Controller for digital addressable lighting interface

Abstract

The Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) is a lighting control protocol that allows individual control and monitoring of each device in a lighting system (e.g. ballasts, emergency lighting etc), as well as groups of such devices. An improved DALI compliant Line Controller is described which may be advantageously used in a commercial setting. The sockets for both DALI lines and Ethernet are industry standard RJ45 sockets, allowing the use of industry standard cables (as compared to DB9 connectors which are not typically used in industrial settings). Further the use of RJ45 sockets enables the DALI controller to be SELV compliant, thus reducing the risk of electrical shock whilst working on the controller and advantageously providing a safer controller for use in an industrial environment. Additional modifications for use in an industrial environment include constructing DIN mountable slimline housing which extends along the DIN rail to minimise the footprint of the controller and increase packing efficiency on the rack, providing an externally accessible battery compartment on the top surface allowing quick and easy battery replacement without requiring removal of the controller from the DIN rack, and LED visual indicators on the top surface to provide status information and allow easy identification of a specific controller with a problem when mounted on a DIN rack with many other devices.

Description

[0001] priority document [0002] This application claims priority to Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2010903014, titled "A DALI CONTROLLER", filed 7 July 2010, the entire contents of which application is incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0003] The present invention relates to lighting controllers. In particular, the present invention relates to lighting controllers for use in Digital Addressable Lighting Interface systems (DALI). Background technique [0004] Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) is a lighting control protocol that allows individual control and monitoring of each device in a lighting system (eg, ballasts, emergency lighting, etc.), as well as groups of such devices. DALI evolved from Digital Signal Interface (DSI) to become an open standard now defined in IEC 60929. This standard defines the communication protocol and electrical interface for compliant devices and allows support of 64 DALI compliant devices on a si...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Space and access are often restricted in such areas and prior art DALI controllers are usually nondescript rectangular enclosures and thus take up considerable space on such racks

Also, because they typically use DB9 connectors that are not normally found in commercial environments, this places an additional burden on the installer to carry the appropriate connector

Also, because they are set in nondescript enclosures, locating faulty controllers or requiring repair can be a time-consuming task

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