High power floodlight

Alternative for HID lamps

"HID lamps are too inefficient. A good alternative can be more efficient if it comes down to dimming, operation, lifetime and energy."

An alternative for HID lamps

Replacing HID lamps with an LED alternative is challenging. HID lamps are highly efficient and are mature products (attractive pricing, good reliability).

Dimming an HID lamp is only possible up to a certain degree depending on the manufacturer, sometimes not at all. Furthermore, HID lamps need a long time to reach optimum operating temperature and they will need to cool down again after operation. Additional switching may reduce the lifetime of an HID lamp.
Lamp energy use

Energy saving

Using high power LED modules with smart optics incorporated, our partner managed to design a highly efficient alternative in LED. This lamp is able to increase the quality of light and reduce the energy costs by using smart dimming protocols, triggered by a wireless communication system. Even without the benefits of dimming, the lamp already offers an energy saving of 20-30%.

High demands

High power A smart light solution cannot do without an equally smart power solution.
The demands were high:
  • High power needed
  • But in a very compact design because it needs to sit on a pole at 15 meters height (wind drag)
  • It needs to be as light as possible
  • IP65 combined with adequate cooling
  • As efficient as possible to beat energy cost of HID lamps
  • Integrated communication (Zigbee)

The solution

Solution A high Voltage constant current driver with a maximum power rating of 2000W. The driver is compact (half the size of its predecessor) and has a record efficiency of 97-98%(!). As a result it only needs passive cooling which makes it easier and more economical to make it meet IP 65/67.

The driver features an integrated auxiliary power supply for wireless communication. The reliability has been increased (MTBF) and the size and weight were decreased.

The result

Floodlights used to light sports fields. The rules for league matches dictate minimum lumen levels.
Floodlights used at a sports field

Questions about this project?

Please contact our Managing Director Erik van Beusekom for questions about High power floodlight. You can also call Erik: +31 (0)76 58 16 969.
LED Wiki: Wi-Fi, Zigbee and Bluetooth compared
Key characteristics of ZigBee, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
ZigBeeWi-FiBluetooth
Range10-100 meters50-100 meters10 – 100 meters
Networking TopologyAd-hoc, peer to peer, star, or meshPoint to hubAd-hoc, very small networks
Operating Frequency868 MHz (Europe) 900-928 MHz (NA), 2.4 GHz (worldwide)2.4 and 5 GHz2.4 GHz
Complexity (Device and application impact)LowHighHigh
Power Consumption (Battery option and life)Very low (low power is a design goal)HighMedium
Security128 AES plus application layer security 64 and 128 bit encryption
Typical ApplicationsIndustrial control and monitoring, sensor networks, building automation, home control and automation, toys, gamesWireless LAN connectivity, broadband Internet accessWireless connectivity between devices such as phones, PDA, laptops, headsets
LED Wiki: DALI - Digital Adressable Lighting Interface
Standards for DALI
IEC 60929 and IEC 62386 are technical standards for network-based systems that control lighting in building automation. They were established as a successor for 0-10 V lighting control systems, and as an open standard alternative to Digital Signal Interface (DSI), on which it is based. IEC 60929 is the first version of the standard and will be withdrawn by 23rd of June 2014. Members of the AG DALI are allowed to use the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) trademark on devices that are compliant with the current standard. Non AG DALI members can apply for a fee bearing licence.

A DALI network
A DALI network consists of a controller and one or more lighting devices (e.g., electrical ballasts and dimmers) that have DALI interfaces. The controller can monitor and control each light by means of a bi-directional data exchange. The DALI protocol permits devices to be individually addressed and it also incorporates Group and Scene broadcast messages to simultaneously address multiple devices (e.g., "Group 1 goto 100%" or "Recall Scene 1").

Each lighting device is assigned a unique static address in the numeric range 0 to 63, making possible up to 64 devices in a standalone system. Alternatively, DALI can be used as a subsystem via DALI gateways to address more than 64 devices. Data is transferred between controller and devices by means of an asynchronous, half-duplex, serial protocol over a two-wire differential bus, with a fixed data transfer rate of 1200 bit/s.

DALI requires a single pair of wires to form the bus for communication to all devices on a single DALI network. The network can be arranged in a bus or star topology, or a combination of these. The DALI System is not classified as SELV (Separated Extra Low Voltage) and therefore may be run next to the mains cables or within a multi-core cable that includes mains power. The DALI data is transmitted using manchester encoding and has a high signal to noise ratio which enables reliable communications in the presence of a large amount of electrical noise. DALI employs a diode bridge in the interface circuitry so that devices can be wired without regard for polarity. Signal level are defined as 0±4.5 Vfor "0" and 16±6.5 V for "1". Central interface power maximum is 250 mA and 2 mA per unit. The network cable is required to be mains-rated, with 600 V isolation and at least a 1 mm cross-section, with a maximum drop of 2 volts along the cable (max 300 m). Signal interface is galvanically separated and doesn't need any termination resistors.

Earlier generations of DALI devices stored configuration data in EEPROM, which was problematic due to the limited number of write cycles supported by EEPROMs. In current generations of DALI devices, RAM is used in preference to EEPROM during normal operation, which significantly reduces the number of EEPROM writes and thus extends their lifetimes. This use of RAM, however, is patented and therefore mandates payment of a license fee.

More on DALI.