We now have lights in the older part of the property. We have had them for a week or so, but now we have light switches to turn them on! Previously, we had to revert to using an iPad to turn the lights on and off. Bizarrely, I could turn the lights on and off anywhere in the world – except (apparently) the room that I was in as there was no light switch. It doesn’t take long for the novelty of having to use an iPad all the time to wear off. And before you ask, yes, you can use an iPhone too! See previous post for information on the web interface.
In this part of the building alone, there are around 20 lighting circuits (a lighting circuit is a group of lights controlled by a switch) and about the same number of light switches.
Today we have installed all of the light switches and, after a bit of messing about, the switches do seem to control the right lights (most of the time). Since the mapping between lights and switches is done in software, we can always modify the arrangement later on (unlike in a conventional system). We had to reprogram a few of the switches, but all in all, it went pretty well. We have removed the stainless steel front plates from the switches. This allows the rooms to be decorated without getting paint on the switches (and still being able to turn the lights on and off). For more information, see previous post on light switches.
As well as the lights, the bathroom extractor fans are also controlled by the lighting computer. This means that we can configure the system so that the extractor fans do not come on after midnight (say) as this might disturb others in the house.
In the upstairs bathroom, there are two lighting circuits. One controls that main lights (and turns on the fan). The other controls the LED lights in the shelf and along the plinth for the bath. This circuit does not turn the fan on. This means that you can have a bath and just turn the LED lights on without having the fan running.
This is one of the switches with the stainless steel face plate removed. We will put the face plates on once the rooms have been decorated. This is a Schneider GET Ultimate two gang switch.
ignore the cardboard box over the toilet and the board over the bath. This is the upstairs bathroom with the main lights and LEDs turned on. The extractor fan is running. This is controlled by the left button.
And now with the main lights off and just the LED lights on. These are only 1W put these LED lights put out a lot of light.