LED smart lighting

01

Measured savings: 49% across 194 buildings, and what high-end trim and LLLC add

The NEEA and DesignLights Consortium study Energy Savings from Networked Lighting Control Systems With and Without LLLC (2020) analysed energy monitoring data from networked lighting control systems in 194 buildings, with an average of 13 weeks of data per building. It found average savings of 49% across all buildings, with the middle half between 35% and 69%, and high-end trim contributing 27% on its own. [1]

Average savings by building type were 28% for assembly, 41% education, 52% healthcare, 40% manufacturing, 64% office, 59% restaurant, 44% retail and 68% warehouse; the report says there "does not seem to be a clear correlation between energy savings and building type" and that site-specific variation is a much larger driver. In the same table, office buildings (57 sites) averaged 64% and assembly buildings (6 sites) 28%. [1]

Systems with luminaire-level lighting controls (LLLC), which put sensors and control logic in each luminaire, showed higher savings in the dataset, but the report cautions that further study is needed before treating LLLC as better in all applications. It also found that access to energy data varied by manufacturer. [1]

Give the supplier the building type and areas, operating hours, existing lighting, the control strategies wanted (scheduling, occupancy, daylight, high-end trim, demand response), luminaire- or zone-level control, wired or wireless protocol, integration with the building management system, energy reporting, commissioning support, cybersecurity requirements, certification or rebate programme and quantities.

02

Sensor tubes on a car park circuit and DALI-2 subnets: what each controls

Greenough lists microwave-sensor LED tubes for car parks and corridors in 0.6 m 9 W, 0.9 m 14 W, 1.2 m 18 W and 1.5 m 23 W sizes. They use a 5.8 GHz Doppler radar sensor with a stated sensing distance of 5–10 m; standby power is given as "usually 3-4W, and adjustable according to the environment", full output as 10–18 W for the 0.6 or 1.2 m tubes, and full-power time as 2 to 60 seconds depending on the environment, the tube dropping to standby 30 seconds after objects leave or stop moving. [2]

Editorial calculation: an 18 W tube that runs at full power 3 h a day and idles at 4 W (within the stated 3–4 W) for the other 21 h uses about 138 Wh a day against 432 Wh at full power for 24 h, a saving of about 68%; the result depends on traffic, hold time and standby level, so ask for logged data from a similar site. [2]

Editorial note: compare offers on the control strategies and data each system provides, how it is commissioned and who can change settings later, not on a headline savings percentage.

For wired networks, the DALI Alliance, which runs the DALI-2 certification programme for the IEC 62386 protocol, sets the system limits. Each DALI-2 subnet can have 64 control gear (such as LED drivers) and 64 control devices (application controllers and input devices such as sensors and switches); power and data share one pair of wires, with standard 2-core 1.5 mm² cable, no polarity to observe, free wiring topology and a maximum cabling length of 300 m between the furthest-apart devices. Every DALI-2 system needs a bus power supply, standalone or built into another device, giving 16 V (typ.) and up to 250 mA. [3] Devices can be addressed individually, in groups or by broadcast, each control gear stores 16 scenes recalled by a single GO TO SCENE command, and certified DALI-2 control gear follow a standardised dimming curve matched to human brightness perception, with light output measured during testing. [4]

Editorial calculation: a car park of 150 sensor-equipped drivers exceeds one subnet's 64 control gear, so it needs at least 3 DALI subnets (150 ÷ 64 ≈ 2.3, rounded up), each with its own bus power supply and no more than 300 m of cable span; ask the supplier for the subnet layout and how the subnets connect to the controller. [3]

03

Sensor tubes and luminaires on the linked supplier page

The linked supplier page lists microwave and PIR sensor LED tubes for car parks and corridors; its PIR tubes switch off, or run at 30% brightness, in strong daylight. [2]

Ask for the sensor type, detection distance, hold time and standby power settings, and whether they can be changed after installation.

04

Luminaire, dimming driver, occupancy and daylight sensors, controller and metering

05

Power, standby, protocol and dimming values from the NEEA, Greenough and DALI sources

Rows without a citation have no figure in the three sources, because they depend on the luminaire chosen; the power, protocol and dimming rows carry the published values.

06

Send the building, control and data needs together

Paste it into your enquiry below or into an email to a maker, then replace every bracket.

Building: [type; areas; hours]
Controls: [scheduling; occupancy; daylight; trim]
Level: [luminaire; zone]
Network: [protocol; BMS; reporting]
Luminaires: [type; power; standby; CCT]
Supply: [commissioning; data access; quantity]

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