DC Lights
DC Light ON/OFF Control
Basic ON/OFF of lighting circuits can be done with Multiple Loxone devices. However, all the devices use the dry contact, volt-free relay, which means the wiring topology is the sames for all Loxone ON/OFF DC light control. In the diagram above you can see the difference between how a traditional DC light fixture is controlled and how Loxone controls a DC light fixture. The wiring is very similar, except the power supplies can now be centralized and home runs are made from the Relay Extension to the DC light fixture. Although this can mean longer runs requiring more wiring and higher voltage drops, it does allow for all low voltage controls to be in one area of the project. If you want to save wiring on the project we recommend splitting the automation panels or better yet using Nano relay trees which can move the relay closer to the actual light fixture. This takes advantage of the Loxone Tree Technology and keeps the wiring similar to standard ON/OFF DC fixture methods.
We’ve also create a list of current devices with ON/OFF relay capabilities below to control your DC light fixtures.
Miniserver Gen 1
The Miniserver Gen 1 has 8 digital outputs (relays), volt-free, dry contact at 5A 30VDC.
Miniserver Gen 2
The Miniserver Gen II has 8 digital outputs (relays), volt-free, dry contact at 10A 30VDC, although 5A is recommended.
Loxone Extension
The Loxone Extension has 8 digital outputs (relays), dry contact at 5A 30VDC.
Mult Extension Air
The Loxone Multi Extension Air has 8 digital outputs (relays), bi-stable, dry contact at max 5A 30VDC with total max load at 48A.
DC Light Dimming Control
Loxone’s 24V RGBW Low Voltage Dimmer Extension can be called many things. It can be referred to as a RGBW dimmer, a 24v Dimmer, a 12V Dimmer, or a low voltage dimmer. Despite the many names it provide a versatile LED driver that is hard to find a competitor. The dimmer has 4 outputs that can handle up to 50W @ 24VDC per output for LEDs. The dimmer lets you dim all types of LEDs that are PWM enabled. The dimmer outputs at 123Hz PWM frequency, which allows you to control most LEDs directly. In the diagrams below we’ve demonstrated ways you can connect this dimmer to control different type of LEDs on the market.
24V RGBW Dimmer
Air Installation Diagram
Tree Installation Diagram
24V RGBW Compact Dimmer
Air Installation Diagram
Tree Installation Diagram
Wiring and Types of Loxone DC Dimming
Loxone offers a unique way to save money and dim multiple DC light loads. As you can see in the examples above, you have more flexibility with Loxone low voltage or DC dimming due to your ability to move the power supply to either within the automation panel or closer to the fixture. This means for LED lights throughout your house, like under cabinets, closets, or accent lighting, you can share power supplies. For larger loads you can place the power supply close to the LEDs.
Using the same RGBW Low Voltage dimmer from Loxone gives you a lot of DC Dimming flexibility. Depending on how you wire the extension you can control multiple different types of LEDS. For example, we have controlled simple traditional LED strips, baseboards LEDs, pool LEDs, outdoor lighting, direct DC LED bulbs, tunable LED strips, LED grids, RGBW LEDs, LED mats and LED mini spots. There are a lot more LEDs on the market, and if they are between 12VDC to 24VDC, and can take a PWM dimming input, then we can likely control it.
Other DC Dimming Options
0-10V Dimming
With the Analogue Extension or AO extension, you can send an adjustable 0-10V signal to DC light fixtures that require this signal to dim. This 0-10V can be trimmed for 1-10V fixtures.
DMX
With the DMX Extension, you can send DMX signals to a DC powered DMX decoder to control it’s outputs. With this extension you can send signals for up to 128 different DMX channels to multiple decoders.
DALI
With Loxone’s DALI Extension, you can send an adjustable DALI signal to DC ight fixtures that require this signal to dim.