Smart Lighting

cheechm

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What are the go-to smart lighting systems for a DIY install. This isn't a retrofit, but I want to avoid having to get anyone in to do it. I was reading up on Control4 and it seems that you can't really do much without being a dealer. The key feature I'm looking for is being able to control with a mobile phone/app.

Cheers
 
Smart lighting can range from £20 per fitting at the very cheapest end (Shelly) all the way through to £200+ per fitting (Lutron) and everything in the middle. DIY is contentious as technically you should be technically competent to install electrical circuits (in the UK). Retrofitting smart modules is far easier, assuming that you have a certified install by a qualified electrician.

C4 uses Zigbee modules for locally controlled lighting but also uses centrally controlled lighting dimmer packs.

If you are looking to build smart lighting from scratch, centrally controlled dimmer / switching is preferable and more reliable than local modules.
 
Sorry, in my haste I didn't really add any info - I was a bit bogged down with researching...

I do lighting for the events industry, so I think it's a challenge that I'll be able to handle. I have my 18th edition so no worries about the technical competency.

This is a brand new installation in a garden which is about an acre in size. So I'm ideally going to be doing everything centrally controlled.

Budget is undecided as of yet. Depends on what lighting fixtures are chosen. With regard to the control system, the features I'm looking for are:

- Ability to individually control parts of the garden (i.e. multiple circuits which I imagine every platform supports)
- Ability to record scenes for recall
- Controlled from a wall panel with scene selection or via an app
- Timed turning on and off
- Maybe need support for RGB/RGBW fixtures, but most likely not

There won't be an integration with any other service or entertinament etc so I'm really just looking for whoever does lighting the best (and can support the above).
 
Not entirely sure what the terminology is but I want to be able to record 10 or so different presets that can be turned on at a click of a button. Not all necessarily by a physical button (maybe 4) but all by the app.
 
Ok, scenes is the correct term .

it won’t be record but more deciding beforehand what you want to run and can be unlimited
 
Given your background and what you are looking to do, I think that I’d be looking at a DMX solution such as Philips outdoor DMX. It’s something that you are familiar with and is pretty easy to achieve what you want. If not DMX then one of the Philips commercial lighting systems such as starsense or CityTouch.
 

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