On April 24, 2008 at 11:44, AnthonyZ said...
GFood stuff, fellas. Keep it coming...
Ok, then I will. We are in the process of a big Homeworks and a big Vantage system so I can write down some of my thoughts here:
There is no way the first lighting quotation to be exact. We have never managed to do this. Even in very small apartment system changes will be made. Let your customers know about this. We are almost always correct with the keypads though. When designing a system include enough keypads so that there are buttons available for electric motors if the clients decide to finally use the provisions and install electric curtains or blinds. Blinds or curtains are usually one addition which can change the price of the system significantly and the clients usually decide to add them towards the end of the project. But of course let them know and convince them to install the necessary provisions.
When doing a system design and quotation it is very important to identify the loads and what kind of modules they require. We specify dimmer modules for all dimmable fixtures except some areas that they do not really need them like garages e.t.c. Fluorescent fixtures are also a big subject. You should always dim the fluorescents that are in places that require dimming e.g living room, dining room. We usually do not dim the fluorescents in kitchens. There are three ways to dim a fluorescent: 0-10V, DSI and Dali. The most common method in my country is 0-10V but also Dali is becoming popular. You should inform the owner or the lighting designer (sometimes they specify dim fluo but no nothing technical about them) that he will need to purchase dimmable fluorescents with 0-10 ballasts. You will also require the necessary interface in your lighting system to dim these fixtures. We will also need control cable to run to the fixture. Fluorescent load is calculated according to the lenght of the fluorescent. The most common sizes we find in houses are 4 or 5 or 6 feet. Be very careful with your fluorescent calculations since it is very easy to do a mistake in the quotation and system design.
Another problem we find at the initial stages is when the interior or lighting designers specify on the plan "hidden lighting" but gives no specific details of what they are going to use. The are various types of lighting robe and they very greatly in the number of watts per meter. Also some are dimmable and some not. There are LED types (generally not dimmable but very strangely we have managed to dim one and it works perfectly for over a year now), incandescent, low voltage, xenon and a few others. Try to go for the maximum watts per meter when you do not know what is going to be used.
LEDs and RGB DMX controlled fixtues are also very popular in high-end homes and they also need special considerations and precautions to get the system design and the quotation correct. I have to go now but I will try and describe what we do about them in a later post.
Last edited by charris
on April 30, 2008 12:39.
