Case Study: Multi-point dimming at Vipassana Meditation Centre, Suffolk

There are few places where soft, natural and precise lighting is as important as in a meditation hall, so the Zano team caught up with Piers Messum, a volunteer with Vipassana Trust, to find out how Zano’s market-leading dimming technology helped the trust to achieve flawless LED lighting in their Suffolk meditation hall.
 

The project

Renovating the trust’s meditation hall required a complete lighting overhaul with very exact specifications. A large, open central space, the hall needed lighting that could be dimmed to a low level without any flicker or disturbance, to meet the conditions needed for the trust’s 10-day meditation courses.
 
Multi-point control was a must-have. The hall needed a flexible system of lighting that could be controlled completely independently from two points.
 

The problem

The project did not have a conventional lighting design, and the normal guidelines for lighting community buildings didn’t apply to a hall solely used for meditation. Piers was aware of the problems possible with LED dimming and needed to source a digital dimmer that could deliver completely silent and flicker-free LED dimming.
 
In the initial stages of the project, the brief included a 1-10V switch for a 1-10V driver, with control from multiple points. Zano’s most obvious solution was the ZBAR1-10V.
 

Back to the drawing board

Unfortunately for Piers, when it came to the install it emerged that the fittings supplied by the manufacturer had been incorrectly labelled and were in fact 0-10V and incompatible with our ZBAR1-10V kit. After a rethink and brainstorming session with Zano’s technical team, Piers decided the best solution was to switch back to the mains supply for dimming.
 
The move back to the mains brought the wattage down considerably, which meant that our ZSMARTLED 5-150W/VA multi-point dimming kit (grid version) became the ideal answer.
 

Problem solving products

Sinead at Zano Controls put Piers in touch with his local wholesaler, Edmundson Electrical in Ipswich, who supplied the recommended ZSMARTLED grid kits with two masters, two slaves and the decorative 2-gang plates. A flexible solution to dimming LED, Zano’s SMARTLED can dim between 5-150W/VA LED, with three rotary controllers on a single circuit.
 
Faced with the prospect of another trip back to the drawing board in the face of lamp incompatibility, Piers asked Zano’s technical team to test a selection of Philips lamps for compatibility with the ZSMARTLED kit. Piers sent two different wattages of Philips lamps to test. The tech team’s recommendation was to use the 8.5W lamp version, as they had a better dimming output than the 5.5W lamps.
 

Quick and easy install

The ZSMARTLED could be connected straight to 3 core and earth wiring, meaning that the project could go ahead without further delays. Multiple rotary control points gave the trust greater control over their lighting, helping them to achieve the correct ambience for their meditation courses – minus annoying LED flicker and noise.
 

Fantastic results

The goal of the project was to create lighting that could range from ‘normal’ to as close as possible to the minimal conditions needed for meditation, without any sound interference - and that was achieved perfectly.
 
Thanks to technical support from Zano, Piers was able to ensure the lighting project achieved the high standards needed by the trust.
 
“I couldn’t fault Zano – their technical team were very helpful, and we’re very satisfied with the outcome of the project”, Piers concludes. “I was really impressed with how Sinead went out of her way to help, came up with our ZSMARTLED solution and put me in contact with Paul and Steve of Edmundson Electrical in Ipswich to source the Zano products.”
 
 

Project summary

Location: Vipassana Meditation Centre, Suffolk
Client contact: Piers Messum
Brief: To achieve completely silent multi-point dimming with as little flicker as possible
Total number of circuits: 2
Products installed: ZSMARTLED (grid version)
ZGRIDMW150-2P x 2 (two masters and two slaves)
2 gang plates and 4 knobs
Lamps: x8 Philips LED Warm Glow E27 Edison Screw Dimmable Light Bulb 8.5W - with inrush the full load is 122.4W
Lamps/wattage per dimmer: Up to 150W per ZSMARTLED dimmer
Wiring: Existing twin & earth cabling; no need to rewire
 
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About the ZSMARTLED

The ZSMARTLED is the first easy-fit 2 or 3-point dimming solution available on the market.
 
Multi-point LED dimming isn’t always as easy as it should be. This ground-breaking technology solves that problem, providing a simple way to install up to three rotary controllers on a single circuit.
 
One ‘master’ controller and up to two ‘slave’ controllers can be added to a single circuit.
 
The kit also connects direct to 3 core and earth wiring, for an easy install with minimal disruption on site. It’s also perfect for retrofit LED projects: simply remove existing controllers and replace with the ZSMART kit using 3 Core and Earth cabling. Supporting 5-150W and available as a grid, plated or module version.