Hardwired LED Lighting Control

[sionxct]

Is there is a standardized, non-proprietary hardwired controller for RGBWW LED lights? I'm trying to avoid something like wireless smart bulbs. How are the LED strips controlled?
 
Is there a "dimmer" like controller that can be mounted in a gang-box that gives full RGBWW, or at least WW, control?
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[pete_c]

Here I have a controller using old PLC (X10) technology and serial and 802.11X wireless. RGB LED strips connect to it.  You can dim  / brighten and change the colors.  It is small enough that it would fix in a gang box.  It does need a serial connection and power supply.  Folks have DIY'd digital RGB controllers using the RPi2 (faster than the analog).
 
Another popular format is DMX which has been around for ever. 
 
The RGB light bulbs that I know of are all wireless using proprietary frequency RF, 802.11X, Zigbee or ZWave.
 
I am testing some outdoor RGB 12 VDC lighting.  It is wireless and set and forget as it remembers it's settings.

 

[ano]

I have used DXM. Its very popular for stage lighting. As Pete says, there are a few others as well, but they are used for pretty specific uses.
 
As for wireless, since you mentioned light bulbs, many use the Zigbee Light Link standard, which is not proprietary at all. The Philips Hue uses Zigbee Light Link.
 
For home automation, the trend is definitely to a standard like Light Link. 
 
You can download the Zigbee Light Link standard here:
 
http://www.zigbee.org/non-menu-pages/zigbee-light-link-download/

 

[pete_c]

Here is the one that I tested.  The owner of the company provided test units at a reduced price at the time.  Owner also wrote a plugin for Homeseer 2 and Homeseer 3.  Note that the RGB PLC type of controllers have been around a long time now.
 
Not in to RGB LED lighting here (indoors) was going to test this device with my outdoor LED LV lighting that today is configured in some 12-14 zones connected to multiple DIN Meanwell dual output load power supplies all controlled today by one UPB relay. 
 
Not really sure if I need the granular zoned control; but this would work for me.  I tested it via a serial link and it was fast enought for me. 
 
iSmart Wifi RGB LED Controller(Compatible with X10 or PLCBU
 

 
Here is a setup that someone wrote about on Homeseer using DMX.
 

 

 
Relating to DIYing there are probably now hundreds of projects doing digital RGB using the RPi or Arduino on internetlandia.
 
A few years back I did DIY a Christmas Laser light display thing.  I wanted to see it from the entrance of the subdivision and I did and then due to WAF shut it down.

 

[LarrylLix]

I used the MiLight bulbs, along with the RGBWW strips on cabinets, and Philips Hue bulbs.
 
Unlike the Hue bulbs these can produce all the colours, are 1/4 the price, and the RGBWW LED strips produce the exact colour  match.
 
They cannot produce pastels though but after the initial play time I find pastels would be useless anyway. You want brilliant colours or good white and they are much brighter at 9W, than the Hue.
 
One drawback is each Wi-Fi bridge can only control four group addresses. I have 11 sets of bulbs/strips on two bridges with two IP addresses.
 
The local API and lots of sample code and app are available on the support website.
The strips take a 12v PSU and a controller.
 
Oh and one big feature...they remember where they were turned off so when you get a powerline blink in the middle of the night you are only staring at all your Hue bulbs, full on, white. These remain where they were put...Off or whatever colour you left them at.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/E27-Milight-2-4G-6W-9W-RGBW-White-LED-Bulb-Group-RF-Remote-WIFI-Controller-/231637306974?var=&hash=item35eea8ce5e:m:mVUKHbQjiQdP5YPmIS-67og

 

[sionxct]

Thank you for the replies.
 
I thought I saw that lutron has a driver that can control RGBW LEDs. Any idea how they or the other proprietary systems are hardwiring the driver to the LEDs? I've seen some DIY LED drivers that have RGBW channels which I assume are using PWM to drive the LEDs. I assume lutron is doing something similar (not that I'm interested in a proprietary system; just trying to wrap my head around the controls.)
 
With the proprietary systems, are the fixtures generally separate from the drivers? If so, are the fixtures proprietary?
 
Or, maybe another way to ask the question: are there any RGBWW fixtures (cans, wall sconces, etc) with a separate driver and a wall mounted control? This doesn't necessarily have to be for "home automation." I'm trying to avoid systems that require the use of a mobile device to control it.

 

[sionxct]

Found a couple products below. Looks like to me they are probably using PWM to drive individual RGB channels. The Phillips Color Kinetics look nice, but probably pricey.
 
http://www.colorkinetics.com/support/datasheets/ColorDial_Pro_SpecSheet.pdf
ttp://www.theledlight.com/pdf/rgb-controllers/touchPanel.pdf
 
The Lumencache system looks interesting (POE LED), but what do you do is the company goes out of business and you need a replacement part (rhetorical)?

 

[sionxct]

from  http://electronicdesign.com/analog/developing-tunable-led-white-light-system ...
 

The common communication interfaces used in lighting networks are the DMX and DALI interfaces.  In a tunable white light system, the master can communicate the expected (xwhite, ywhite, Ywhite) output to each of the slave fixtures through these communication protocols.