I  Monitor & Control Device

A connected ZC001 lets you to turn its lights ON and OFF or change the brightness of the lights directly from your Alec Commander software. This is probably most useful if the ZC001 is connected to a Alec IoT Gateway so that you can remotely turn ON/OFF any connected lights directly. You can also change the brightness level of the connected light by dragging the handle bar of the brightness slider and the command will be sent to the ZC001 instantly to effect the change.

For standalone installation that does not have a connected push button switch (e.g. corridors, stairwells etc) this will be the only way for you to manually turn ON/OFF and set the working brightness of the luminaires.

The control section of this screen also shows you the real-time count down of the Vacancy Auto-Dim timer and Manual ON Auto-Dim timer (if enabled). Once both the counters counts down to zero the lights will be set back to the last scheduled brightness (as defined by the Program Schedules) or the "Vacancy/Timer Dim-To Brightness" if the Default Schedule is in use.

If the controller is set to turn OFF the lights completely after Auto-Dim timer(s) have expired, then what will actually happen is that the light will be dimmed to the "Auto Dim Minimum (%)" defined in the "Advanced Config." setup screen and the "Delay-Before-Off Timer" will be loaded with a value defined in the "Auto OFF Delay-Before-Off(s) defined in the "Basic Config." screen and count down will begin. When the "Delay-Before-Off Timer" has expired the light are then finally turned OFF.

Thanks to this two stage auto-off design the user will never experience the shock or uncomfortable experience of the lights being suddenly turned OFF while the user are still in the zone. Before the light are turned OFF they are first dimmed down slowly and smoothly to a minimum brightness which still provide sufficient lighting for the users to move safely, and that give the users plently of time to re-trigger the motion sensor to restore the lights to the full working brightness.

You can actually overwrite any of the 3 countdown timers by clicking on their respective text box and enter a new value. This is a very useful toolfor testing the vacancy actions without waiting for the full period of the count down. E.g. you can enter a value of 5 and it will start counting down from 5 to 0. Once both counters have reached 0 the defined action will take place.

II Group Control

Any ZC001 networked to an Alec IoT Gateway can belong to one or more of any of the 16 control groups. The control groups are assigned in the ""Basic Config." dialog via the "Setup Clock & Control Group" button

The Group Control functions shown in the above group is self-explanatory. Each group can also be assigned a label name. The default name is "Group 1" to "Group 16". To define the names of these groups (applicable to all the zone controllers connected to the same gateway), first select the "Edit" checkbox so that all the 16 group name textfields become editable. Then edit the name of the group of interest. These defined group names can be saved to the ALEC Commander configuration file.

To send group control command, use the slider bar to select the brightness level for all the devices that belongs to the control group and then click the associated "Send" button, and Alec Commander will send a broadcast command to all the devices belonging to the group and turn all of them ON to the same power level.

To turn off all the devices in the group you can click the "OFF" radio button and the slider bar will be positioned correctly at the 0% power level. If you then click the Send button all the lights that belongs to the same group will be turned off simultaneously.

A ZC001 can belongs to multiple groups at the same time and it will only accept commands that is destined to the group.

An example may be that all the lights in the office belongs to Group #1, and the lights in the west side office also belongs to Group #2.  All the lights in the East side office on the other hand also belong to Group #3.

You will now be able to turn OFF ALL the lights in the office by sending an OFF group command to Group #1.  You will next be able to set all the lights in the West side office to 10% brightness by sending 10% power level to Group #2. You can also set the power level of all the lights in the East side office to 50% by sending a 50% power level command to Group #3.

Notes:

The Group Control command is temporary and will not be memorized as the "last user-set brightness" value that the user of individual zone set as the preferred working light level.  Each individual zone will adjust the light back to their normal settings when an action triggers the control function. 

E.g.  If a zone has a Motion->ON sensing enabled, then a Group Control command will only affect the lighting level of the zone temporarily and once the sensor senses people it will again adjust the light to the "last user-set brightness" and override the brightness level set by the Group Control command. Likewise if a zone whose brightness level has been changed by the Group Control command, but its motion->ON function is disabled, the user will be able to restore its previously set brightness level by manually turning OFF and then turning back ON again via the push button switch.

Application Examples

1) An office managed by active security personnel may be able to use the Group command to turn OFF all the lights in the building that belongs to a certain group with a single click. He can also selectively turn on the lights to a particular section of the office instead of lighting up the entire building.

2) An auditorium that comprises multiple ZC001-controlled light zones can also be controlled by the presenter to selectively turn OFF or dim down a section of the auditorium when necessary.