Environmental Lights carries a wide variety
of LED controllers for different applications. When choosing an LED controller for your project,
keep these things in mind: Do you need white, single color or color changing
LEDs? Do you want to control your lights with a wall switch, wired controller, remote or
computer? Does your installation require color changing or pixel effects? How many different
rooms or zones will you have? Our 120-volt AC and 0-10 volt dimmers are
great options for single color LEDs when a traditional wall switch is desired. 120-volt
AC dimmers chop off the sine wave of your building’s power, which reduces the power
going into the dimming LED power supply. These phase cut dimmers are available with power
limits up to 1,000 watts per dimmer, but due to repetitive peak current stress present
in typical LED loads, we generally recommend using them at only about 25% of rated power,
except for the CL line of dimmers from Lutron, which has that reduction already built into
the ratings.
0-10 volt dimming controllers utilize a DC control signal to dim compatible
drivers. The advantage of 0-10 volt systems is that they scale better. You can control
more lighting because the control and power lines are separate. This is why commercial
dimming systems typically use 0-10 volt dimming systems, instead of phase cut dimmers. But
0-10 volt systems can also be used in your house, so don’t just think of them as commercial
systems. There are wireless remotes available for both 120 volt and 0-10 volt dimmers for
wireless control in addition to a traditional wall switch. Both of these dimmer types require
compatible dimmable power supplies.
Check our dimmable power supplies webpage and videos
for more details. We also carry a wide variety of single color
controllers in our LED Dimmers section. These include wireless remotes, wall panels and
smartphone app controls as well as various in-line controllers. Our wireless remotes
and smartphone controllers are great for when a wall switch would be inconvenient or if
you need to control multiple rooms or zones independently. Zones are ideal when a different
rooms or different areas in a room require different lighting. We carry both wired and
wireless wall controllers to accommodate different installation sizes and placement options.
Wired wall controllers have the advantage of being a single compact unit, but you will
need to wire the LEDs and power supply to its mounting location. Wireless wall controls
require at least one compatible wireless receiver, but offer flexible placement since they are
battery powered and can control multiple receivers simultaneously. Our in-line dimmers offer
various control interfaces including touch sensors, motion sensors and physical switches.
These are perfect for task lighting and we even have in-line dimmers that were designed
specifically for LED channel installations.
These dimmers accept the low voltage output
from a DC power supply and send a Pulse Width Modulation, or PWM, signal to the LEDs, unlike
the 120 volt and 0-10 volt dimmers. This makes them compatible with non-dimming power supplies.
Our White Adjustable LED Controllers offer similar controls, remotes and apps to basic
LED Dimmers with the ability to control Correlated Color Temperature, also known as CCT. White
Adjustable LED Controllers let you mix the intensity of the light output from 2700 and
6500 Kelvin LEDs to form any color temperature in between. Most of these controllers use
a touch color wheel or knob that lets you dial in the perfect setting. This function
is great for places like bathrooms, where you might use daylight white while getting
ready in the morning and switch to a warmer white at night.
RGB LED Controllers allow you to control color changing RGB LEDs with similar remotes, wall
controls and apps to White Adjustable controllers.
The RGB versions typically use a color wheel
control to scroll through colors and usually have color-changing modes. Some can also mix
white light from RGB LEDs. We also offer 3-channel color dimmers that let you manually adjust
red, green and blue levels for custom static colors. On the other end of the spectrum,
we offer effects driven products like sound-to-light controllers that sync lighting effects with
music. RGB ColorPlus LED Controllers add a fourth
channel of control to basic RGB functions.
These can be used with matching RGB ColorPlus
LEDs or with standard RGB and an optional single color. These controllers treat the
fourth channel separately so your choice of fourth color will not affect RGB color mixing,
white mixing or color changing functions. DMX provides the greatest amount of programmability
and control over your LEDs. With DMX controllers you can create professional quality lighting
displays with all kinds of LEDs. This includes pixel LEDs, where each individual LED can
be controlled independently. We offer a wide array of DMX products for different types
and sizes of installations. Please refer to our video titled “How to Choose a DMX Controller”
for a more in-depth look at DMX. To recap this discussion, our 120 volt and
0-10 volt dimmers are great options for single color LED lighting that will be used with
a traditional wall switch. Single color LED Dimmers have a variety of control options
for multi-zone and specialty applications. White Adjustable LED Controllers allow you
to transform the look of your space based on the time of day or activity.
RGB and RGB
ColorPlus LED controllers mix static colors and can have pre-programmed color changing
modes for three and four color LED lighting respectively. DMX allows you to fully program
and control all kinds of LED lighting using a computer or stand-alone controller.
More information about specific controllers can be found on their respective product pages.
If you still have any questions, give us a call. We’re happy to help..
