Smart Home Lighting Control
When it comes to lighting in the smart home there are many options. It is worth remembering that you really don't need all your lighting to be smart and if it is, you must also provide some manual controls to over-ride
- Traditional 'hard wired' light switch - 'dumb' switches as found in most homes. Sometimes, just using a light switch works. Some of these may include brightness control.
- Traditional 'hard wired' multiple switches - it is common to have 2 light switches to control the same light but, there may be 3, 4 or even more.
- Remote controls - typically use a wireless communication method to remotely control an associated lighting fixture. These tend to be found in cheaper lighting solutions and may use 433MHz or even infra-red (IR).
- Smart switch modules - are designed to use your existing lighting and wiring but to also provide an extra level of control. They typically fit behind the existing light switch and are powered by the lighting supply.
- Bus network lighting systems - use a bus network topology, to allow flexible control.
- Software user interfaces - apps, touch screens, etc.
- Button, switch or dial control - uses a separate physical "switch" that is not part of the existing house electrical system for lighting. These use an 'over-lay' (or parallel) control network to control lightingand typically work with muh lower voltages (e.g. 5V dc, 12V dc, etc.).
- Voice control - using a 'voice assistant'.
- Zero touch lighting - where the lighting works intelligently without any user interface being required. It is quite usual to still provide some kind of controls however, to over-ride the automation if required.
Smart Home Lighting Control
12V Lighting
Most 12V lighting is LED and requires direct current (dc) but a lot of it features an internal bridge rectifier (also known as a diode bridge), to allow it to work with alternating current (ac) and also to protect it from accidental reverse connections.
12V Bulbs
One of the most common 12V light bulbs is the MR16 downlighter.
Note:
Good quality MR16 light bulbs are incredibly reliable compared to mains power light bulbs. This is because they have much less voltage to handle and hence much less heat to deal with. In 15+ years of using MR16 LED light bulbs, we have yet to have a single one fail.
12V LED Strips
12V LED strips are available in various formats from a single white to RGB (3 colours) and RGBW (3 colours + white).
