Mumbai, The analog 1-10 volt control interface is the most common industry standard for the dimming of electronic ballast today. DALI has been designed to become the new standard in the market. With its greater flexibility and simplicity of installations in a variety of applications it will replace the analog interface.
What is DALI? DALI is an acronym for Digital Addressable Lighting Interface. It is an international standard that guarantees the exchangeability of dimmable ballast from different manufacturers. This gives planners, luminaire manufacturers, building owners, installers and end users the safety of supply from multiple sources.
The DALI interface has been described in the fluorescent lamp ballast standard IEC-60929 as a simplified digital communication to suit present day-lighting technologies. Of Communication and installation have been simplified as much as possible. All intelligent components communicate in a local system in a way that is both simple and free of interference. There are no special requirements of wiring data cables, and it is not necessary to install termination resistors on the cables to protect them against reflections. All lighting component manufacturers are now in a position to solve complex lighting tasks in a simple and comfortable way.
DALI advantages: Users have the following advantages when installing DALI ballasts in their lighting system.
1. Simple wiring of control lines (no group formation and no polarity)
2. Control of individual units (individual addressing) or groups (group addressing) is possible
3. A simultaneous control of all units is possible at any time (built-in initial operation function) through broadcast addressing
4. No interference of data communication is to be expected due to the simple data structure
5. Controlled device status messages (lamp fault etc.), (report options: all/ by group/ by unit)
6. Automatic search of controlled devices
7. Simple formation of groups through flashing lamps
8. Automatic and simultaneous dimming of all units when selecting a scene
9. Logarithmic dimming behaviour - matching the eyes sensitivity
10. System with a signed intelligence (every unit contains amongst other things the following data: individual address, group assignment, lighting scene values, feeding time, etc.)
11. Operation tolerances of lamps can be stored as default values (for example - for the purposes of energy savings some maximum values can be set)
12. Fading: adjustment of dimming speed
13. Identification of unit type
14. Options for emergency lighting can be chosen (selection of specific ballasts, dimming level)
15. No need to switch on/off the external relay for the mains voltage as this is done by the internal electronic component
16. Lower system cost and more functions compared to the analog 1-10V dimming systems
DALI has been defined for:
- A maximum of 64 single units (individual addresses)
- A maximum of 16 groups (group addresses)
- A maximum of 16 scenes (scene light values)
The intelligence of the system has not been centralized for the purpose of defining the DALI interface for controlled devices. This means that many of the DALI options and lighting values are stored within each individual ballasts:
- Individual addresses
- Group assignments
- Fading times
- Light scene values
- Emergency lighting level (system failure level)
- Power ON level
DALI closes the gap between the conventional 1-10V interfaces and complex lighting control systems.
Notes to Editor
About Pammvi Group of Companies
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