DMX lighting control: simple and reliable bus system
The advantages of DMX lighting control are obvious. The bus system is extremely fail-safe, easy to install and incomparably inexpensive! DMX also controls light and a wide range of other electrical equipment, but more on this later.
DMX lighting originally comes from the professional sector(concert stages, theaters and opera houses) and is now used enthusiastically in the smart home!
Another advantage is that DMX control is an open standard and there are therefore many manufacturers with countless products on the market. For example, if you want to expand or change your DMX lighting years later, you are not tied to one manufacturer and their delivery options. DMX lighting control fully reflects our corporate philosophy: safe, simple, smart
How does DMX lighting control work?
DMX512 is a simple and reliable bus system that can operate up to 512 channels/devices on one bus. The DMX control is handled by a smart home system of your choice! This sends dimming and color values to the connected DMX controllers, which process the signal accordingly.
These DMX devices respond to the set address (1 – 512) regardless of their position in the bus system! Cabling is extremely simple, as the DMX controllers are simply connected to the bus in sequence(daisy chain). Other types of cabling – e.g. star cabling – are also possible with DMX splitters without having to change anything in the programming!
Want to find out more about DMX? Then we recommend our ultimate DMX tutorial!
What options do I have with DMX light?
To put it simply, everything that belongs to a smart home. With a DMX light controller, it is possible to “only” switch the light on/off, dim it and, of course, change the light color! Different devices are available depending on the area of application:
- for simple switching of light using DMX relays (for each luminaire from 12-230V)
- DMX dimmers are used to regulate the brightness (a PWM dimmer for spots, strips and lights with 12 - 48Vdc, and a 230V dimmer for 230V supplies)
- The PWM dimmer is also used for color and brightness control.
For example, you can use a 4-channel dimmer to dim one lighting circuit with RGBW, two lighting circuits with tunable white spot or four lighting circuits independently! The type of LED lights used is irrelevant, the DMX lighting works with all types. Whether simple LED strips, modern recessed luminaires, wall or ceiling luminaires, brilliant lighting scenes are guaranteed.
What else can be controlled with DMX apart from light?
DMX can be used in a variety of ways in the smart home and is extremely popular due to its lower price!
In addition to DMX lighting control, there are numerous other areas of application for DMX controllers. The following is a selection of applications for which Emilum DMX controllers have already been successfully used:
- Relay actuators: Venetian blinds, Venetian blinds, roller blinds, garage doors, door openers, mains cut-offs, ...
- DMX-Analog-Out: Actuators for underfloor heating systems, existing 0-10V dimmers
- PWM dimmer: Motor and fan control at 12V and 24V
The DMX relay actuator in particular is a universal all-rounder! It can be used to switch all electrical loads in the household. The voltage used is secondary here, as each relay is designed as a separate NO contact. Incidentally, the relay actuators are also often used for lighting where no light control was initially planned, for example in the cellar or garage. However, if you have connected this lighting to the DMX (and therefore to the smart home) using the relays, you can switch off all the lights in the house at the touch of a button when you leave it. This means that when you leave the house and press the “All off” button, you can be sure that these rooms are also switched off.
DMX splitter, DMX booster and distributor
In addition to our DMX controllers for controlling lighting and electrical loads, we also offer specific devices for DMX bus topology.
Do you want to route the cabling to additional sub-distributors, for example? For example, a separate DMX universe for each floor and the outdoor area?
Our DMX splitters are ideal for this! Both the 2HP slim DMX splitter 4-fold and the RDM splitter 4-fold create 4 additional DMX universes. This not only separates the ground floor/basement and outdoor area, but also reprocesses and amplifies the signal!
If no DMX/RDM is required and you can manage with the DMX standard, install the cheaper unidirectional DMX booster and the different circuits are additionally protected. If communication is also required in both directions, simply install this DMX splitter on the DIN rail.
The matching products for this theme area in our online store
Everything you need to know about DMX
Supported RDM telegrams of our products
Suitable LED lights for the DMX controllers
LED spots
Gone are the days when a spotlight simply emitted light. Thanks to technical sophistication, our products offer several features on request and adjust the lighting mood exactly to your requirements using a DMX controller.
Quality is our top priority, so replacing light sources is a thing of the past. We also offer you this high quality at a fair price. See for yourself here:
Surface-mounted LED luminaires are similar to LED spotlights and set accents in modern lighting with their clear, classic design. Both the design language and the light beam harmonize perfectly and accentuate the interior design to optimum effect. To give you the opportunity to make deliberate statements, we offer the surface-mounted LED lights in various housings and light colors. Naturally, these products are fully compatible with our DMX controllers!
Alongside LED spots, LED strips are among the most frequently used light sources! They are the “Swiss army knife” of lighting. Whether for indirect lighting, under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen (please pay particular attention to a high colour rendering index: CRI), effect lighting or for retrofitting and optimizing existing lighting. When it comes to LED strips, our many years of experience in the industry help us enormously with component selection, and we are proud to present top products at a great price
