0-10v Diming VS DALI

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mikeames

Senior Member
Location
Germantown MD
Occupation
Teacher - Master Electrician - 2017 NEC
I may be doing a house and there is a possibility of using USAI LED lighting.(Very nice with color, and Warm glo dimming) I wanted to know how many have experience with 0-10v dimming vs DALI control? Is DALI used much? Do you have a preference? Seems like DALI has the flexibility from a control standpoint but whats the drawback? Support? Any opinions or feedback is appreciated.

Mike
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
I've never heard of DALI to be used in a home. Even if you could find fixtures they would be very limited. I'll bet all the USAI stuff is 0-10V.
 

tank728

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Electrician
I have installed fixtures from USAI that changed color temperature (warm to cool) and dimmed of course. These fixtures required 2 sets of 0-10v wiring. While I have heard of DALI, I have yet to install a system myself. DALI appears to be a digitally addressable system meaning you can alter what lights come on and off without a rewire.

DALI seems a bit much for a house. I think it was designed for large scale use in buildings
 

curt swartz

Electrical Contractor - San Jose, CA
Location
San Jose, CA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
I have no idea which of their fixtures you are going to be using but they offer Lutron drivers for many models. I would definitely choose a Lutron driver if offered for a residential application. If you plan to use standard dimmers or RadioRA2 go with the 2-wire 1% driver. No additional wiring needed and the best dimming performance you will get of any driver. If this job is going to have HomeWorks they you could choose the Lutron ECO drivers to eliminate all switch legs back to the panels.

Using 0-10 or other specialized control for residential lighting is a last resort for me. In addition to the additional wiring required you are really limiting the type of controls that can be used. Even if the customer is using basic controls/dimming now in the future if they decide the want to add smart control it will make things much more complicated.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
DALI is more expensive.

0-10v can be used for dimming, or in some fixtures it’s used for color changing. DALI can be used for both, and for individual fixture control on the circuit.

Lutron and Vantage both offer DALI interfacing in their systems; I think Crestron does too. It’s becoming more common in high end homes as well as office spaces. The marketing term is “human-centric lighting”; it allows for indoor lighting temps to match natural sunlight based on time of day. It’s just tunable white lighting.

Lookup Ketra lighting also. It’s pretty neat stuff.




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mikeames

Senior Member
Location
Germantown MD
Occupation
Teacher - Master Electrician - 2017 NEC
DALI is more expensive.

0-10v can be used for dimming, or in some fixtures it’s used for color changing. DALI can be used for both, and for individual fixture control on the circuit.

Lutron and Vantage both offer DALI interfacing in their systems; I think Crestron does too. It’s becoming more common in high end homes as well as office spaces. The marketing term is “human-centric lighting”; it allows for indoor lighting temps to match natural sunlight based on time of day. It’s just tunable white lighting.

Lookup Ketra lighting also. It’s pretty neat stuff.




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Hey Thanks brantmacga The Ketra stuff you referenced was helpful. That is nice stuff. Definitely looking into that. Seems more suitable for residential than USAI.
 
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