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Low-voltage track lighting suitable for a timber-frame build with Reneta
I’ve made a Sketchup model of a timber frame addition for my house, and may post it at some point. But I could use some help finding appropriate fixtures first.
Can lights in the ceiling are a bad idea both from a building science perspective and because they don’t do well at lighting the timber frame itself. So I was planning to run track lighting right on key framing members, and rely on movable/aimable spots, floods and wall washers. Running romex, wiremould or conduit to feed tracks would be expensive and ugly. Cat 6 or other low-voltage wiring would be much more unobtrusive. That led me to Lumencache, which seems to be one of only a few POE/lower-voltage lighting system companies making ANY attempt to serve the residential market.
Your site shows how I could use any line voltage track system, but those seem pretty clunky-looking compared to low voltage LED systems. One of the awesome things about Reneta is pulling all of the drivers back to the panel, and I’m not finding many low-voltage track lighting manufacturers offering the option to get fixtures without built-in drivers. The CONTINUUM system from ET2 Lighting seems to do this, but I’m not clear how you could feed power to it without using their on-track driver.
Your post on fixture partners didn’t turn up any options either- I thought sure AiSPiRE would have track lighting for use with RPS, but they don’t.
Could you perhaps point me in the right direction for low voltage track lighting systems designed with a remote power supply or otherwise well-suited for use with Reneta?
Any help would be appreciated.
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4 Replies
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I just found another option: Juno has two different low-voltage track system options listed at https://juno.acuitybrands.com/products/track-lighting/track-systems , the TLV and TLVR tracks. They are only 3/4″ x 3/8, and they have end feeds specifically intended to come from a transformer.
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If you want 1 or 2 zones of lights there are 2 channel 48V track light manufacturers gaining popularity. I’ve sourced some really good ones and may provide them as a LumenCache part eventually. You can use SV drivers and keep the current below 1.2A for the PDM-8_RJ(1), or the PDM-8_RP(1) can support 2.5A per port using 22-18 AWG wires (release date is not nailed down, but I did show it at the THB show and on some videos).
I have a product in the roadmap to allow addressable track lights. This would give individual control over each light and still avoids wireless. The addressing allows the same flexibility as the RJ45 SIBs, so you can do 1 color, CCT, and RGB etc.
Best bet this year is the SV to the track. I just grabbed a random 48V track from a google search as an example of what would work. Just skip their power supply: https://www.erco.com/en_us/products/indoor/track-and-singlets/erco-minirail-48v-track-and-singlets-7076/
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I’ve now researched several 48v brands. They all seem to be European, sold only through commercial lighting supply houses rather than U.S. consumer outlets. They also don’t offer a lot of fixture options., and what they do offer is all pretty modern looking… especially pendant lights, which is what I’m interested in.
In the US, I have far more fixtures options. And pendant adapters which would let me use just about any fixture I want. Meanwhile Juno’s LV option is 24v, which you seem to be against due to voltage drop, and Halo and Lightolier don’t seem to offer ANY low-voltage option.
So, my question is, why not just use Halo track? Elsewhere on your site, you make clear that any 120v fixture can be fed LV power from a Reneta PDM and SIB, as long as you choose an appropriate bulb. So why not do the same with Halo track? Voltage drop on the track?
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One option to use now is the 55W 24V SIB. This converts the PDM 48V to 24V@55W and you can place it near the track or strip feed. This allows you to use the commodity 24V fixtures and strips until the 48V products start to become popular. https://service.lumencache.com/shop/spc-55w24v-3ch-j1sf-485-1-40?category=113
I’m lining up a track lighting factory and preparing the UL budget. Remember our goal is not to make every fixture style but instead invite partner fixture companies to attach the SIB so you can have vast number of fixture options. The very high volume “standard” fixtures will be available through LumenCache brand.
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