Control devices

One of the most important benefits of DALI-2 is to introduce standardization of control devices for the first time.

The two categories of control device are:
► Application controllers
► Input devices

Application Controllers

► The “brains” of the system

► Can use information from any source and make decisions

► Can send commands to the control gear (no other device can send commands to control gear)

Application controllers can use information from any source, including:

Control gear
Input devices
Other application controllers
External devices/buses/systems

Single-master or multi-master variants are allowed:

Single-masters	Multi-masters
Only one allowed on the DALI bus	More than one can be used on the same bus
Receiver is optional
May allow polling of input devices, or checking status of control gear	Supports event-driven operation of input devices
	Uses a short-address

DALI version-1

Control devices are standardised in DALI-2, but did not exist in DALI verison-1. For this reason, there are no DALI version-1 control devices – there are just products that are designed to send commands to control gear, but have not passed any official DALI tests. The DALI version-1 logo should not be used on any control device.

Input Devices

► Fairly simple devices that provide information to the system

► Examples include push-buttons, sliders, occupancy sensors, and light sensors

Input devices provide information to application controllers.

Input devices are multi-master.

They can be polled, but are normally used in event-driven mode.