Recently Filed in Lighting Control

I got a good look at Lutron’s energy-saving Green button at the Greenbuild showin Boston last week. The Green button can be used with a wired or wireless Lutron HomeWorks lighting system, and enables lights to be dimmed to a preset degree. Say you have the lights on full in your media room and you want to dim them to be more energy efficient: Instead of pressing a button on a keypad until the light dims to the desired level, you just press a Green… View this story
Lighting Control • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Home Control • Info and Answers

So what’s the best course of action for adding dimmers? Should you change out every single switch in your house or start with just a couple of rooms? According to the experts, you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck in the kitchen and bath. “These two rooms have a tremendous amount of installed lighting,” says Phil Scheetz, home systems marketing manager at Lutron Electronics. In a kitchen, for example, there might be recessed lighting over the stove and cooktop, pendants above the island, a… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • How To • Home Control • Info and Answers

Good news for those who would like to dim energy saving compact fluorescent and LED lights. Lighting control company Lutron has CFL dimmers that can be used with Philips Energy Saver CFL bulbs, and is in the process of marketing dimming drivers to LED manufacturers. Soon, hopefully, Lutron HomeWorks, Grafik Eye and RadioRA systems will be capable of dimming certain LED lamps down to 1 percent, if needed. Lutron’s Skylark and Diva dimmers can work with Philips’ Energy Saver EL/A R30 DIM 16-watt, EL/A R40… View this story
Lighting Control • Green Technology • Home Control • Info and Answers

Lights are a beautiful thing. Softly dimmed, they can evoke relaxation and play up features of your home’s décor and architecture. The controls that you use to adjust the intensity of the lights can be just as eye-catching. Manufacturers of lighting control system offer a myriad of different styles of switches. You can go with something sleek and minimalist like the Vierti dimmer from Lutron or a keypad that’s trendy like the Euro-style models from LiteTouch. Colors run the rainbow, from trendy blues and browns… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • Home Control • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Lighting control companies focus on one thing: building systems that could automate the home’s lights for better efficiency and convenience. They’ve done a great job at this, continually incorporating new functions and features into their systems. One of the most recent additions to the lighting system has been the integration of motorized window shades. The same keypad that’s used to brighten and dim groups of lights can also open and shut motorized window shades and draperies. Moreover, the lights and shades can work in concert,… View this story
Lighting Control • Home Control • Info and Answers

Can the consumer electronics industry really be green? Seriously, we’re gadget happy, we like bigger and better TVs and audio systems, and we love, love, love killer home theater systems with lots of high-powered, high-energy oomph. So I was curious as to what types of green electronics—if any—I would find at the recent CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) Expo in Denver. As one of my fellow airport shuttle passengers said upon hearing of my plans, “Good luck on your quest.” That made me… View this story
AV Components • Amplifiers • Multiroom Audio • Displays • LCD • Plasma • Furniture and Mounts • Home Theater Accessories • Home Control • Industry • Lighting Control • Surge Protectors • Green Technology • Info and Answers

In-wall speakers have come a long way. They look great and can sound just as good as free-standing models. Still, if you look hard enough, they are noticeable. Some speaker manufacturers believe they can do better at blending speakers into the home decor—and they have, by creating models that are completely invisible. One of the pioneers of the invisible speaker category is Sound Advance. The company’s flat-panel loudspeaker technology was acquired by Sonance a few years ago, giving Sonance an even broader lineup of speakers.… View this story
Home Control • Touchpanels and Keypads • Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • Lighting Control Systems • In-Wall Speakers • Home Control • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Now that you’ve got your home theater display and speakers, what else do you need? Don’t forget about the power management that can optimize your A/V setup. There are also other “extra” goodies that we thought deserved recognition this year. On the power side, protection, management and conditioning to get you clean, uninterruptible and surge-protected AC power to all of your precious electronics equipment can’t be understated in its importance. Several companies excel in this category, and we gave nods to APC for its Back-UPS… View this story
Lighting Control • Power Management • Bookshelf Systems • Docks & Cradles • Games • Products of the Year Awards 2008 • Product News • Slideshows

Audio and video are usually the first two key considerations most people think about when designing a home theater. But a third and no less integral attribute is lighting. The average home theater enthusiast may do a lot less thinking about lighting than they do the size of their screen or even about acoustics, but the right lighting can transform the most basic to the most sophisticated home theater into an entertainment oasis. The Big Picture Just because you watch a movie in the dark… View this story
Lighting Control • How To • Home Theater • Info and Answers

Want to save electricity but can’t afford a full-blown lighting control system? One of the best and least expensive ways to save energy in your home is to install occupancy or vacancy sensors, in rooms where lights may be left on.  A vacancy sensor detects when someone is no longer in a room and shuts the light off automatically (turning them on requires a manual switch). Occupancy sensors can turn the lights on and off automatically. Both type of sensors can be installed easily to… View this story
Lighting Control • Green Technology • Home Control • Product News

The consumer electronics industry opened its doors to the public in New York City this week at Digital Downtown, a technology showcase being held at the World Financial Center. Manufacturers representing a broad swath of CE companies showed everything from HDTVs to lighting controls to car audio systems. Several companies used the event to unveil new products. Hitachi demoed its new 50-inch plasma TV Model 50X902. The Director’s Series TV will retail for $4,699 when it ships in August. Features include a power swivel -… View this story
Displays • Lighting Control • Manufacturers • Product News

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and because of it so is interest in alternative energy sources. With that mind, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday about our energy needs for today and the future. “We have to recognize that there isn’t anything out there that is going to get us away from a hydrocarbon economy anytime in the near future,” the vice president announced. “There really isn’t anything on the horizon that today is economic, relative, for example, to… View this story
Climate Control • Lighting Control • Green Technology • Info and Answers