The evolution of lighting technology over the past 15 years or so has been nothing short of remarkable. The introduction — and ever-widening adoption — of dimmable, tunable LED lights has transformed the experience of indoor, artificial light.

Here’s another step in that evolution — and it will make installing and deploying advanced, tunable LED lighting easier than ever.

Crestron has partnered with the lighting firm DMF to integrate their PhaseX solutions into the Crestron Home® OS. That’s great for integrators and their clients: PhaseX technology transmits DMX signals over existing power cables, eliminating the need for extensive rewiring in both new construction and retrofit projects.

“The majority of lighting in a home still requires AC power to be run to the fixtures, so why not use the same wires for communication?” says Ruslan Polinovsky, senior director of marketing for DMF Lighting.

“PhaseX utilizes an extremely rugged communication protocol over the existing AC wiring,” he explains. “It’s two-way, extremely long range, and lightning fast. When it’s deployed, every fixture is getting updated simultaneously at DMX rates, so latency and popcorning are eliminated.”

All those benefits explain why Crestron partnered with DMF — it’s simultaneously better for both dealer and client. “PhaseX delivers the benefits of digital control while simplifying everything about the installation — wiring, panel space, and labor are all reduced while giving the customer an elevated experience with tunable white lighting,” says Polinovsky. “It's really a no-brainer.”

There’s another aspect to the partnership, however, as noted by Crestron’s Residential VP John Yohanna: complementary corporate culture. “Crestron and DMF are market leaders in our industry — and that’s important — but it goes deeper than that,” he says. “Both companies have a very strong dealer focus. We don’t just have business relationships with the people who are installing and integrating our products; we have personal relationships with those folks.”

“It’s becoming increasingly rare in this industry to find companies that are determined to make best-in-class solutions while at the same time ensuring that the dealer handling that product is an incredibly valuable part of their business,” Yohanna adds. “And from a technology standpoint, the people behind the Crestron Home OS have made a real effort to support third-party lighting protocols. It’s all part of creating a standard control platform that combines all these dissimilar lighting protocols for one cohesive user experience.”

There’s another commonality between PhaseX and Crestron. “One of the things that's great about PhaseX is it's highly retrofittable, and we focused on that with the Crestron Home platform as well,” says Yohanna. “The Crestron Home OS is very easy to retrofit into an existing job, and a lot of what Crestron Home can do is ‘backward compatible’ with a lot of old legacy technology.”

As Crestron integrators are undoubtedly well aware, digital lighting offers robust options and flexibility. In addition to the ability to tune and dim lights precisely, a system such as PhaseX allows for the creation of “soft zones.” “Art and furniture can change the lighting in a particular space, and the ideal grouping of luminaires may be different from the initial design,” Polinovsky explains. With this solution, there’s no need to rewire or disturb the drywall. “That's going to be especially appealing to the design community as well,” adds Yohanna.

“We also offer .1% dimming,” he adds. “This allows the fixtures to produce very low-level light without flickering or shimmering and provides a strong benefit for clients while watching a movie, navigating the home at night, or relaxing in the primary bedroom before going to sleep.”

The most impactful aspect of digital dimming, however, is the simplification of the system. “Traditional dimming requires every fixture grouping to return to a dimming module or dimmer,” says Polinovsky. “This can lead to long wire runs and large cabinets of dimming hardware. Digital solutions consolidate dimming hardware and reduce wiring quantity and complexity, freeing up room in mechanical rooms or closets. An integrator can now move the customer’s lighting investment from the mechanical room to the part a client sees and experiences.”

DMF offers two lines of fixtures with PhaseX technology for integration into the Crestron Home OS, the Artafex 2 and Artafex 4. Each line allows an installer to mix and match housings, light engines, and trims to tailor your lighting to whatever the client desires,” says Polinovsky.

“Both also feature True Spectrum technology that’s paired with our most advanced crossbeam optics for less glare and minimal light loss even in a pinhole trim,” he adds. “Both product families cover general, accent, and task lighting layers and address retrofit, remodel, and new construction applications,” says Polinovsky. Each line is available for use with standard or digital dimming.

Artafex 4

With this line of four-inch aperture fixtures, a DMF-engineered driver is integrated into the light engine (module), enabling plug-and-play, modularity, smooth dimming, and improved reliability. “Additionally, its premium optical technology enables superior glare control to increase comfort and optimal light distribution.”

Artafex 2

Regarding this two-inch aperture line, Polinovsky says, “Our small aperture modular system takes the flexibility, reliability, and performance of the Artafex 4 system and applies it to a more discreet form factor, elevating aesthetics and reducing the footprint in the ceiling.” This fixture line features a Removable Precision Lock Collar that eliminates overcutting to ensure a flawless installation, and includes an integrated driver and unique pull-down latch that makes it easily serviceable.

“Both product lines are backed by the DMF Promise — the best warranty in the industry,” Polinovsky says. “That means guaranteed dimming performance with your Crestron control system and direct tech support from a DMF engineer.”

Integration with the Crestron Home platform is simple: “No special tools or software are needed to use Crestron Home since the PhaseX fixtures appear natively there,” says Polinovsky.

Yohanna explains how that magic happens: “By leveraging our DIN-GWDL digital lighting gateway, we brought PhaseX into the system, creating an experience that makes those fixtures native to Crestron Home. A dealer adds the gateway to the system, connects that with a single wire to the PhaseX gateway, and then the Crestron Home platform scans the network for fixtures. As they appear, all that’s left to do is name them and put them into the rooms you’re lighting.”

“We further make that process super easy by allowing the installer to blink the fixture so they can choose which one they’ve identified. The installer can place them in a room without having to remember which fixture is wired where — and in what order.”

Yohanna and the Crestron team were further attracted to the PhaseX solution because of its tunable white fixtures. “One of my favorite benefits of the Crestron Home OS is its ability to run circadian lighting scenes,” says Yohanna. “I do this in my own home. I love having my house mimic the color and intensity of the sun — I think it does wonders for my energy level, my mood, and even, potentially, my sleep. And it just makes the house look beautiful.

“The color of the light from the artificial fixtures matching the light coming through the window at different times of day? That’s a beautiful experience, and the Crestron Home OS makes that so simple it's practically automatic.”