Industry News

Fulham Co., Inc., a leading supplier of lighting components and electronics for commercial and specialty applications, has partnered with Control Network Solutions (CNS), to deliver a smart lighting solution based on the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) intelligent lighting communications standard. Fulham’s new line of WorkHorse LED programmable dimming DALI drivers are designed to interoperate with CNS’s elitedali™ smart lighting control and management system to provide an extensible lighting system that is easy to install, commission, and control.

Combining Fulham’s programmable WorkHorse LED drivers with CNS’s elitedali management system applies an Internet of Things (IoT) approach to lighting control. The combination of Fulham’s drivers and CNS’s DALI software provides total control over LED fixtures, including reducing input current to adjust the lumen display, managing lights to optimize useful life, adjust lighting to ensure they dim at a constant level, and even adjusting power output to accommodate different light sources. For example, with LED efficiency improving at a rate of 7 to 9 percent every six months, using the same input power for newly installed light fixtures can result in uneven lighting with new fixtures appearing as much as 20 percent brighter. Intelligent LED drivers controlled by a DALI management system adjusts the power for even illumination.

“Fulham believes the future of lighting is in programmable drivers, and DALI is the industry’s only interoperable lighting control standard today,” said Russ Sharer, Vice President of Global Marketing for Fulham. “CNS takes it the next step by making the system easier to install, commission, and operate.”

The Fulham/CNS smart solution for DALI controlled lighting provides flicker-free dimming down to 10 percent with real-time access to all lighting device value data. The output current can be set in increments of 1mA, and the driver can be programmed without power. Fulham’s WorkHorse intelligent dimming drivers are available in 40W and 60W units in various sizes and all use Fulham’s SmartSet one-touch programming.

“We’ve worked with many driver and ballast companies, yet Fulham’s products seem to integrate faster and easier than any other products currently available,” said Mike Welch, CEO of Control Network Solutions. “They’re truly DALI “plug and play.’ They also have a great vision for the value that smart IoT-based control systems and intelligent drivers can offer customers.”

The CNS elitedali solution is based on Tridium’s Niagara® software framework for building IoT, smart, and web-enabled software applications. It enables any suitable Niagara building controls platform to discover, commission, and control directly networks of intelligent light fixtures that conform to the DALI (IEC 62386) open standard. Value intelligent light fixture data such as the operating status of the drivers, including hours of operation, average or peak temperature, power consumption, emergency light readiness, and more are seamlessly accessible via Niagara for local or remote monitoring, management, and analytics. For facilities managers, such solutions can dramatically reduce the down time and number of site support visits.

Fulham is offering CNS partners globally direct access to their DALI-compatible driver products through Fulham’s global network of distributors. Fulham also works with a network of luminaire manufacturers that incorporate the company’s DALI drivers.

“Together these new market disruptive partnerships enable us to collectively deliver world-class IoT smart lighting solutions to customers globally,” added Sharer. The demand for such a solution was recently showcased at LIGHTFAIR International 2016, San Diego receiving extremely positive feedback. Furthermore, the unique Fulham and CNS lighting control solution will also be discussed and demonstrated at the upcoming Niagara Summit - the industry event for all Niagara system developers, programmers and integrators.

For more information about Fulham’s complete line of LED drivers, please visit www.fulham.com.
For more information on CNS and elitedali smart lighting controls, please visit www.elitedali.com
For more information on the Niagara Summit, please visit https://www.niagarasummit.com/

About Fulham
Fulham Co., Inc. is a leading global provider of intelligent, sustainable commercial lighting components and electronics for use in commercial general lighting, parking structure, signage, horticultural, UV and other applications. The company develops and manufactures a variety of award-winning LED and emergency products, as well as legacy products across multiple lighting platforms. Fulham sells its lighting solutions worldwide through original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electrical equipment distribution channels. Headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif., the company has sales and/or manufacturing facilities in the U.K., China, India, and the UAE. For more information, visit www.fulham.com.

About CNS
CNS is the creator of smart, IoT, market disruptive, building and lighting control solutions. A transformational company, CNS is based 45 minutes southwest of London, England.
Its solutions are deployed world-wide, with more than 100,000 DALI intelligent light fixtures commissioned, controlled, visualized, and analyzed in greater than 1,000,000 sq mtrs of built environment from state of the art medical facilities to factories, offices, warehouses, and more. For more information, please visit www.control-network-solutions.co.uk