When it comes to wireless lighting control options, you have a few possibilities. Wireless lighting control can be beneficial to you because of the flexibility it provides and scalability it provides.

Luminaire controllers, input devices, and management devices make up wireless lighting. We will break these down in the following paragraphs to discuss your options.

What Makes Wireless Lighting Control Options?

The only difference between a wireless and a wired system is that the wireless system uses radio waves to communicate with the wireless transmitter rather than physical wires. This saves your property from demolition to install or repair wires for lighting.

All the options, like battery switches, wall switches, occupancy sensors, photosensors, and other devices used in wireless systems, are possible because of radio waves communicating with the luminaire controller.

Luminaire Controllers

First and foremost, the luminaire controllers, also known as relay modules, power packs, or dimming modules, are installed in a luminaire or junction box.

These power controllers switch the lighting system on or off through the control panel. A wireless receiver is embedded in that controller that responds to the radio control signals within range and acts upon the signals.

Some control systems may be designed to integrate single luminaires, but many offer controllers that have a higher load than multiple luminaires.

You should have luminaire-integrated luminaire controllers because they will maximize the control zone granularity and terminate wiring between the luminaires and the controller.

Input Devices

Input devices are the switches or sensors that relay back to the luminaire control on the junction box.

Switches

Switches can be required to provide manual overrides to the lighting system. Smart switches are great options because if the switch is a dimmer, you can adjust the bulbs’ brightness, controlling the lighting even more.

Additionally, some switches come with buttons with multiple preset lighting scenes, which is helpful.

Switches can be powered by batteries or the usual wall-mounted light switch that uses mechanical energy.

Sensors

Two types of sensors are used for wireless lighting control: Occupancy and light/photosensors.

If you want to install lighting control in a commercial business, sensors are likely required.

Other Options

There are touchscreen options for manual control of the lighting as well. These also tend to have programmable preset scenes; some can network and integrate non-lighting functions like temperature control and scheduling occupancy for a space.

There are smart light bulbs that connect to the internet and can be customized, scheduled, and controlled remotely. This is a great option, especially if you are tech-savvy.

Lastly, some systems can communicate with wireless plug-load controllers to meet the current codes or HVAC controllers for temperature control.

Management Devices

If you have a single-point operation and data collection, the wireless system has a central server or gateway. Depending on your manufacturer, you could use a server in the Cloud or a server that is not on-site.

Servers and Gateways

Servers store information about the lighting and control points that are on a network, program information, and might store energy use data.

The gateway is a wireless router. Usually, lighting control systems will also use a gateway to distribute the network connections from the servers to the input device(s).

Typically the connection between the server and gateway can be lost to the control devices without the loss of lighting because the control devices will still operate, but you may lose energy data or other minor functions.

The server is sometimes combined with the gateway, but usually, they are two separate devices.

Cloud-Based Servers

Cloud-based servers will connect the wireless lighting system with a virtual server. If the signal is lost temporarily, the system should still operate; however, certain functions will not work until the signal is restored, like the server and gateway.

Tell Me More About My Wireless Lighting Control Options

Installing and repairing wiring can be a hassle, but with wireless lighting control systems, you won’t have to give this a second thought, especially if you let us at Teague Electric do all the hard work for you.

If you live in the Kansas City metro area, we want to set up your wireless lighting. Contact Teague Electric to discuss your wireless lighting control options today!