Wednesday, December 05, 2012
11:00 am
to
7:30 pm
UPDATED Lighting PlugFest at Control This!
Online Registration has been closed
Control This! (www.controlthis.org) will host the first ever Lighting PlugFest sponsored by Soraa on December 5th!
What is It?
The Lighting PlugFest is an industry-wide forum, where OEM vendors for LED lamps, fixtures, transformers, and dimmers can bring their existing and new products to a central venue and test them for interoperability with other vendors' products.
Participating vendors will leave with extremely valuable information on which products worked with theirs, which ones didn't, and what the various interoperability issues were. Vendors can then use this information to identify and solve interoperability issues with their products and systems, helping customers and the industry in general to facilitate the smooth adoption of LED technology.
PlugFests are a mainstay in other industries such as information technology and consumer electronics - this is the first time a PlugFest has been held in the lighting industry.
Why the Lighting PlugFest?
One of the biggest hurdles to the adoption of LED lighting today is the incompatibility between LED lamps or fixtures and the installed base of legacy transformers and dimmers, which were largely designed for incandescent, halogen, or fluorescent lamps. Too often customers buy LED lamps or fixtures expecting true "plug and play " performance, install them in their existing infrastructure only to find that they don't work.
PlugFests in other high-tech industries are frequently used to test the interoperability of hardware and software products from different companies. New, rapidly evolving technologies like LEDs are disrupting the lighting industry, which is not used to rapid changes in technology. The Lighting PlugFest will benefit all stakeholders in the lighting industry - specifiers, end users, manufacturers, contractors, and installers - and help to accelerate the growth of new lighting technologies, better quality of light, and energy efficiency.
Who Can Participate?
The inaugural Lighting PlugFest is limited to interoperability testing of 12VAC LED lighting systems.
Two types of companies will benefit from this event and are encouraged to participate:
- IES-Member specifiers that specify 12VAC LED lamps or fixtures, such as lighting design firms, can also bring specific component configurations for testing.
- Companies that manufacture and sell the following products can bring products for testing:
+ Line-voltage-to-12VAC electronic and magnetic transformers;
+ Leading-edge and trailing-edge dimmers; and/or
+ 12VAC LED lamps or fixtures
How do I Register?
There will be a total of ten 30-minute testing slots available to manufacturers, between the hours of 11:00am and 7:30pm. Slots will be offered on a first come, first served basis. Manufacturers wanting to participate in the Lighting Plugfest please contact sponsors@controlthis.org for additional details.
Five additional 30-minute testing slots will be held open for IES-Member specifiers to test their latest mockup samples. Slots will be offered on a first come, first served basis. IES-Member specifiers who are interested in participating in the Lighting Plugfest please contact plugfest@controlthis.org.
Press are invited to attend a Plugfest preview beginning at 10:00am on November 7th.
All interested attendees are invited to demonstrations of the testing procedure at 2:30pm and 5:30pm.
How will the testing process work?
WATCH THIS VIDEO!
Soraa will manage and run the testing using a custom-built testing panel that contains an array of commonly used transformers and dimmers, as well as Soraa's 12VAC LED MR16 lamps.
The panel can also accommodate participating companies' transformers, dimmers and 12VAC LED lamps or fixtures.
Each participating company will bring its product(s) to be tested to the PlugFest Zone during its allotted 30-minute time slot.
+ If the product is a transformer, it can be tested with all the dimmers on the panel and a Soraa MR16 lamp;
+ If the product is a dimmer, it can be tested with all the transformers on the panel, and a Soraa MR16 lamp;
+ If the product is a 12VAC LED lamp or fixture, it can be tested with all the transformers and dimmers on the panel.
- + Other testing combinations may also be possible if the panel can accommodate them.
Still have questions? Check out answers to these FAQs.