RAKO systems etc

[chillout]

Im havin downlights & pendants fitted in varios rooms in my house. Is it worth looking into RAKO systems, WISE contros etc or a bit OTT? I know it doesn't work out cheap once you add all the controllers/receivers up!
Cheers in anticipation.

 

[ericmark]

Personally if I was starting from scratch I would follow the Continental idea of the 1/3 and 2/3 split so for each room you can with just two simple switches have 1/3 of lights on, or 2/3 of lights on, or all on.

The whole idea of dimming lights is at problem. All well and good in a lecture theatre but not really what is wanted in the home.
1) To dim a discharge light is very expensive requiring special ballast.
2) To dim a quartz lamp reduces lamp life.
3) To dim a tungsten lamp also changes the colour.

So the only lights one can really dim without being expensive either for equipment or for replacement lamps is the old tungsten bulb may be the warm red glow in that case is wanted. However the tungsten bulbs are being with drawn so a little pointless.

The CFU that dim are dimmed by using a special bulb and normal switch so no point in buying any dimmer unit.

The RAKO system it seems remembers 4 levels of dimming so why not just install three sets of lights? Assuming 3 different light levels for each circuit then 7 different light levels.

As to remotes I have enough problems finding my TV remote. The darn TV no longer has manual switches for all functions and one has to hunt out the TV's own remote to cancel the auto-search it wants to do for new stations. It seems every item now fitted with a remote has some function only that remote will do.

 

[chillout]

Cheers, yes I was thinking of just using switches, but as youve pointed out the dimming problem! Have to think of some way round it.

 

[superspark5]

Hi Chillout,

I fitted a Rako system in a house last year and it was OTT!

There great for restaurants and hotels where they need to dim/configure many lights both functional and decorative to preset ambiance levels, but for domestic it to much.

I would agree with ericmark.

Tom

 

[chillout]

Hi superspark,
Yes I think I'll keep it more basic, as it soon bumps the price up!
Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It seems every item now fitted with a remote has some function only that remote will do.

[OT]Or, bizarrely, a function which is utterly pointless on a remote.

Like a button to eject a tape, or open a CD/DVD drawer... [/OT]

 

[Monkeh]

It seems every item now fitted with a remote has some function only that remote will do.

[OT]Or, bizarrely, a function which is utterly pointless on a remote.

Like a button to eject a tape, or open a CD/DVD drawer... [/OT]

Not pointless. It takes time to stop the disc and eject the tray, so you press the button and it's waiting for you when you reach it.