Networked Lighting Controls Education
In the past 15 years, I’ve created classes and webinars about Networked Lighting Control (NLC) and Luminaire Level Lighting Control (LLLC) systems. Scroll down to see examples of graphics, animated diagrams, and photos of hands-on classes for NLC/LLLC systems. Classes and webinars include:
- California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program (CALCTP) — Part of the original development team and instructor for the first three “train-the-trainers” classes. This was a week-long class designed to give journeymen electricians a base level of knowledge about lighting controls.
- Introductory NLC classes for electric utilities — Created/taught 1- and 2-day classes starting in 2012. In the first “hands-on” NLC class offered by an electric utility in California, attendees wired and commissioned three complex NLC systems under my supervision.
- LightFair — Created/taught 1- and 2-day classes in 2013, 2016 and 2017 with up to 65 students per class.
- National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors (NAILD) — Presentation at national conference in San Antonio, April 2017
- DesignLights Consortium — Created/taught a full-day class 59 times across the U.S. and Canada from 2017-2022. The main focus of the DLC class was to explain the new “simplified” NLC systems coming on the market. Attendees wired and commissioned a wireless system in every class.
- Illuminating Engineering Society — Webinar about NLC systems, April 2019
- Virtual “hands-on” NLC class — During the lockdown, I created a class where students remotely commissioned fixtures and controls sitting on my dining room table. This required solving a lot of technical issues. I taught this virtual class for utilities around the country. (Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a 15-minute video showing how this works.) There is still a lot more stuff I can explain when we do this in-person. However, this was kind of cool to be able to continue offering “hands-on” classes, even during the lockdown.
- Intermediate NLC classes for electric utilities — Created/taught 1-day classes covering advanced subject material starting in 2020. Similar to the introductory classes, attendees wired and commissioned two different wireless NLC/LLLC systems in class. I’ve taught this class 20 times throughout the midwest.
- “Avoiding Deployment Pitfalls” — Presented a webinar for Illuminating Engineering Society sections in 2021. This webinar was based on my work as a consultant to Lawrence Berkeley National Labs on the “Living Lab” research project (click here for more information about “Living Lab”).
- “Emergency Lighting and Controls” — In 2022, I created a 1-hour webinar on this timely topic. I worked with my colleague Rick Miller, PE, FIES, to create a 3-hour version for an electric utility in California. Recent changes to NFPA 101 and UL 924 meant that this was — and still is — a very important topic to explain to people thinking about deploying NLC systems.
Animated Diagrams of NLC/LLLC Systems
Graphics of NLC/LLLC Systems
Photos from Hands-on Lighting Controls Classes