Integrated lighting control is often misunderstood. Most clients ask: “Why should I automate my lights. I just want them either on or off.” The answer is multifactorial. Lighting control and integration has lifestyle, architectural, and conservation benefits – to name a few.
Lifestyle: With the smallest lighting control system, we can allow you to turn off any or all lights in the house by pressing a button on your night stand before bed; even the lamps. The same goes for the entrances and exits. An intuitively placed “Home” or “Away” button can save you immeasurable time and energy. Smart switches let you easily set elegant lighting scenes for each room or for the whole house, without the use of complicated software programs or the need to rewire your home. With the touch of a button on your remote control or touch screen, you can control all of your lights to give any room more flexibility. Control isn’t limited to inside the house either. Lighting control from anywhere in the world adds convenience and piece of mind. With iPhone/iPad and Android apps, we can allow you to see what lights are currently on in your home and even control them.
Architectural: Take the 5 gang wall switch plate on your living room wall; imagine replacing it with an elegant single-ganged keypad with laser-engraved buttons.
Conservation: Through smart programming, we can greatly reduce the energy cost of your home by simply being more efficient with your lights and HVAC automatically. For example, we can reduce the max output of your lights to 85% without any noticeable difference in light thereby saving you 15% in energy while significantly extending the life of your bulbs.
Designed A/V Environments offers a wide range of automated lighting control solutions. Whether your home is new construction, or a 100 year old in the heart of New Orleans, we are unparalleled in robust lighting control systems. We work closely with professional lighting designers to provide you with distinguished optimal lighting settings and incomparable style for differing times of the day and night. You can also create the ideal setting for any activity – reading a book, enjoying a meal with your family or watching a movie.
Here’s how integrated lighting works.
We begin by deciding how you would like to interact with your lights.
These are known as interfaces. Generally, an interface is either a keypad, touch-screen, or remote control. Most of the time, our clients will choose a mixture of different interfaces based on their needs. For example, if you already have a universal remote for your A/V system, we can simply enable lighting on it giving you that much more convenience.
Keypads:
Versatile and stylish wall mount keypads featuring customizable buttons, auto-dimmable backlit text, and enhanced LED feedback. They are available in 12 colors and finishes, and are designed for installation using standard electrical gang boxes and decorator-style face-plates.
Touch Panels:
Crestron® touch panels offer an ideal user-interface for controlling everything from basic audio distribution and lighting to complete home automation and multimedia presentation, providing a wide-open canvas for the creation of custom control screens perfectly tailored to the needs of the end-user. Touch panels do away with piles of remote controls, cryptic front panels, and cluttered wall switches, affording true “one-touch” control over a broad range of complex devices and systems.
Remote Controls:
The ultimate handheld remote, featuring a brilliant 2.8″ video touch screen, enhanced Wi-Fi wireless performance, incredible battery life, and Instant-Waking® behavior.
Next, we will use the size and unique properties of your home to determine which kind of lighting system to install. There are two main types: Centralized and Ad-hoc.
Centralized Lighting:
For new construction, centralized lighting is best. It’s unique benefits include the ability leave all high voltage wires in the attics and non-living space walls whereby reducing total installation costs and heat generated by many high-voltage in-wall dimmers and switches. It is the most stream-lined in terms of decor and the most flexable with regard to customization of light-loads and programming. We start with what’s known as a CAEN enclosure. It looks much like an electrical panel. There are a number of different modules that mount into this panel for various types of loads. These include, incandescent, fluorescent, LED, magnetic low-voltage, and fans-to name a few. The centralized lighting cabinet lives between your homes electrical panel, and the lighting fixtures it controls. This means there are no high-voltage wires coming down the walls, through a walls-switch, and back up to the lighting fixture. Small low-voltage keypads or wireless touchscreens simply tell the modules which lights to turn on and off.
Ad-hoc Lighting:
Ad-hoc lighting is a great alternative for those clients either installing an integrated lighting system in a pre-existing home or are just looking to integrate lights in a single room or area. For homes where centralized lighting isn’t feasible, ad-hoc lighting systems allow the same level of customization while using existing wires. The keypads in an ad-hoc installation, literally replace the old switches in the wall thereby making them smart switches which can be controlled any number of ways.
As with any other integrated system, there are options for adding further functionality and convenience.
Off-site Control:
Using your iPad, iPhone, or Android device, you can have full view and control of your home from anywhere in the world. Forget to turn off the lights on the second floor? Grab your phone and turn them off from the car. Even turn down your A/C and heating while on your way home so that it’s at the perfect temperature when you arrive. For more information about remote control solutions, please visit our integrated control section.
HVAC Integration:
We can easily integrate your A/C and heating systems with our robust lighting control allowing you to control the temperature of your home by an automatic schedule, or remotely from your phone. If you have a remote control for your audio/video system, we can give you HVAC control on that same remote. No need to even get up.
Shades and Drapes:
Completing the lighting control system and delivering the most effective energy management solution, our shades elegantly blend designer window treatments with intelligent room control. For more information on our shade and drape solutions, please visit our motorized shades section.