Compare TRIAC, 0-10V, DALI, and DMX dimming technologies to find the best fit for your lighting control needs. Understand their features and applications for enhanced lighting management.
Triac/front & back edge tangential dimming
One sentence summarizes the principle: through the direct transformation of the 220V AC, cut off part of the current wave to achieve control.
Advantage
The wiring method is the simplest
There is no dimming driver; only the module is required
The same applies to 220v AC ceiling fans or fan coil speed/power control.
Disadvantage: Advantage
The dimming module is large, the highest requirements for space and heat dissipation of the electrical box, the more light circuits occupy space.
High wiring costs
Not suitable for the mainstream lighting design without the leading light (now most light sources are LED low voltage)
1-10v/0-10v
One sentence summarizes the principle: analog voltage signal control (for example, 1v corresponds to 0% brightness, 5v corresponds to 40%, 10v corresponds to 100%, and most of the curve is not linear)
Advantages
Dimming driver price is low
The wiring principle is simple
Disadvantages
The highest wiring costs
The dimming module is extensive, with slightly higher space requirements for the electrical box.
If the line is long, there will be a voltage drop (e.g., the 10v signal drops to 9.5v at the receiving end, and the dimming will be slightly distorted)
In the case of a few light circuits, it is lower cost than Dali (for example, only one or two rooms)
Dali/DALi2
The principle in a nutshell: each luminaire is a single point, which can freely combine into a circuit
Advantages
The benchmark in the lighting control industry, enormous scope for upgrading, at least thirty years of use with one wiring, now DALi2 is available, with better support for dual color and RGB, and no changes to the wiring are required.
Digital signals can be grouped / controlled freely, both for the group control and for individual lamps to control
You can define the default brightness of the light/the length of time for the light to cool down and fade out/running lights/multiple circuits to light up (for example, the foyer light fades on immediately 5 seconds after the living room light fades on, and then the foyer light slowly goes out after 5 seconds)
The dimming module is the smallest, and the space requirements for the electrical box are very low (about four or five rooms occupy a total of 2 air switch positions)
The wiring principle is simple and costs compromise; the more significant the volume, the more cost-effective (for example, more than three or four rooms)
The most vital anti-interference ability (because the rate is the lowest well and does not need DMX as a second within 512 channels change dozens of times)
Disadvantages
Relative to the DMX code rate is low, some
Driver price is slightly higher than other programs
Driver price is high
DMX512
A sentence summarizes the principle: the controller constantly controls the value of 512 channels; each lamp, as long as it is listening to the value of a track, will know what it wants to do.
DMX to give some separate examples of lamps and lanterns to facilitate understanding
Example 1: a single dimming accounts for 1 channel: 0-255 value 0 = brightness 0%, 255 = brightness 100%
Example 2: an RGB strip light station with three channels: 255/0/0 with red brightness is 100%, green and blue all off, the last is to get red, the same 255/255/255 that red, green, and blue all 100%, the previous get white light all bright, this time the highest power lamps
Example 3: a brand of moving head gobo accounted for 14 channels
Channel 1: the head horizontal angle X-axis
Channel 2: vertical angle of the head Y-axis
Channel 3: dimming
Channel 4: strobe 0 ~ 10 long extinguished / 11 ~ 250 from the first 10 seconds of light and then extinguished 10 seconds ~ 10 times per second strobe (blind dog’s eye kind of effect) / 251 ~ 255 full bright not strobe
Channel 5/6/7/8: RGBW for rendering ambient colors red, green, blue, and white light
Channel 9: pattern shape: 0 ~ 10 no pattern / 11 ~ 50 pentagram / 51 ~ 100 circles / 101 ~ 150 flowers / 151 ~ 200 small animals / 201 ~ 255 squares
Channel 10: pattern drift speed: 0 ~ 10 fixed / 11-255 gradually become faster
Channel 11/12/13/14: Colour of the pattern: RGBW
Advantage
Digital signal, wiring method, and Dali similar
The most excellent lights are definitely from DMX
Disadvantages
It needs to be carefully arranged, suitable for stage lighting, not for home (except for the audio-visual room)
Summary
In the future, LED will be the mainstream lighting fixture because it is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, effective in reducing glare, and easy to attach the effect of gradual light / gradual extinction.
So I think the digital signal + drive is the future of mainstream dimming technology. The Dali is the most suitable for the home lighting control system; DMX is only practical for doing the audio-visual room with the excellent effect of Karaoke.
