A Smart Church?!
How we used Smart Automation Technology to modernise the lighting in this old English Church.
This was a first for us. We’ve delivered Smart Homes and Business premises, but never a Church!
The Problem
St Mary’s Church in Woodnesborough, Kent had been dealing with electrical gremlins in their lighting system for a long time. The control system was overly complex and had started to deteriorate, causing lights to blow regularly.
Attempts at fixing the problem resulted in even more issues. After changing the wiring the controls no longer did what they should – AND the bulbs began to blow again shortly after.
The Church sought out a lighting specialist to finally fix the issue. The specialist contacted us at Smart Living as they needed a reliable way to control the new lighting setup without using the antiquated controls which had been the root of the issue.
Our Smart Solution
We recommended and installed a new Smart Control system powered by a Loxone Miniserver. Not only fixing the issue but enabling additional functionality such as dimming and automation.
As an open church with little natural light, St Mary’s had no choice but to leave lights on all day: even if no-one was in the church. To remedy this, we installed a Loxone Presence Sensor at the doorway and set up an automation. Now, the lights stay off until the sensor detects someone enter the church. This small change drastically reduces the church’s energy usage – meaning the system will eventually pay for itself!
We had a custom control switch made specially for this project by Loxone in Austria. This gives us 12 different presets for the various lighting options throughout the church. Making the system easier to use and more adaptable to different occasions.
We’ve also given the Vicar the power to control the lights from anywhere (even at the Lectern during a sermon!). The Loxone app provides full control from a smartphone or tablet.
During the installation we found cabling to dormant lights that the Vicar didn’t know existed! We revived these lights and put them to use through the new system.
Age doesn’t matter!
Even in the oldest buildings, Smart Living can retrofit a modern Smart Automation solution to solve specific problems and save money!
And because Loxone is futureproof and expandable, should the church decide to automate their heating for example, the system is already in place to support it.
Get in touch
If you’re interested in a no-nonsense smart solution for your home, business or even church(!) contact us to book a free consultation.
