Residential Lighting Control Systems

Smart lighting control that goes beyond dimmable bulbs and app gimmicks. Lutron and Crestron systems with keypads, scenes, occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting and full integration with shading and AV. Designed to disappear into the architecture and just work for the next twenty years.

Formwave is a Dublin-based smart lighting specialist serving residential clients across Ireland. We design, supply, programme and commission whole-home lighting systems end to end, from a single key room to large-scale projects. If you would rather talk it through first, book a consultation.

What a lighting control system is

A lighting control system moves the dimming and switching out of the wall boxes and into one designed system. Instead of a bank of switches by every door, you get keypads with a handful of buttons, each one recalling a scene rather than operating a single circuit. Behind them the system knows which circuit is which, how far to dim it and how quickly.

That is the difference between smart bulbs and lighting control. Smart bulbs make individual fittings addressable. A lighting control system takes the lighting design you have already specified and gives it one logic: scenes for the way rooms are actually used, timeclock and sunset events, occupancy and daylight sensing where it earns its place, and one set of controls that also reaches shading, audio and climate.

Wired, wireless or hybrid

The right answer depends on the state of the building rather than on the budget.

• Wired. Every circuit runs back to a central lighting control panel or a DIN rail enclosure, and the keypads carry no load. This suits new builds and deep refurbishments where the walls are open, and it is the right answer for a large house because the panel does the work rather than dozens of in-wall devices.
• Wireless. The dimmers sit in the wall boxes you already have or in the ceiling void, and the keypads are battery-powered, so they can go anywhere, including on glass and stone. This suits retrofits and occupied houses where rewiring is not on the table.
• Hybrid. Wired where the walls are open, wireless for the extension, the garden room or the rooms that come later. Both Lutron platforms below are designed to be extended this way.

Choose your platform

• Lutron HomeWorks QS. The flagship wired system for whole-home projects. Vierti, Alisse, Palladiom and SeeTouch keypads, comprehensive load control, integrated shading.
• Lutron RadioRA 3. The next-generation wireless platform. Hybrid LED+ dimming, customisable Vierti keypads, Wi-Fi independent. Start in one room, grow to a whole-home system.
• Lutron RA2 Select. Wireless lighting and shading for retrofits and existing homes. Pico keypads, motorised blinds, scene control.
• Crestron Home Lighting. Cameo and Horizon keypads, DIN rail modules, occupancy and daylight sensors. Whole-home control alongside Crestron Home audio, shading and climate.

Specialist options

• Sunricher. Cost-effective wireless lighting control for LED tape, accent lighting and zones where a full platform would be overkill.
• Lighting Keypads. The full range of keypads across Lutron and Crestron. Browse by finish, button count and form factor.

What it costs

Two things move the cost of a lighting control system more than the brand does. The first is the number of dimmed circuits, which is set by the lighting design rather than by the control system. The second is the keypad finish, where the metal and glass ranges cost a multiple of the standard finishes for the same function.

As a shape: a wireless system covering one or two key rooms, a kitchen and a living room say, is the smallest starting point worth doing, and it is a small fraction of a whole-home system. A wired system across a whole house, with a panel, keypads in every room and shading integrated, belongs in the build budget rather than the furnishing budget. We put a budget figure in front of you at design stage, itemised, so you can see what each decision is adding before you commit to any of it.

Not sure which is right

We help you choose based on house size, structural state (new build, refurbishment, retrofit) and how deep the integration goes with shading, audio and climate. Book a consultation and we will recommend a system, not sell you the most expensive one.

Common questions

Can lighting control be retrofitted without rewiring?

Yes, with a wireless platform. Lutron RA2 Select and RadioRA 3 replace the switches and dimmers in the wall boxes you already have, and the keypads are battery-powered, so no cable is pulled for them. A wired system is a different matter and needs the walls open.

Does it still work if the internet goes down?

Yes. Lutron and Crestron systems run locally. Keypads, scenes, schedules and sensors all carry on working with no internet connection at all. What you lose is app access from outside the house, and our ability to log in and make changes remotely.

Can it control the light fittings I have already chosen?

Usually, but it has to be checked rather than assumed. LED fittings dim by different methods and the driver inside the fitting decides which one. We ask for the lighting schedule at design stage and check every fitting against the dimming modules before anything is specified, because a mismatch shows up later as flicker or as a floor the lamp will not dim below.

What happens if a keypad fails?

On a wired system the load control sits in the panel and not in the keypad, so the lights carry on working from every other keypad, from the app and from any schedule that is running, and the keypad itself is a swap. On a wireless system the in-wall dimmer is the load device, so a failure there affects that circuit until it is replaced. That is one of the reasons a wired panel is the better answer in a large house.

Professional installation across Ireland

Designed, supplied, programmed and commissioned by Formwave, lighting specialist installers based in Dublin and serving residential clients across Ireland. Lighting is usually specified alongside motorised shading, and on larger projects it sits inside a full whole-home design. For offices, retail and other commercial buildings, see commercial lighting control.