Faced with a complex lighting project in one of Scotland’s greatest ballrooms, Del Campbell of Westrigg Electrical Services turned to Zano Controls for the solution.
We all know that great LED lighting effect and dimming capability is essential to a perfect finish in a commercial venue; it sets the mood, enhances appearance and significantly reduces overhead costs.
But the big question is, how can you achieve this with 90 LEDs across three 18th-century chandeliers without the need for an expensive, bespoke dimming pack?
Recommended by his local wholesaler in Livingston, Del was appointed to undertake a complex LED upgrade at Hopetoun House in Edinburgh, dubbed ‘Scotland’s finest stately home’.
After months (if not years) of frustration with the existing lighting set-up in the ballroom, Hopetoun House’s General Manager knew something had to be done.
He was desperate for a simple, effective, and maintenance-free solution to lighting the ballroom at Hopetoun, a highly sought-after wedding venue with a high-end vintage aesthetic.
The planning phase
Del soon discovered there was far more to the job than simply replacing the lamps with vintage-looking LEDs. The existing system used to control the lighting level in the ballroom was headache-inducing.
Flicker and buzz were a nasty by-product of an outdated lighting control panel, and the maintenance team were deeply frustrated with constantly replacing the chandeliers’ lamps – sometimes changing as many as 20 a week.
Fed up with flickering, buzzing lamps, the client required a simple, maintenance-free solution to lighting that would finally bring to life the magnificence of Hopetoun’s grand ballroom.
The upgraded chandelier system to be: maintenance-free, dimmable from one single point, completely silent, 100% flicker-free, styled with vintage-aesthetic LED lamps, and able to cope with a large load of 90 LED lamps.
The project scope
With the project requiring 90 LEDs that needed to be connected to existing wiring, finding a dimming solution to cope with a load of that size without an expensive bespoke dimming system would be a challenge.
Aware of the issues associated with pairing LED and TRIAC dimmers, and that finding a solution to cope with such a load would be tough, Del asked his wholesaler for some product advice.
Within a few minutes he was on the phone to a member of the Zano tech-team.
Del had heard about Zano’s problem solving products prior to this project, but hadn’t previously tried and tested the LED dimmers himself.
Zano took no time in finding the solution: to cope with the number of LEDs required and resulting inrush current the chandeliers required the ZBARLED1000, an off-the-shelf remote dimming pack that was easy to install.
Zano frequently test lamps for compatibility with its dimmers, which meant it could advise on a specific brand of dimmable vintage aesthetic LEDs too.
The three chandeliers in the ballroom required a total of 90 LEDs, all at a wattage of roughly 4W per lamp. With the inrush current accounted for, Del was looking at a total load size of just under 700W/VA.
Fantastic results
Impressed by how straightforward the ZBARLED1000 was to install, Del got straight to work fitting the 90 LEDs, soft LED uplighting around the ballroom perimeter and connecting the lighting control solution up to the chandeliers from one central point in the room.
Despite a minor hold-up in the form of an ITV drama being filmed at Hopetoun (which in-turn meant the ballroom was out of action for a solid 24 hours being used as a dressing room), the process went smoothly.
Del was able to return the following day to programme the dimmer (using Zano’s exclusive Smart Settings) in time for a wedding taking place in the ballroom that weekend.
By adding a specifically designed controller for the ZBAR remote dimmer (one that’s ideal for multiple control points and large loads), Del enabled rotary dimming control of the three chandeliers from one point in the ballroom.
This finally gave Hopetoun House’s management team lighting control in the ballroom that produced spectacular results without compromising on the light output of the LEDs.
To visit and use Zano Controls’ interactive product finder tool, go to: www.zanocontrols.co.uk/project-specifying-help-wholesalers.
