Dimmers You Can ‘Trust’

We catch up with Piers Messum, a volunteer with Vipassana Trust, to find out how Zano’s dimming technology helped the Trust to achieve flawless LED lighting and multi-point dimming in its Suffolk meditation hall.

There are few places where soft, natural and precise lighting is as important as in a meditation hall. Renovating the trust’s meditation hall required a complete lighting overhaul with very exact specifications. A large, open central space, the hall needed lighting that could be dimmed to a low level without any flicker or disturbance, to meet the conditions needed for the Trust’s 10-day meditation courses.

Multi-point control was a must-have. The hall needed a flexible system of lighting that could be controlled completely independently from two points.

The problem

The project didn’t have a conventional lighting design, and the normal guidelines for lighting community buildings didn’t apply to a hall solely used for meditation. Piers was aware of the problems possible with LED dimming and needed to source a digital dimmer that could deliver completely silent and flicker-free LED dimming.

In the initial stages of the project, the brief included a 1-10V switch for a 1-10V driver, with control from multiple points. Zano’s most obvious solution was the ZBAR1-10V.

Back to the drawing board

Unfortunately for Piers, when it came to the install it emerged that the fittings supplied by the lighting designer were in fact 0-10V and incompatible with Zano’s ZBAR 1-10V kit. After a rethink and brainstorming session with Zano’s technical team, Piers decided the best solution was to switch back to the mains supply for dimming.

The move back to the mains brought the wattage down considerably, which meant that the ZSMARTLED 5-150W/VA multi-point dimming kit became the ideal answer.

Problem solving products

Sinead at Zano Controls put Piers in touch with his local wholesaler, who supplied the recommended ZSMARTLED grid kits with two masters, two slaves and the decorative 2-gang plates. A flexible solution to dimming LED, Zano’s SMARTLED can dim between 5-150W/VA LED, with three rotary controllers on a single circuit.

Faced with the prospect of another trip back to the drawing board in the face of lamp incompatibility, Piers asked Zano’s technical team to test a selection of Philips lamps for compatibility with the ZSMARTLED kit. Piers sent two different wattages of Philips lamps to test: the tech team’s recommendation was to use the 8.5W lamp version, as they had a better dimming output than the 5.5W lamps.

Quick and easy install

ZSMARTLED could be connected straight to 3 core and earth wiring, meaning that the project could go ahead without further delays. Multiple rotary control points gave the Trust greater control over its lighting, helping it to achieve the correct ambience for its meditation courses – minus annoying LED flicker and noise.

Fantastic results

The goal of the project was to create lighting that could range from ‘normal’ to as close as possible to the minimal conditions needed for meditation, without any sound interference, and that has been achieved perfectly.

Thanks to technical support from Zano, Piers has been able to ensure the lighting project achieved the high standards needed by the Trust. The meditation hall’s flicker-free and silent lighting solution has already been put to use – holding the first of many 10-day residential courses only a few weeks ago.

“I couldn’t fault Zano – the technical team were very helpful, and I would definitely recommend their range of products and level of expertise” Piers concludes.

“I was also really impressed with how Sinead went out of her way to help, came up with our ZSMARTLED solution and put me in contact with my local wholesaler to source the Zano products.”