As with any smart home technology, clients want lighting control that’s efficient, powerful, reliable, and easy to use. Enter the Crestron DIN-DLI, a next-generation DALI lighting controller designed to simplify complexity for integrators and bring the beauty of dynamic lighting to a homeowner’s fingertips.

Understanding DALI Standard in the Home 

First, some background on the underlying technology: DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) is a popular industry standard for digital lighting control, allowing precise management of individual fixtures. The DALI-2 protocol enhances this standard with improved interoperability and functionality. Within DALI-2 is the new Device Type 8 (DT8). DT8 allows control of color without sacrificing DALI capacity or maintaining complicated color mix ratios across channels. DT8 makes creating the ideal ambiance in any room simple.

The DIN-DLI Advantage

Simplifying Tunable White lighting

The DIN-DLI builds upon the foundation of an existing solution — the Crestron DIN-DALI-2 — but it goes further in addressing the complexities of integrating DT8 in residential settings. Previously, achieving dynamic tunable white lighting often required complicated programming or a reduction in useable DALI channels, adding time and cost to projects. The DIN-DLI simplifies this with native DT8 support, allowing seamless control of color temperature and brightness directly within the Crestron Home® OS, reducing programming time and increasing efficiency for dealers.

“We knew we needed to streamline tunable white DALI lighting control for the residential market as it’s such a growing opportunity for our customers,” says Benjamin Slivka, senior product manager of control and environmental solutions at Crestron. “The DIN-DLI brings a native DALI tunable white lighting solution to Crestron Home OS with an unprecedented ease of installation and quality end-user experience.”

Streamlined Setup and Control

The DIN-DLI single-loop controller simplifies integration and control of DALI lighting, offering DALI-2 certification and native DT8 support for seamless tunable white control. Forget compatibility issues, custom integration modules, and timing concerns — the DIN-DLI handles it all. Powered by either Cresnet® communications or PoE, it supports local controls for cycle dimming of connected DALI devices and quick DALI device replacement. Native Crestron Home OS integration provides effortless control within the familiar Crestron Home ecosystem, supporting both individual DALI devices and groups. This eliminates the need for a second processor or custom programming for tunable white functionality. While also supported in SIMPL and D3 Pro® software (note that D3 Pro software doesn't support tunable white), the DIN-DLI uses a similar device symbol to the DIN-DALI-2, ensuring an easy upgrade path for existing systems.

Intuitive Configuration and Simplified Installation

Commissioning DALI systems is now faster and easier thanks to the intuitive web interface of the DIN-DLI. This user-friendly interface simplifies the commissioning and ongoing management of DALI lighting. “The graphical representation of DALI settings makes commissioning and editing the setup easier than it’s ever been,” says Slivka. “There’s a table of devices and settings that is sortable and filterable that can batch change settings for filtered devices. There are also group and scene editors that show all DALI device grouping and scene settings presented in a visual way that is extremely intuitive.”

The streamlined hardware further simplifies installation with new module-to-module quick connections for Cresnet/Override and convenient spring terminals for DALI wiring that can make the installation toolless. The compact design of the DIN-DLI saves valuable enclosure space.

Enhanced Performance ...

The DIN-DLI delivers enhanced lighting performance with advanced features like dynamic fade times and CCT scene approximation recall, allowing for precise control over lighting transitions and creating more refined lighting scenes. “Dynamic changing of fade times had been difficult to achieve with DALI before the DIN-DLI,” says Slivka. “And the innovative scene approximation method for CCT control helps eliminate the popcorn effect when doing color control across multiple groups/devices, which can sometimes be an issue with CCT control on DALI.”

... and Cost Savings to Boot

Last but not least, the DIN-DLI offers a smaller footprint on a DIN-RAIL and a lower price point compared to the DIN-DALI-2 for single-loop systems, making it a cost-effective solution. This allows you to offer competitive pricing while maintaining high performance and maximizing profitability.