Wireless Building Control
“Wireless” technology has been mainstream for some time. We are accustomed to working from mobile devices that we only “plugin” when we need to re-charge the batteries. Many of us work 24/7 on an internet connection that is provided wirelessly. We have seen numerous apps emerging that allow us to control a light, coffee machine, or other appliance by magic (or via wireless commands).
Historically
For commercial buildings in New Zealand, however, the technology available to provide wireless building control has been fraught with challenges: security issues, problems related to signal interference from external factors, and multiple other factors. The appetite for wireless solutions in this country has therefore been small.
We’ve seen players enter the marketplace, and just as quickly exit. Our company has been asked to assist to sort challenges with “orphan” systems and have burned many “man-hours” trying to get a “fix” for a myriad of problems that the building owner has faced. Intelligent Environments have stood on the sidelines and waited for technology to catch up before we were prepared to propose any type of wireless building control.
Now
It is therefore with great excitement that we announce that we have chosen to align ourselves with the zencontrol suite of wireless solutions for building control.
The company’s head office is in Australia and we have found them very pro-active in both product development, and with their support to integrators and distributors. Intelligent Environments Ltd will be the sole provider of zencontrol solutions to our New Zealand customers.
A significant strength of the zencontrol wireless system is that it is built on the secure Thread® mesh network.
“Thread is based on IPv6 (the Internet Protocol), making it the only wireless, low power, mesh networking technology that seamlessly integrates into an enterprise network while ensuring network security by using end-to-end encryption from the cloud to an individual device. Neither hubs nor gateways are needed to translate traffic when connecting to an IP-based building management system or cloud service, thereby eliminating possible security risks or single points of failure”.
The zencontrol range of wireless building control products are built using the only IEC standard for wireless lighting control (IEC62386-104) and provides a full-bandwidth system with no compromises.
Another important factor is that it allows for interoperability with devices from other manufacturers. No more “orphaned” proprietary systems with no support!
Without limitations, zencontrol can provide the same features, capability and reporting as commonly found on traditional wired DALI networks. We believe this is something to SHOUT ABOUT!
Cost-Effective Solution to Upgrading an Existing Commercial Building
Although a wireless system can be installed in a new building, zencontrol wireless building controls come into their own when considering a retrofit solution to make an existing building smarter.
Previously any significant upgrade to improve a building control system always entailed re-cabling and massive changes/increases to the electrical switchboards. With the use of wireless controls, if light fittings are replaced with DALI dimmable fittings, they can now be controlled wirelessly, with no need for new cabling.
Emergency lighting can also be upgraded to wireless to allow intelligent reporting and monitoring for ease of compliance, again with no cabling or switchboard upgrades necessary.
Intelligent Environments are thrilled to offer this extremely cost-effective and robust upgrade path to allow any existing building to be brought up to the standard expected by today’s tenants, making building analytics easily available, and maintenance much easier for the facility manager.
