It's April '22 and summers are already in in the tropical Indian subcontinent. What's unique about this calendar period in the land of the 10,000 gods is that there are very few 'Good days" or 'Shubh Muharatas' to inaugurate your new house, office or showroom or any launch of a new venture.
There is one auspicious day though, "Akshay Tritiya". As
per common belief, buying gold and properties on this day or inaugurating new work brings prosperity and wealth in the future. No brainer, as a lighting designer who fancies himself as a socialite it means multiple launch parties of commercial offices, Co-working spaces, Jewellery showrooms even new warehouses & fulfillment centres.
Even though every place was "unique" in its interior style, I couldn't help but notice a common aspect in each of these spaces. It was so similar that it felt like an overused canva template. The same method and style just different colours. It was the - CEILING WIRING & SWITCHES ! All contemporary offices had an open ceiling plan with electrical wires running through neatly arranged conduit pipes painted black or white, running alongside red fire proofing pipelines.
Every showroom had a flat false ceiling hiding the beams inside them. An array COBs and track lights over each display with looped wiring running through each of them.
Every warehouse, same story of wiring along the truss.
And these standard electrical layout & wiring subtly (read : not so subtly) went into an obscure paneling on a wall which hid a crazy number switches. A WALL FULL OF SWITCHES.
It got me thinking, if these offices were were even half occupied with employees they would have flip every switch on at the start of the day and it would remain on till the day ends. Same with showrooms even if 1 customer comes in or in a warehouse. Almost all the time, all switches have to be on throughout the work day. Something so simple yet the cost behind establishing this status quo is, putting frankly, bit wasteful. The environmental impact of the PVC piping, polycarbonate switches, Plastic coating around copper wires far from green living or sustainable .
The traditional switching mechanism required wiring through a wall. Cost of labour, civil & electrical, Piping system inside. Wiring going from the DB to the room main to the lights & electronics back to a wall where all the switches are. And if there are 2 way switches just double the wiring. Cost of this ecosystem including product and manpower all to keep lights & fan on the entire day.... I asked myself on the 4th office opening party, whilst sipping coffee looking at the sprawling view from the 25th floor of the highrise, is there a better innovation in the antiquated industry of switches & wires ?
Now what started as a brain itch went into a 3 month deep dive into researching multiple brands doing different switches, sensors, alternatives to loop wiring, changes to electrical drawings. Doubting and disrupting every aspect of traditional electrical methods. I did not want to use multiple protocols or combination of products. Over the years i have realised that using multiple different brands and their solutions and making them to communicate with each other on a common ecosystem (Let's say a bluetooth smart light from one brand and smart switch from another brand) doesn't give you a 100% reliability. The answer had to be SIMPLE. RELIABLE. EASY. COST EFFECTIVE.
Luckily, readers of this long story, there is a short solution. Circuit Controllers with Switches powered by your touch.
Here's what you need to do -
1. Take an "All Smart 6 circuit controller". Connect all the wire endings to this box. and don't use any switches at all.
whacky as it sounds, but this magic black box is a 220v ____ watt circuit breaker.
Imagine it to be a box with 6 switches with an RF transmitter and receiver with also built-in WiFi. The wirings of all the lights/Fan/AC's can come into the box. And you can leave the box in the false ceiling or a loft or even near the room main.
2. Install and pair the Kinetic Switches to the circuit controller. And you are done.
These are wireless remotes guised in the form factor of a traditional switch.
What essentially these 2 products are doing is that the switches have gone to the ceiling. No longer the hassle of pulling piping and wiring to a reachable distance. And your touch interface are these wireless switches that you can place anywhere, the wall or table top or anywhere. Bonus feature - you can control the switches/circuits from your smartphone, alexa and google home. These aren't essentially "smart switches" cause the "smart"phone operation feature is a bonus in my eye.
With a little planning beforehand you can divide your space lighting into 6 or 12 circuits. (I was able to do a 6000sq ft office in essentially 9 cicuits!) and voila ! A smarter, eco friendly innovative way to your unnecessary switches with 100% reliability and ease of use. Best part ?
This concept takes minimal time to install and reduces costs of labour for installation and material costs by up to 60%. *SCREAMING* 60%%%%%%%
Benefits :
