More energy-efficient and capable of producing superior lighting effects are dimmable LED bulbs. Therefore, the dimming system will become the ideal lighting option in some commercial lighting, industrial lighting, or domestic lighting applications. The market offers four primary solutions for dimming LED lights. Which one is ideal for your LED lighting projects?
1.phase darkening
Phase dimming systems change the supply voltage to dim the led lights. There are two different kinds of technologies involved.
Edge-dimming lighting
Using a thyristor circuit, leading-edge dimming—also known as "FPC"—cuts the input voltage at AC phase 0, and there is no voltage input until the thyristor is switched on. In order to achieve the goal of dimming, the sine waveform is changed by adjusting the conduction angle of each half-wave of the alternating current. This changes the effective value of the alternating current.
High adjustment precision, high efficiency, compact size, lightweight, and simple long-distance manipulation are benefits of cutting-edge dimmers. They are market leaders, and this kind of dimmer is used in the majority of manufacturer's goods. Modern phase control dimmers are often known as thyristor dimmers because they frequently employ thyristors as switching components. Low dimming costs, compatibility with existing wiring, and a lack of requirement for back-edge phase-cut control dimming are all benefits of combining FPC dimmers with LED lights.
The drawback of FPC is its poor dimmer performance, which typically leads to a smaller dimmer range and raises the minimum load requirement over the rated power of a single or few LED bulbs. The thyristor semi-controlled switch's characteristics mean that it can only partially turn off the current; it cannot totally turn it on. Even when it is set to the lowest level, a faint current is still there. Numerous applications of thyristor dimming are necessitated by the properties of micro-current LED light-emitting diodes. A challenging issue in the marketing of this wiring-free LED dimming approach is the occurrence of feeble light emission that persists after the LED is switched off.
Application: Residential lighting and other modest projects with a limited number of led lights typically make use of triac dimmable led lights. The majority of GU10 bulbs or modest power downlights choose to use this triac dimming mechanism.
In-trailing dimming
Field-effect transistors (FET) or insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) are used to create trailing edge phase-cut control dimmers. Since MOSFET is frequently used as the switching mechanism in trailing edge phase-cut dimmers, it is sometimes referred to as a "MOS tube" or MOSFET dimmer. There is no reason why the thyristor dimmer cannot be totally turned off because MOSFET is a fully controlled switch that can be regulated both on and off.
Additionally, the MOSFET dimming circuit is better suited for capacitive load dimming than the thyristor, but the MOS tube dimming technique has not been developed due to its expensive cost and very complicated dimming circuit, which is difficult to steady. The dimming system market is still dominated by optical technologies.
Since there is no minimum load requirement, the trailing edge phase-cut dimmer can achieve a better dimming effect on a single lighting device or very small load than the leading-edge phase-cut dimmer. However, since MOS tubes are rarely used in dimming systems, they are typically only made into knob-type single-lamp dimming switches. Engineering projects should not use this post-cut phase dimmer with low power. Additionally, a lot of manufacturers of led lighting utilize this dimmer to test the dimming of their own dimming drivers and bulbs. subsequently promote their own dimming goods onto the engineering market, which frequently results in the engineering setting of phase-cut dimming drive following modulation using thyristor dimming system. The incompatibility of the dimming techniques causes flickering, which can quickly harm the power source or the dimmer.
Application: LED bulbs, led downlights, led track lights, etc. for interior illumination in homes, businesses, and other settings.
2. fading at 0/1-10V
The 0/1-10V dimming device has two independent circuits: a low-voltage circuit that supplies a reference voltage and instructs the lighting equipment to adjust its power supply, and an ordinary voltage circuit that is used to turn on or off the power supply to the lighting equipment. Fluorescent bulb dimming was typically controlled by a light level, 0/1-10V dimming controller.
Advantages: Since a continuous power supply was added to the LED driver module and a specific control circuit was created, a large number of LED lights may now be supported by the 0/1-10V The dimmer.
The low-voltage control signal necessitates a second set of wires, significantly increasing the building requirements.
Application: 0-10V LED Downlights, 0-10V LED Panel Lights, and LED Track Lights for Commercial Lighting, including Office Lighting Projects, Supermarket Lighting Projects, Hospital Lighting Projects, and Other Projects Including Many Different LED Lights.
3.DALI dimming
A DALI network is described by the DALI standard as having a maximum of 64 units (each with a unique address), 16 groups, and 16 scenes. Flexible grouping of various lighting devices on the DALI bus may be used to manage and control various scenes. A typical DALI controller may conduct several operations in parallel and can regulate up to 40 to 50 bulbs that can be grouped into 16 groups in real applications. 30 to 40 control instructions may be handled per second on a DALI network. This implies that for each lighting group, the controller must manage two dimming commands every second. DALI substitutes for the 1-10V voltage interface to operate the ballast; it is not a true point-to-point network. The benefit of DALI over conventional 1-10V dimming is that each node has a distinct address code and feedback, therefore greater distance dimming will not have signal attenuation like 1-10V. However, in engineering practice, this distance is still considered to be acceptable. should be no more than 200 meters.
Since a DALI network can only handle 21 full-color LED bulbs, it is obvious that DALI is not appropriate for controlling LED lighting. DALI is focused on system dependability, stability, and compatibility and is targeted toward conventional lighting control. Compared to the DALI system, the LED lighting system is substantially larger in size. It appropriately considers the system's intelligence while primarily pursuing the artistic effect of lighting and lanterns. For this, a system with indefinite extension potential, higher scenes, and connections to a bigger bus network is needed. reloading capacity. As a result, DALI systems are frequently used as a subsystem in larger lighting projects that use other bus protocols.
Benefits: DALI dimming does not need to be repeated
They still have a grating signal line architecture, and they are expensive. It is important to note that the present DALI dimming driver requires standby power consumption even when the light is turned off to make sure the microcontroller is always in a standby mode.
DALI led downlights, track lighting, and panel lights are used in big business centers, buildings, and all hotels.
4. DMX512 dimming
The USITT (American Society of Theater Technology) created the DMX512 protocol in order to manage dimmers from a console's common digital interface. DMX512 outperforms the analog system but falls short of replacing it entirely. When money is available, the DMX512 protocol is the preferred option due to its affordability, versatility, and dependability (if installed and utilized properly).
The power supply and controller are typically designed in tandem when using DMX512 in practical applications. The RBG line of the LED bulbs is driven directly by the DMX512 controller, which also controls the 8–24 lines. However, the architectural lighting project requires the installation of a controller at a distance of roughly 12 meters, and the control bus is operating in parallel mode as a result of the significant weakening of the DC line. As a result, the controller's wiring is highly extensive and often hard to construct. In order for the DMX512 receiver to properly receive the dimming instruction, the address must be configured, which is also highly cumbersome in practice. To operate complicated lighting systems, several controllers are coupled, and the operating software's architecture will likewise be more intricate. Consequently, DMX512 is more suited for situations like stage lighting when bulbs are clustered together.
The disadvantage of DMX controllers is that they demand specialized wire types and wiring layouts, as well as specific programming to configure basic colors and scenes. This demands expensive maintenance in the future.
Application: Wall washers on hotel outside walls are one type of outdoor landscape lighting.
