Best Practices for Dynamic

0-10VDC LED Lighting Control

Overview of the driver will be 100%. When the purple

In architectural lighting control applications, and grey wires are shorted together (touching
“0-10” speaks to the use of an analog control- each other) the dimming signal will be 0VDC
ler to adjust the voltage in a 2-wire (+10VDC and the output of the driver will either be set
and Common) bus connecting the controller to the minimum dimming level or it will drop
to one or more LED drivers. Acuity Controls into “sleep mode” in which it will turn
manufactures two such controllers, One being off the LEDs completely. When the signal
the Fresco DXT M04 module and the other wires of multiple 0-10VDC drivers are con-
being the Fresco LMP lighting control panel. nected together, they all “see” the same
The M04 controller converts sixteen consecu- voltage on their signal inputs and will set their
tive DMX512 slots to analog output. The LM4L outputs to the same level.
module for the LMP panel pairs four 0-10VDC
analog outputs with four high voltage relays 0-10V Dimmable Driver
that control mains power to the drivers. Each
+ +
analog output is considered to be a “dimmer”.
Power Driver
Signal 10V
Supply Input
When To Use 0-10 -
The most common ”0-10” application is in- -
tensity control for LED architectural lighting
fixtures fitted with a driver that has a 0-10VDC In simple terms, the controller (“dimmer”) con-
dimming input. It is uncommon (and often nected to the 0-10V drivers works by pulling
impractical) to use 0-10VDC in an application down, or “sinking” the 10V to a lower voltage
such as color changing lighting as that re- which corresponds to the desired dim level.
quires more than just an intensity signal. This For example, if the user sets a level of 50%,
is because each control “handle” (e.g. red, then the dimmer would sink the signal voltage
green, and blue levels) would require its own to 5V. The connected drivers would then read
separate dimmer and pair of signal wires be- this lower voltage on their signal input and
tween the controller and the fixtures. In these lower the output to their LEDs in response.
applications, the use of a DMX512 network Typically – but not always, so verification is re-
to connect the controller to the fixtures is the quired - LED drivers are designed so that the
better choice because it delivers improved fixture light output increases linearly with the
performance, lower installed cost and re- signal voltage and a 10% increase in signal
duced complexity. voltage will produce a 10% increase in inten-
sity.
How “0-10” Works 0-10V Dimmable Driver 0-10V Dimmer
A dimmable LED driver includes a power sup-
ply circuit that produces approximately 10V + Current 
+
for the signal wires and sources an amount Power  0-10V
of current in order to maintain that voltage. Supply
Accordingly, the driver is called the “source”. -
-
Typically, the dimming signal input to the
driver will consist of a purple wire (+10VDC)
and a grey wire (Signal Common). When the
purple and grey wires are open (not touching
each other or connected to anything else)
the dimming signal will be 10V and output
Acuity Brands | One Lithonia Way Conyers, GA 30012 Phone: 800.535.2465 www.acuitycontrols.com © 2014-2015 Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. All rights reserved. 09/21/15 1 of 3
 Best Practices for Dynamic
0-10VDC LED Lighting Control

Understanding 0-10VDC Drivers For drivers that do not dim to black, it is not
There are many different types of 0-10VDC unusual, and is in fact customary, that the
controlled drivers and it is extremely import- DMX512 slot controlling the intensity also
ant to understand the specific properties of control a relay that will open as DMX512
the driver to be controlled. descends through the low-end cutoff point
and will close as DMX512 ascends through
On driver data sheets, it is not unusual to the low-end cutoff point. This insures that the
see the term “Full Range Dimming”. Further luminaires will uniformly dim to black as they
it is easy to assume that the term “Full Range dim down to the low-end cutoff point. Note
Dimming” means that the driver dims from that this transition will be abrupt and may not
100% to 0%, but that is often not the case. The be desirable if low end dimming performance
most common 0-10VDC controlled drivers is a concern. Also, it’s important that the DMX
dim from 100% to 10%. What this means is – value at which the relay opens is properly co-
in DMX512 terms – the driver will not begin ordinated with the 0-10V dimmer so that the
to supply power to the LEDs until control relay doesn’t open at a value too high or too
ascends through 10%. It also means that as low in the dimming range.
control descends through 10%, the driver will
stop supplying power to the LEDs. “Low End Isolation Of The 0-10VDC Dimming Input
Cutoff” is an often used term that refers to the Some drivers on the market do not have
point where the driver ceases to supply power adequate isolation between either the line
to the LEDs. Put another way, the luminaire voltage input, the 0-10VDC dimming input or
cannot be dimmed from Full to Black as was the driver output circuitry. This can cause un-
customary with incandescent lighting fixtures. wanted voltage to ‘leak’ onto the signal wires.
Further, the dimming curve in a LED driver can This leakage can then cause dimming perfor-
sometimes be logarithmic, not linear (actual- mance issues, network communication issues,
ly Square Law on most quality incandescent or equipment failure in the control system,
dimmers) and will produce significantly more Because of this, it is very important to make
illumination (real and/or perceived) at 10% sure that the driver(s) being used have a fully
than was customary with incandescent dim- isolated 0-10VDC dimming input.
mers. As different drivers can and do have dif-
ferent dimming performance characteristics, a Ganging Multiple “0-10” Drivers On A Single
functional mock-up of the proposed lighting Channel
fixtures and controls is highly recommended. A single analog channel on a M04 Module
has the capacity to sink 30mA of current and a
There are 0-10VDC controlled drivers that single analog channel on the LM4L controller
only dim from 100% to 20% and there are has the capacity to sink 100mA of current. It
0-10VDC controlled drivers that dim from is extremely important to verify the amount
100% to <1% which, practically speaking, is of current that the driver sources when more
black. These drivers are typically specified than a few are being controlled by a single
when low-end dimming is of particular impor- dimmer. Source current is additive, meaning
tance in the space being illuminated. These that a circuit of two fixtures will typically have
spaces include, but are not limited to Audi- twice the source current than a circuit of one
torium, Houses of Worship, Ballrooms and fixture. Generally speaking, a high quality driv-
Restaurants. er will source between 0.1mA and 0.5mA of
current. There are drivers on the market with

Acuity Brands | One Lithonia Way Conyers, GA 30012 Phone: 800.535.2465 www.acuitycontrols.com © 2014-2015 Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. All rights reserved. 09/21/15 2 of 3
 Best Practices for Dynamic
0-10VDC LED Lighting Control

Ganging Multiple “0-10” Drivers On A Single We recommend that the 0-10VDC wiring be
Channel (cont.) done with shielded pair wiring with the shield
considerably higher amounts of source cur- grounded to earth at the controller. The pair
rent. While this seems to suggest that it is does not need to be twisted. We recommend
acceptable to connect up to 60 drivers (30mA this, particularly when low end dimming
/ 0.5mA = 60) to a single M04 analog control performance is of high importance, because
channel or 200 drivers to a single LM4L con- unshielded analog control wiring runs can act
trol channel, the best practice is to limit this like an antennae. Radiated emissions (from
to 30 drivers so as to contain: a) the length transformers, radio transmitters, motors, etc)
of the analog control wiring loop; and, b) the can be collected by unshielded analog con-
number of physical wiring terminations. Note trol wiring and then interpreted by the driver
the operative word here is “drivers”. This is as control signal which will result in a flicker
because there are fixtures on the market fitted effect. When the number of drivers on a par-
with multiple drivers. ticular control channel is small, the effect can
be pronounced because there is less current
Best Wiring Practice For Power And Analog in the control loop than there would be with a
Control larger number of drivers.
Best practice is to limit the distance run for the
analog control wiring from the controller to Additional Considerations
the last driver to 300’ 0”. This is based on 18ga Contract and construction documents for all
wire. It is possible to extend the run to 400’ 0” “0-10” control systems should include a com-
by using 16ga wire, but that should be consid- plete system single line drawing to be con-
ered carefully as an exception to best design firmed in the installing contractor’s submittal.
practice.
Applications Support
Whenever any part of the control circuit (the Acuity Controls
driver, dimer, or wire used) is designed for One Lithonia Way
use in a Class 2 installation, it is critical that Conyers, Georgia 30012
the entire control circuit be kept separate (770) 922-9000
from Class 1 line voltage wiring per the re-
quirement of National Electric Code section
725.136. The electrical drawings must be very
clear that class 1 and class 2 wiring cannot be
combined. There must be separation. Be-
cause it is possible for mains voltage wiring
to induce an AC voltage in to the low voltage
signal wiring, and as that can cause undesir-
able visual artifacts when line and low voltage
wiring is run together (especially for long dis-
tances); we do not recommend installing the
low voltage signal wiring in the same conduit
or raceway as line voltage wiring even when
all elements of the control circuit are listed for
Class 1 wiring methods.

Acuity Brands | One Lithonia Way Conyers, GA 30012 Phone: 800.535.2465 www.acuitycontrols.com © 2014-2015 Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. All rights reserved. 09/21/15 3 of 3