Overiding/disabling a light level sensor

Hi All, Hope someone can help...

I have a commercial installation where a group of outdoor LED lighting is controlled by a light level sensor. There are a number of groups also controlled by this sensor. The client wants to be able to overide just the one group controlling the outdoor lighting.

Can this be done with just a simple push button switch, if so how or does it require something more complicated?

Thanks in advance...

 

What is controlling the Leds? How do you want to control them? If they are using a cbus dimme or relay you could use the logic in the output device. To force the lights on use the max/or function and set the logic group to 100% to turn them on, and 0% to let the sensor control them. To force them off, use the min/and function and set the logic group the 0% to turn them off, and 100% to let the dimmer control them.

 

Thanks Ashley for your quick reply! The installation is 3 yrs old. The light fittings are controlled by cBus relays. Can you drill down into groups to work out which relay boxes/channels individually control these light fittings? There are no records of what is in the system, how it was configured, etc. I have been trying to find a qualified programmer for 3-4 weeks now but no luck as I guess the job is too small. I've wired the switch, been able to access the system & back up to my laptop. I have a reasonably good idea of navigation & what I'm looking at. Do you know where I could find someone to program this or is it something that I could possibly do myself?

PS. Our company looks after the AC & electrical on site, thanks for your help so far.

 

when you say you have been able to access the system are you saying you have the Cbus toolkit up and running on the laptop?

 

Yes.

 

So if you open the relay it will show things like Group 10 etc. You need to figure out what that group is actually controlling which light. If you open the lighting application in the left hand panel, it will show you the status of all the groups. Then you just need to turn each group on and off using the buttons on the relay and see which group changes. Then you can enter a meaningful name.

See how you go with that

Also, I note that the installation has a PAC (the Pascal Automation Controller). Do you know what functions this is performing?

 

Thanks heaps Ashley. I already know which group it is but I think it is consists of 2x circuits spread across 2x distribution boards/relay modules. I haven't opened the PAC yet but any pointers or suggestions with it? It looks to be undesignated in the list that comes up.

 

So you know the group you want to control. You say you want to override the sensor. How exactly? Keep the light turned on or off or both?

 

The client doesn't want to adjust the lux level on the sensor, they just want to override it on heavily overcast days, also in out of hours times. They just want to manually turn them on/off when required & let them go back to automatic control when turned off.

 

To turn the lights on manually, create a new group called say 'Light override On'. Put this in a switch and set the switch functon to on/off.

Open the relay and select the logic tab. On the first row of assignments, click on the channel check box for the channel you want to override. In the drop down box select the new ga (i.e. 'Light Override On'). Below the channel, select OR.

The relay will now be on when either group is active. So if you set the switch to On the light will be on permanently. If you set the switch to OFF, the light will be controlled by the sensor.

If you want to disable the light with a switch, you will need to use a second switch. Just create a new group, assign it to the switch in the same way. Create a new row in the logic and set the function to AND. Now when the switch is off, the light will stay off.

 

Ashley, thank you again, you're a legend! I'll put this to work this week & let you know how I went. I'm wrapped to be able to learn this as it will help in looking after the client a lot better.
Can't thank you enough!

 

Hi im having a similar issue but what I’m wanting achieve is to have the light on the sensor but if you want to manually turn it off and on have a button. I’ve tried this through two groups and used logic in piced to try and simulate it. The issue I’m seeing is when I turn the light off the sensor picks you back up it would be handy if when you turned it off manually the sensor kept running to give 5 mins to get out of the way.

 

Im using this at the moment it seems to be working quite well but I was wondering if there was an easier way.
so first of all I created a second group for my example say my Lighting group is Wardrobe my Second is (B)Wardrobe and that is the group that I use in my sensor I also have a switch in the same room.
In Piced ive created what I want over three modules

{1st Module is Called "Wardrobe Sensor" to control "Wardrobe" Lighting group with the Second Group "(B)Wardrobe"}

Once (GetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe") = ON) then
begin
SetLightingLevel("Wardrobe", 100%, "2s");
end;
Once (GetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe") = OFF) then
begin
SetLightingLevel("Wardrobe", 0%, "2s");
end;
once (GetLightingState("Wardrobe") = OFF) then
begin
SetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe", OFF);
end

{2nd Module is Called "Carry Indicators" This is to carry the status light over on to the switch when the sensor is enabled/disabled}

Once (GetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe") = OFF) then
begin
SetLightingLevel("Wardrobe", 0%, "2s");
end;
Once (GetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe") = ON) then
begin
SetLightingLevel("Wardrobe", 100%, "2s");
end;
Once (GetLightingState("Wardrobe") = OFF) then
begin
SetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe", OFF);
end;
Once (GetLightingState("Wardrobe") = ON) then
begin
SetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe", ON);
end

{3rd Module is Called "Timed Disable" This Disables the Sensor for 5 mins when overridden by a switch}

Once (GetLightingState("(B)Wardrobe") = OFF) then
begin
DisableModule("Wardrobe Sensor");
Delay("0:05:00");
EnableModule("Wardrobe Sensor");
end

and that's it when you walk in the room sensor picks you up but if you want to manually turn it off you can from the switch and it auto resets it self after 5 mins.

 

Try this
You need two Groups
Wardrobe lights
Wardrobe PIR disable
Select timer function in the Key input
Go to the blocks tab in your Key input, use 2 blocks one for the the Wardrobe light and the other Wardrobe PIR disable ensure key 1 controls both blocks (ticks over on the right side of the blocks tab)
Select timer value for each Group address
Wardrobe lights set at 1 sec ( you cannot use 0 sec)
Wardrobe PIR disable group set at your desired period I would suggest 10 sec should be plenty time to allow you to get out of the wardrobe.
Then in the PIR
Use the enable/disable feature in the PIR put the Wardrobe PIR disable group in there and select the disable radio button
What will happen is the pir will turn the light on an off as normal. but if you want to turn the light off earlier then press the key input and the light goes off 1 sec later and the pir is disabled for 10 seconds

 

That's odd as I dont see an OR or AND option under the channel selection on my dimmer. could it be a firmware issue? I have 1.3.0

 

Dimmers have MIN and MAX options. If you want either group to turn the load on select MAX, if you want both groups on to turn the load on select MIN.

I'm assuming you have a DIN rail dimmer here and not the old black box ones with do not support logic.