Flourescent Dimming

I am needing to dim 2x58W flourescent lamps that use a Tridonic PCA dimming balast. Can anyone advise which Clipsal Cbus dimmer unit would be capable of achieving this?

 

fluro dimming

go with the clipsal dsi
quick and simple and will save you a lot of headaches

 

If it's only a small installation, I'd investigate the cost to replace the ballasts with Analogue (0-10V controllable) then use the 5101R - that unit has a current-sinking 0-10V analogue output in it (although not well documented). It may be that the cost of changing the ballast will be cheaper than buying a Gateway!

For a larger install, or where you don't have a say in the ballasts, then you have to use whatever gateway / interface is required by the ballasts. In the case of Tridonic, they always try to push "their own" DSI interface, rather than the more widely used DALI - it's the way that they hold specification on projects because nobody else really supports DSI.

Cheers, JC

PS: As Nick said, none of the fluorescent ballasts are "dimmable" - they need a control signal of some form to regulate their light output.

 

JohnC,
Do you have any documentation on this feature of the 5101R ?
We have a need for something like this coming up soon.

Thanks,

Mark

 

Some info on the dimming output here, in the installation instructions for the 5101R.
http://www3.clipsal.com/cis/pdf_files/F1452_-_5101R_INSTALLATION_INSTRUCTION.pdf

 

One annoying thing about that device - unlike other output devices that can draw operating power for C-bus via the Cbus cables, this one is completely self-powered so it acts very wierdly unless connected to the mains. Well, actually, it doesn't do anything AT ALL unless connected to the mains.

Make sure to note the comments in that document about the programming switch - I nearly went crazy with these devices because unless that button is held down they won't even show up in a scan, let alone allow programming !

But they work quite nicely, and they will work with more than 2 ballasts given a bit of fiddling and good luck.

Cheers, JC

PS: These units were designed specifically to be mounted inside a luminaire - they allow individual control that is safe and legal (the relay) at an affordable price. The idea is not to bring all the loads back to a switchboard - it's true distributed control. It's a device I was involved in developing a very long time ago, but unfortunately everyone has gone crazy for the "stick all the Cbus in a cupboard and run 3 miles of cables out to every load" concept now days...