Navigating The Maze Of Led Dimming

Transcript

Navigating the maze of LED Dimming ALA National Convention, September 2013 Nick Senofsky CEO LED Inspirations www.LEDInspirations.com Navigating the maze of LED Dimming - Handouts ALA National Convention, Hyatt Regency Lost Pines, 9/2013 Speaker: Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations A. Intro - Four Primary Types of Dimming 1. Incandescent 2. Magnetic Low Voltage 3. Electronic Low Voltage 4. Zero to Ten Volt (0-10V) B. The Basics – AC Waveform 120VAC power is Alternating Current (AC) and completes a positive and negative “phase” sixty times every second (hence 60 hertz or 60 seconds) and looks like this: Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 1 1) Incandescent Dimming A standard incandescent dimmer merely delays the time before the positive and negative cycles turn on. As the user increases the amount of dimming, the delay grows longer and longer before power is turned on to the light fixture. Because the dimmer is controlling the 120VAC PHASE (modifying the wave), this type of dimming is also known as PHASE CONTROL. It is also known as TRIAC dimming because at the heart of the dimmer device is an electronic component called a triac that gives the device the ability to turn on and off the AC power, thus controlling the phase. Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 2 Last, incandescent dimmers control the FRONT part of the phase wave and is therefore known as FORWARD phase control. 2) Magnetic Low Voltage Dimming Magnetic low voltage dimmers work exactly like an incandescent dimmer (Forward Phase Control), but are designed specifically to work with magnetic loads such as the “flying saucer” transformer on a low voltage monorail system or a heavy magnetic LED driver typically used with LED tape light. These magnetic loads send a nasty electrical spike back up the wires to the dimmer when they are turned on and off. This spike will ruin (and literally smoke) a standard incandescent dimmer. A magnetic low voltage dimmer has heartier electronics in it designed to handle the electrical spikes from a magnetic load. Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 3 3) Electronic Low Voltage Dimming An electronic low voltage dimmer is a Phase Control dimmer like an incandescent dimmer, but instead of controlling the front part of the phase like an incandescent dimmer, it controls the back part of the phase and is therefore known as REVERSE PHASE. This style of control is electrically gentler on what it controls as it allows the device (in this case an electronic driver) to gently turn on by riding the phase wave as it increases in voltage, then cutting power to shorten the phase and cause the light to dim. Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 4 4) Zero to Ten Volt (0-10V) Dimming While many LED manufacturers use 0-10V dimming technology to control their LED fixtures, 010V is an older technology originally used to control dimmable fluorescent fixtures. In this system, the 0-10V control device receives a signal between 0V (off) and 10V (full on) from the dimmer and scales the output accordingly to the light fixture. Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 5 In the case of an LED system, most manufacturers use Pulse Width Modulation as the method to scale the output of 0-10V controller. Instead of varying the voltage to the LED fixture, the 010V control module pulses full power to the LED fixture. The fixture increasingly dims as the “off” time is increased and the “on” time is decreased. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Example: 12V System Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 6 C. Four Primary Types of Dimming TIME Acrostic T = Ten Volt (0-10V) = PWM I = Incandescent = Forward Phase M = Magnetic Low Voltage = Forward Phase E = Electronic Low Voltage = Reverse Phase D. Money Making Ideas a) Ask your manufacturer 3 questions: i) Is your fixture dimmable? ii) What type of dimming system do you use? iii) Do you have a Dimmer Compatibility List? b) Label all the fixtures in your showroom with tags indicating the type of dimmer required c) Take this information and use it to promote yourself in your community i) Contractors ii) Designers iii) Builders iv) architects Nick Senofsky, LED Inspirations Page 7