As networked lighting control systems become more widespread and are required in a growing number of jurisdictions, installers are faced with understanding, commissioning and troubleshooting these increasingly complex installations. The Lighting Controls Association (LCA) is stepping up to help with a new generic troubleshooting guide for networked lighting control systems and has made it available as a free download.
LCA said the goal of this document, Generic Troubleshooting Guide for Networked Lighting Control Systems (v1.0), is to enable personnel to address issues that may occur in the field. It’s not intended to replace troubleshooting instructions from specific manufacturers, and it should be noted that manufacturer solutions are highly individualized. The focus of this guide is on generic issues with common equipment types, including hardwired and wireless wall switches and dimmers, occupancy sensors, light sensors, luminaire controllers, gateways and servers.
Steve Mesh, lighting designer and principal of Lighting Education & Design, said in an article on the LCA website that lighting control systems have standardized enough that they do have some common issues.
"There is a fair amount of similarity between various systems offered today," he said. "For example, most LED luminaires installed today use 0-10V dimming drivers. Correspondingly, most networked lighting control systems have luminaire controllers that are designed to switch and dim these 0-10V drivers. As such, there are a variety of fairly typical issues that may crop up when using these drivers and controllers. This new troubleshooting guide is a compilation of many common issues based on knowledge of many of the currently available control systems.
The troubleshooting guide is offered as a protected XLS spreadsheet, available here: Generic Troubleshooting Guide for Networked Lighting Control Systems (v1.0)
