This is the text-alternative version of Controlling LED Color-Tunable Products.

Specifiers need to think very carefully when they are specifying controls for color-tunable luminaires. The ease of using that control is key. If the controls are too complex, they're not going to be used, or they're going to be abandoned or someone's going to circumvent them and just put a giant switch on the wall instead. So making sure it's a control that has an easy user interface and a control with easy to understand wiring between the control system and the luminaire itself-- the majority of the products that we've been looking at do not work with conventional dimmers.

Some of them have their own dedicated controls. Some of them work with conventional dimmers, but they may work with two conventional dimmers. So for example, you may have a controller that uses the 0 to 10 volt dimming protocol. And you'll have two 0 to 10 volt dimmers. One controls output and one controls the color temperature. You're using conventional products, but using them in an unconventional way. You're not really installing a color- tunable luminaire into an existing installation and using the existing controller.

The trade-off with full color tunable luminaires is cost and complexity. When you have multiple LED primaries and the capability of throwing the color into a forest green, you need to have a more sophisticated user interface. And you may want to create presets. That means someone can just press a simple button to get different colors for different moods in that office space. But it means that somebody has to be responsible for creating those scenes.

So you may end up having to hire an additional person to be responsible for the color changing luminaires or to program it periodically. You may want to bring in an AV specialist every now and then to create some new fun scenes for you. It's not something you can normally rely on the facilities staff to handle.