Wiring examples for D4i DALI installations

This example shows how a wireless application controller can connect to a wireless DALI bridge which has a standard DALI driver, DALI sensor and a DALI power supply connected to it.

As shown in the image above, the DALI sub line contains 4 wired DALI devices (DALI driver, DALI power supply, DALI wireless interface and a DALI sensor) which communicate back to the wireless application controller via the DALI wireless interface. This provides the expected capabilities of DALI-2 without compromise, but does so in a way where a physical DALI wire does not return back to the application controller. The following image shows how D4i can improve on this scenario.

With the introduction of the D4i driver, we combine the functionality of the DALI driver and the DALI power supply into a single device. This simplifies the physical installation by reducing installed componentry. In addition to this, the enhanced data reporting capabilities of the D4i driver are now available for reporting against within the application controller.

These previous examples are a practical use case for lighting in large open areas such as warehouses where the cost of additional DALI wiring can become expensive. This design method also allows for preprogramming of the devices before installation, eliminating risk during commissioning post installation. This design method may also be a viable solution for situations where a building can not be modified (example: heritage listed buildings).

In example 1, we converted an installation from a DALI driver to a D4i driver, in this example we reintroduce the DALI driver back into the installation. This means that not every luminaire will be capable of reporting back the same data, but in situations where this is not required, the DALI driver can operate on the line without the need for a dedicated DALI power supply, as the DALI power is provided by the D4i driver. its control and monitoring can then be reported back to the application controller via the DAL:I wireless bridge.

An example use case of this would be car park lighting, where a single lamp post might contain 2 or more luminaires but the distances between each lamp post may make for an impractical use case for a wired DALI infrastructure. This keeps the DALI wiring local to the lamp post, but allows for greater communication via the wireless capabilities.

Example 3: Distributed DALI power

This example shows the importance of designing with D4i drivers to ensure that there is not in excess of 250mA of available DALI power on a single DALI line. This is important to protect communications as well as the DALI devices connected to the line. The below example shows 1 D4i driver working in conjunction with 2 additional DALI drivers and a DALI sensor, wired back to a wired application controller. 

In this example, the D4i driver's DALI power supply is capable of delivering enough DALI power to power up the attached devices. In the situation where hypothetically, it was not capable of providing enough power, a DALI driver could be replaced with a D4i driver, repeating until there is either enough DALI power or turning on an additional power supply in a D4i driver would cause the line to exceed 250mA.

DALI part 251 (which a D4i driver must be compliant to) determines that a D4i driver must be able to switch its internal DALI power supply on or off. This allows a DALI line to be solely powered by D4i drivers which can come with the following benefits:

An example use case of an installation like this could be a project where high availability is a critical factor, the benefit of all drivers being D4i compliant also provides the lighting control system with additional data that can be used for greater decision making.

For more information on how to design a DALI installation with D4i, please reach out to your local Lumen Resources representative to discuss.