Initially, 90 Halogen MR16 fittings had been installed throughout the yacht and these had been replaced a couple of years ago by a Spanish boat refurbishment company. They installed a specialist marine lighting control system designed around low voltage lamps and load circuits (12-24V). Unfortunately the system did not have the capacity to carry the load of all the installed fittings so they bodged the dimmers and installed some rather unsavoury 1w 3200k LED fittings that were cold and did not dim well.
The boat itself was built by Alloy Yachts in the mid-90s in Auckland for an American owner hence it was wired for 110V.
"Initially we were going to just upgrade all the fittings to 2700k dimmable MR16 LED lamps, however we changed our minds once we discovered that the system was over capacity and that some of the work done by the Spanish firm was not up to standard," explained Nick Abel, managing director of ELS. "The lighting control system that had been installed was very limited and could not provide the zone controlling that the customer had requested. It turns out that many of the panels that had been installed were wired in parallel."
Abel met with the owner to explain the issues and the owner requested that he would like to retain the existing button panels as that was the only thing he liked about the old system.
"We proposed to install a new control panel system with all panels individually programmable," remarked Abel. "We also suggested a new 12-channel dimmer at 110V to properly deal with the lighting load as well as replacement of all the MR16 fittings with new 2700k LEDs. In the normal install world this would be easy, but we had to fit this all into a variety of nooks and crannies on the boat. We discovered that just like a small yacht, there was stuff hidden behind every panel and crawl space."
Ultimately the owner preferred his tungsten MR16s rather than the LEDs so the tungsten lamps were reinstated with the ability to easily switch back to LEDs at a later date if required.
To resolve the control issues an ETC Paradigm Architectural Control System with six contact input panels was installed and this drove the dimmer modules that were carefully hidden behind cabinetry, via DMX and a 0-10V analogue controller.
"We had a short time to do this job and needed a solid operating system that we had worked with before, to deliver the right control for the customer," added Abel. "Naturally we looked at the Paradigm as the system that would work for us. It is also available in a 110V version made for the American market so it made the voltage part easier for us. It has performed seamlessly and six months on, we have had no technical issues from the customer."
According to Abel, the customer took the yacht out for a two-week trip after the installation and was over the moon with his lighting control finally being exactly how he wanted it. "This project was certainly an experience for us as it was a very different and challenging environment from our regular theatre, entertainment and commercial lighting control projects," said Abel. "There is nothing like going for a sail in the Hauraki Gulf while programming an ACP controller.
"I have to say the service from Jands was, as always, first class. Tim Kennard spent quite a bit of time working though the dimmer and mounting options due to space and voltage constraints."
(Jim Evans)
