Recommend me a lighting controller...

[MitsiTurbo]

Guys,

The final lighting setup is in place now and as such I need to get myself a lighting controller.

Needs to have 4 zones, and as many programmable scenes as possible.

Mode Scenestyle 4 seems quite good but ideally would like more than 4 scenes.

Any other offerings?

The lighting is as follows, 2 zones of rope lighting, 1 zone of 6x 35W GU10, 1 zone of 3x 50W GU10. No low voltage lighting included.

Many thanks

John

[Bruce_]

How much do you want to spend?

Lutron Grafik Eye has 8 scenes

[MitsiTurbo]

Bruce,

My mum and dad have a 4 zone Grafik Eye and I do like it. However, its a bit more than id probably be wanting to spend. Theirs only has 4 scenes though, however it is about 4 years old. Is 8 scenes a feature of new models?

The Scenestyle is quite a good price but as mentioned I would like more scenes.

Would something like Rako do the job?

Forget to add before, it MUST have IR control aswell. Gotta have it programmed into Harmony activities

[Bruce_]

Rako can do more than 8 scenes, and does IR. Different style of controller though. Probably about the same price as the GE.

[owain_thomas]

Originally Posted by Bruce_

Rako can do more than 8 scenes, and does IR. Different style of controller though. Probably about the same price as the GE.

I might be missing something obvious but how does the Rako do more than eight scenes? for that matter, can it do more than four with the standard controllers?

[Bruce_]

Dunno what I was thinking. You're right of course. Rako can only do 4 scenes.

Grafik Eye needs a separate panel to access 8 scenes, I think. But I'm not expert with Lutron product.

Actually there doesn't seem much available for 8 scenes, in the cheaper end of the market. They all seem to do 4 scenes.

The ZEN dimmer does 8 scenes (DO NOT BUY IT)

Most of the commercial systems will do 8 scenes, but you are probably looking at more than £1000 (product + commissioning)

iLight has an 8 scene control panel. connected to a 4 channel dimmer, it's still £500 though.

[hornydragon]

Originally Posted by owain_thomas

I might be missing something obvious but how does the Rako do more than eight scenes? for that matter, can it do more than four with the standard controllers?

RS232 or IR can do more scenes IIRC as can clever use if special panels but the norm is 4 scenes. only having 4 circuits 4 scenes is nirmmaly enough 6+ circuits and it can be a struggle in open plan areas

[MitsiTurbo]

Ok, thanks for the input guys. I think im going to go for the Scenestyle 4 as I have just discovered that it has a holiday mode where you can program it to simulate occupancy. As I regularly go overseas for a couple of weeks at a time, its ideal!