow the state of the ON/OFF load. It changes from dark to light after every ON/OFF load 'pulse', so Cortex doesn't really know the state of such a light.
3. Via the DALI interface
Several manufacturers (Osram, Philips, Tridonic) use an interface standard called DALI to control a network of dimmable fluorescent lights. It can be connected to a PC using a USB or RS232 interface and from there, it should be possible to interface with Cortex - perhaps using the xAP/xPL protocol. Has anyone tried this approach??
None of these 3 methods is fully satisfactory. I would very much like to use method 2 (Touch DIM) since only 3 wires are needed for each light. Does anyone have an idea how to make an ON/OFF load behave like a light in Cortex sense? Maybe a different type of object could be used for this purpose. What I think would be perfect in a longer term, is a kind of 'logic' dimmer object, that could be bound using appropriate connections to different physical interfaces used for light dimming.
Thanks for Your input
Stachoo
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