LED dimming modules chosen for basement conversion

KieranLogan of RoseElectricalContractorstalks to ZanoControls about a recent project where he used 11 ZMO150 module dimmers to provide flicker-free and silent lighting control within a multi-functional excavated basement conversion in Leeds.

When extending your dream home, creating a liveable area under the existing property is an option increasingly sought after by homeowners looking to add extra space without extending wider, longer or higher.

Electrician Kieran Logan was brought on board to complete the first and second fix of a domestic electrical installation for a home extension project by building firm, C & A.J Marshalls.

The project was a big one - the property was already well extended with an outwards kitchen extension. On a mission to add a gym, swimming pool, cinema and family room, the homeowners decided that excavating the basement level of the property to fulfil their dreams was the best approach.

The excavation of the basement had to happen without any demolition of the property itself, so sitting directly under the property, the builders had to underpin the existing structure of the basement to replace the lost foundations and restore the building to full strength.

The project took nearly two years to complete, and 12 months into the project Kieran got started on the first fix, with the second fix taking six months.

Excellent lighting design

Working in conjunction with Horsley Townsend Architects, who specified the lighting design scheme to include lamps and fittings from Astro Lighting, it was up to Kieran to provide and pair the lighting scheme with the right products to provide flicker-free and silent LED dimming control.

Both gyms and swimming pools have unique lighting needs and require adequate lighting to match. Not only does good swimming pool and gym lighting help to provide a wow factor, but LEDs make it possible to alter the mood of the gym and swimming pool to create the right environment.

As the lighting design scheme spanned across the basement conversion that consisted of the gym, swimming pool, cinema and family room and the stairwell into the upstairs/ground level floor of the property, it was key that the right products were chosen to provide the correct lighting levels specific to each room.

Recessed LED fixtures in pool areas are a great way to create a relaxing glow from the pool at night, but as with any lighting project where electricity is in close proximity to water, care needed to be taken and the regulations followed to ensure that the fittings were safe to use in zones one and two of the pool area.

The ground floor works also included another family room that had an apex vaulted ceiling and a structural glass floor close to the stairwell that let light into and led down to the basement conversion. For the ceilings, Kieran used a mix of surface spotlights, Astro Lighting’s Lynx fittings at 12.5W each, and recessed spotlights, Astro’s Trimless Luminaires, that had to be installed before the final plaster skim and were IP65 rated. For the areas across the basement conversion – which required small sections of LED tape to highlight and wall wash specific zones and provide a feature glow –Kieran used Aurora’s LEDline PRO single colour 24V super bright LED strip.

Both the surface and recessed ceiling spotlights and the LED strip lighting required lighting control to match and provide low-level dimming capability across the various rooms in the basement. Plus, in the stairwell that led to and included the family room on the ground floor level. As the ZMO150 was Kieran’s go-to dimmer, which he’d used before on countless projects, he knew he could count upon the fact that it would just work.

Kieran calculated the total wattage across the number of circuits the project required and, in each instance, the ZMO150 became the dimmer of choice. As all circuits came to a combined total wattage of less than 150W/VA, the ZMO150 was the ideal solution. Providing 0-150W of flicker-free and silent dimming control, the ZMO150 was perfect for achieving a low lighting level in the cinema room and making full use of the total load elsewhere, for example, in the gym and swimming pool.

As lighting control was a key part of the brief, and the homeowners wanted to ensure control was made by a rotary controller in keeping with the same aesthetic and style as the rest of the property, Kieran matched the ZMO150 with chrome plates and a rotary knob from Click Scolmore.

Installation

Eleven ZMO150s were installed across the project in total. Across the downstairs basement conversion, Kieran had seven lighting circuits each connected to one ZMO150, and in the upstairs family room that led down to the basement and the apex vaulted ceiling area, four ZMO150s were used.

In the pool area, Kieran used Astro’s Trimless range of recessed spotlights, pairing two ZMO150s 10 than 10W each, across two circuits. Each circuit produced a combined load of 62.5W, and with plenty of room left to allow for Inrush, each circuit was connected to one ZMO150.

In the cinema room, Kieran paired four Astro Lynx surface spotlights at 12.5W each with a small section of LED strip lighting around the back of the 48-inch cinema screen. He did this on one circuit with one ZMO150 to provide flicker-free and low-level lighting control.

In the gym, Kieran also paired four Astro Lynx surface spotlights and roughly a metre and a half of Aurora’s LEDline with one ZMO150. LED tape and strip lighting lists wattage per metre, which often makes it difficult to calculate an installation precisely and it’s the LED driver – and the huge inrush it consumes – that skews the wattage listed on the label significantly. However, in neither the gym nor the cinema room was much LED strip lighting required. The total load that included the 50W generated by the surface spotlights and the power consumption of 19.2W per metre listed by the LED strip lighting came to less than 150W/VA, with generous Inrush allowance accounted for.

In the basement family area that joins the gym and cinema room, Kieran had two circuits each with a ZMO150 module dimmer connected to seven Astro Lynx surface spotlights. Upstairs, within the family room that went from the kitchen and led down to the basement, two ZMO150s were used across two circuits each with several Astro Lynx surface spotlights on. And within the Apex vaulted ceiling area used six Astro Lynx surface spotlights were used – four connected to one ZMO150 and two connected to another.

The project took nearly two years to complete, and 12 months