Set the scene

On or off, dim down, dim up. Click, click, turn the knob. Get the room lit the way you like it. Is it the same levels as last night? Are you revisiting the switches and dimmers to lower the brightness in the room to watch TV or turning more lights on to do some work or reading? You know there are better options, you’ve heard about smart lights.  

When it’s time to head up to bed, make your way around the house turning off all the lights, reaching behind furniture to turn off table lamps and peek through the blinds to see if the outside lights have been left on all day again. You’ve seen all the advertising for controlling lights from your phone or using a smart speaker. 

After a late night at the big match or date night at your favourite restaurant, returning home to a pitch dark house isn’t very welcoming and it’s been obvious that no one is home. Friends with smart lighting rave about their lights being on schedules and making it look like someone is home when you’re all out. 

An introduction to some of the all-time classic lighting scenes will make you think differently about how you control your home with a smart lighting system. 

Everyone’s favourite is All Off, self explanatory really. When you’re heading out for the day, you’re the last one to leave the house and you know the kids always leave their bedroom lights on after getting ready for school. Hit the All Off button or tell your smart speaker to “Turn off all the lights” and all the lights in your home will turn off. 

Another well loved lighting scene is Relax, this is a preset for lighting that can be applied to many rooms with just one button press. Dinner is over, the dishwasher is locked and loaded, your Kindle awaits your company in your favourite armchair.  Press the relax button on your smart light switch and it will dial in your preferred lighting level. The downlights dim to 20%, the table lamps around the room dim to 30% except for the reading light at the armchair, that’s slightly brighter at 50% and finally the LED strips that light up the coffered ceiling glow at a lowly 10%, it was so worth adding that detail, everyone loves the design of these.  Every time you hit the Relax button you get the exact brightness levels time and time again. 

The final favourite gets things a lot brighter. Turn on the Cooking scene from the kitchen light switch and summon the right task lighting needed to aid your culinary masterpiece. Under cabinet lighting is bright and sharp, the three island pendants pool light onto the worktop where you’re plating up dinner and the downlights are lit in the right places around the kitchen so that things are bright above the sink, hob and appliances. No chopping veg in the shadows of this kitchen. 

Every time you hit these presets on your smart light switch you get the same brightness levels again and again. Life lived with lighting scenes makes transforming the mood in your rooms and home a wonderful experience. 

Customised, based in South Norfolk, are you local Lutron Pro experts. Contact our Tech Team to arrange a demonstration, quote or survey www.customised.uk.com/contactus 

Smarter Lighting Using Motion Sensors

My eleven year old son seems to be developing a well known skill that a lot of his age group have. That is the inability to turn off lights when he leaves a room, particularly his bedroom. I often find myself spotting that his light is on when I pass his room; upon inspection the room is brightly lit but he is nowhere to be seen. He has the lights on in another room!

My own home benefits from having a smart lighting system which gives us great dimming control of the lighting brightness, the ability to voice control lights and schedule when they turn on or off but without the use of sensors the lights can still be left on accidentally.

We’ve now added motion sensors to monitor a handful of rooms in the house. These smart sensors pair up with the smart lighting dimmers installed and check if the room is vacant or occupied. Let me run through some simple examples.

In my son’s room the sensor is only checking to see if the room is empty or vacant. He still turns the light on from the switch but if no movement is detected for more than 15 minutes then the lights will turn off.

In our Utility Room we often find that we enter the room with our hands full with laundry, shopping or dirty hands coming in from the garden. The sensor installed in the Utility Room senses you entering the room, turns the light on to a specific brightness and then after 5 minutes, if no motion is detected, it will turn off the lights. Walk in, walk out mindset in this room. We’ve also got this functioning in the bathrooms and hallways in the house.

One smart feature of the sensors is that I can select when the sensor is active. For example in the hallways, these sensors are only active at night, sunset to sunrise. In other rooms the sensors are active all day and in bedrooms I have the sensors active up until 10pm, to not disrupt sleeping hours.

Sensors offer greater flexibility and control of your home’s lighting. An advanced set up like this is what we do at Customised for our customers with lighting control systems. Our recommended system for any customer wanting smarter lighting in their home is Lutron RA2 Select. This reliable, scalable and easy to live with lighting system is suitable for any home whether it’s a new construction or fitting into an existing home.

Customised are your local Lutron Pro installers in East Anglia and welcome your questions and enquiries.

LuxLive 2018

Yesterday Customised attended LuxLive, Europe's biggest annual lighting event.

Held at ExCel London, the venue was packed with many fantastic lighting technology stands, brands and visitors. As well as over 100 expert speakers, covering crucial topics including emergency lighting, safer cities, lighting for transport and infrastructure, workplace and wellbeing lighting and much more. One of the stands there was Lutron, a brand that we both provide and love. We at customised were looking forward to seeing all of the latest lighting tech but something was always going to grab our attention a little bit more than the rest and that was the new RA2 Select lighting system by Lutron.

So, just what does this brilliant bit of equipment do? The RA2 Select is a whole-home lighting and shading control system designed to meet the needs of any residential property. The new system is configured by default and easily personalised by the homeowner. Recommended lighting and shading scenes are automatically created as each device is added to the system, improving speed of installation and ease of use. The simple, fast and flexible system provides smart home capabilities, personalised control and added convenience for the homeowner. A free app allows users to monitor and adjust lights and blinds on their smart device wherever they are, offering complete control. 

RA2 Select also seamlessly integrates with other smart home technologies bringing added simplicity to the smart home, including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, The Google Assistant, Honeywell Wi-Fi Thermostats, Nest and Sonos….which is exactly why we love it even more! If you would like to find out more about the RA2 Select then please do get in touch with us.

We had a great time yesterday, meeting lots of interesting people and finding out about all of the latest lighting systems that are developing all of the time, making our lives easier, smarter and cheaper. Thank you to all who made it a top day and be sure to check out our social media channels for videos, pictures and much more from LuxLive 2018.

See you all again at next years!