Lighting Design, integrated control and more from Morban!
A Morban lighting design takes the available light, the size, the proposed use and the optimum furniture layouts of each room, into consideration, to provide both task and a variety of ‘mood’ and ‘Feature’ lighting options that are controlled via ‘Smart’ settings on elegant Revolution wall panels (the new alternative to the light switch).
We ‘design in’ the free-standing table and floor lights with wall and ceiling lights to maximize each setting effect. Special lighting can also be included like LED colour change features, discreet ‘hidden’ light sources, back-lit bed-heads, custom ceiling designs – in fact an unlimited number of options to help realize you aim of creating the home of your dreams.
Really ‘Smart’ wall panels
We can also integrate the control of devices such as blinds, drapes, remote windows and AV equipment along with the lighting settings.
Primary control of the system is via touch screen panels usually situated in Key Areas – near the front door, or in the Kitchen/dayroom - where you may wish to control or overview a number of zones, or different combined multi-functional and interoperable options. And, thank’s to Morban’s integration skills, all this functionality can be transferred or shared via the touch screens on the Opus 500 Multi-Room Entertainment system.
Always Safe and Sound!
The versatility of the Philips Dynalite system means that it can work with your alarm system to provide courtesy lighting when setting and resetting your alarm. By operating the ‘Away Mode’ the system combines security and interoperable lighting and device settings to create occupancy simulation while you are on holiday, controlling blinds and curtains and ‘random’ light setting throughout the day, evening and night.
The inter-operable system can also be set for night time pathway lighting between rooms at 5% levels, to light the way in the dark.
How it works – the technical bit…..
Each room has a number of lighting or multi purpose control circuits allocated to it, and the numbers of circuits vary from room to room. A kitchen may have four lighting circuits for areas such as cooking, general wall lights/wall wash, food preparation and breakfast bar, whilst a lounge may have a wall lighting circuit and a 5A circuit for free standing lamps to deliver ambient and relaxing light and a series of functional ceiling spots for reading, highlighting artwork or features etc. There may be additional circuits for feature walls with discreet or ‘hidden’ multi-coloured LED strip to create a party mood, or a romantic atmosphere while you settle down for night in at the movies!
Saving energy – lowering the Carbon Footprint
Because we are committed to low energy use, we always specify dimmable lower energy fittings. Most Halogen downlighters operate with new 35 watt bulbs that still provide 50 watts worth of light. Our default setting is 80% of the maximum output and this provides an automatic 20% energy saving which is greatly increased upon dimming. Most combined relax or easy living settings are between 30% and 40% of this already reduced level.
LEDs - the new revolution in domestic lighting
LED lighting has come into it’s own just this year. Forget about those useless blue lamps that you still see in the Do it Yourself Stores. The new generation of LED downlighters have arrived and with energy consumption between 4 and 15 watts per unit – they can easily outperform a 50 watt halogen! In addition to their uniquely low energy consumption the new generation of LED lights provide exactly the same colour of light as a halogen and can last up to 50,000 hours – or up to 15 years life in the domestic environment. Remember when you dim one of these by 50% your down to between 2 and 7 watts per lamp! The fact that these are virtually maintenance free for 15 years put’s their payback (they are generally twice the price of a high quality Halogen fitting) into a completely new light!!!
The system that ‘sees’ the light!
To ensure that the correct light levels are always maintained the system uses a ceiling based light sensor (or lux level indicator) that measures the available light to that room, and, working with the automatic daylight saving function, ensures that when the lights are switched on they only brighten to the required level. The Sensor knows when dusk/dawn has arrived because it is connected to the system’s global clock, and this is how it knows when to switch on and off the exterior lights and differentiate between automatic day and night settings.
These sensors also provide Infra Red send and receive signals that can be integrated with the remote controllers for devices and media.
Where possible we use PIR and automatic switching to areas such as utility rooms and WC's ensuring lights are not left on unnecessarily.
Integrated Heating Control
The latest heating systems often incorporate Solar Panels, a Gas boiler, a Thermastore hot water tank and a wet underfloor heating system. With much improved standards of insulation and double (sometimes triple) glazing in newbuild or modern retrofitted buildings there is all the more need to ‘micro-manage’ the heating and cooling system in the house.
Without this the house can overheat, using much more energy than necessary.
Morban’s own heating control is combined with the lighting system and provides a one stop control point to each room. Gone are the ugly wall thermostats and the plastic display points, all that is visible is the wall controller and a discreet thimble sensor with an interface developed by Morban, and a Revolution OLED wall panel.
The control itself is quite different from a standard on/off flow control typical of most under floor heating systems. We have introduced a ‘pulsed flow system’ that allows for an extremely accurate method of achieving each zone’s set point temperature without any wasteful ‘over shoot’ of the required target.
This also means that the return temperature back to the Thermastore tank is higher, reducing the amount of energy needed to maintain the correct output temperature, providing another energy saving benefit.
The heat generated by the Solar System only kicks in when the panels are hot enough to provide a stable flow of hot water. Anticipating this requires a bit more help from Morban’s barometric and light sensing enhancements, which can help ensure the system is further optimized.
A fully balance system will rely increasingly more on the available heat from the Solar System and less from the primary Gas source.
Audio and Visual systems
Morban install the Opus 500 state of the art audio distribution system that lets the client listen to any music or audio source wherever they want it at the touch of a button. The TV outputs are through hi output ceiling or wall speakers rather than the built-in speakers in the TV and there are local inputs to allow portable source audio to be connected locally in each bedroom for MP3/ipod connection.
Ceiling sensors combine, light or Lux level monitoring, movement and IR receive and send, allowing a local remote device such as the Philips Pronto, to talk to the system, it can also be programmed to control the light settings. In the cinema room, select the ‘Movie’ setting that combines light level – maybe activating a colourchange LED feature, sound level, and allow the source of the movie to be selected such as your apple TV, Media server or Sky HD – it can even draw the blinds or close the curtains.
In-wall speakers are positioned to provide the perfect directional ‘surround’ effect, along with a substantial sub woofer.
We can provide a speaker screening service, allowing you to choose from a range of custom designed canvas prints that can be acoustically mounted across the front of the speakers – minimizing the visual impact of the installation. You can even provide us with images of the family to print and frame this way.
Lighting control is achieved by installing a number of separately controllable circuits for each room rather than the old way using a lighting ‘ring’. These are programmed to create a range of lighting levels to suit different tasks, features or moods. You control these circuits through multi function wall plates (like your light switch but smarter) or via a hand held remote controller. You will require separate circuits for ceiling lights, wall lights, spotlights and occasional lamps. You will need to ensure that the fittings you buy, where dimming is required, are all dimmable.
Examples of feature lighting may include the inclusion of low level LED lights incorporated into kitchen unit plinths, colour change or discreet LED strip lighting to create ‘floating’ staircase features or ‘invisible’ light sources such as those that may be used in bedroom or bathroom design. 
LED provides very good, but slightly more diffused, quality light when compared to halogen. It is now widely available in warm white, which is amply suited to domestic requirements. Philip’s Puck technology, which combines 3 Luxeon Rebel LEDs, guarantees a uniform light output, with a strength and clarity which is comparable with a typical 40W halogen light bulb, yet consumes only 7.5W, therefore saving 80% of energy.
