When it comes to houses, offices, restaurants, etc., the key-criteria is proper lighting. It is the light, which gives the building its character, let it be natural and artificial lighting. Given that, it is not only the most important part of the real estate is facing the right geographical side, in order to make the most use of the sunlight, but also the integrated lighting, which will affect the occupants’ mood and helps them experience their way of living in a more interesting way. Highest priority, therefore, is a successful lighting design, which fulfills the customer’s needs, not only functionally, but aesthetically too.

Lighting control – More than just switches and light bulbs

As for the maintenance, questions such as ‘are there any changes to be expected in the near future?’, e.g. when the children move out of the house and the room shall be used for other purposes, or ‘are any upcoming changes necessary for a complex building?’ Depending on future scenarios, will maintenance on-site be required or can the homeowner take care of the changes on his own? 

Needless to say that proper lighting control takes more than just installing switches and light bulbs. It starts from the most important task, designing, and goes all the way to the integration, fine-tuning and let’s not forget about the maintaining of the installation. When designing lighting control, systems integrators should take into account that each user will have different lighting and light switch experiences. Further considerations need to be given to the choice of devices, which are going to be used. But the choice of devices also has an impact on the integration as such. For example, what levels of interactions are required and how can they be integrated in the most efficient way? Which tools and which system to choose?

It is never easy making an inherently complex system appear simple and intuitive, but that is the challenge that system integrators face every day. Also, with smart homes and buildings leaping in the focus of the general market, hackers have found another target to attack. It is also one of the most important tasks for us all, since it is the ability of the industry to make inherently complicated automation systems easy to use and joyous additions to beautiful homes, that drives customers to the system integrator.

Inside and outside – Lighting is key

So what does it take for anyone to become an expert in lighting integration?

Thanks to the internet, a lot of information is already available. The downside is, however, that because of the amount of information, as well as the big choice of devices on the market, that we miss the forest for the trees. As for on-site training, the hurdle is that it requires time and money. And experience can only be gathered, once you have the skills.

So before we start surfing the internet, pore over books and try to get advice, which will not help us for our profession, it is most crucial that we make clear first, what we want. The most important questions in this regard are:

• What is my target group?
• What are the needs of my target group?
• What devices are required to satisfy these needs?
• Which companies offer the devices, respectively the full solution?
• Where do I get the specific training?

Once all these questions have been clearly answered, the search can be narrowed down to specific keywords, which will drastically simplify your search for the right answers. And once you have found the right first answers, follow-up questions will also be answered easily, e.g. when you are looking for the right training, as this could also be offered by the device supplier. As with anything else in life, asking the right questions first is key to success. 

Answers within 1 hour thanks to KNX Webinars

Find your answers within 1 hour at the interactive KNX lighting webinar

To make it even easier, KNX Association cordially invites you to join the lighting webinar. At this webinar, you get a general introduction by industry experts from KNX Association, as well as exclusive lighting solutions presentation by KNX Manufacturers, which will help you to find the answers to your questions within 1 hour.

When you are interested to join the webinar, click on this link and register as soon as possible as seats are limited.

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