The security and safety of the general population are greatly enhanced by streetlights. Municipalities and city authorities invest in upgrading public lighting infrastructure and look for LED streetlights that provide superior illumination and future-proof smart city functionality. Additionally, some decision-makers aim to implement advanced features based on the smart street-lighting infrastructure, such as motion detection, remote monitoring and scheduling of street lights, air quality monitoring, traffic tracking, and EV charging stations.
It is obvious that interoperability is crucial to achieving this. A controller or motion sensor from vendor A or B must be able to wirelessly pair and operate with a streetlight fixture from vendor X, Y, or Z in order to be considered interoperable.
Interchangeability | Interoperability – Zhaga (book 18) global standard
- Zhaga (book 18) socket has become a vital standard in Europe for smart street lights. Zhaga offers multiple advantages over the traditional Nema 7P receptacle.
- DALI D4i smart driver, interlinked to the Zhaga socket, offers over 60 data points for advanced monitoring of the public lighting infrastructure.
- Zhaga D4i standard delivers excellent interoperability and interchangeability – making the street light fixture future-ready.
The Zhaga Consortium’s primary goal is to standardize LED luminaire interfaces in order to facilitate interchangeability and interoperability. The 2018 launch of the standardized Zhaga (book 18) socket offers interoperability with all luminaire types.
- Any Zhaga certified street light luminaire can be equipped with a Zhaga socket for simple, tool-free installation of a Zhaga controller.
- Specificators and municipalities no longer have to be concerned about whether an outdoor lamp controller (OLC)/motion sensor and a streetlight fixture are compatible because of this widely established standard.
- Particularly ideal for cities that want to have “controls” ready street lights but do not want to build an LMS system right away are Zhaga socket-based street light fixtures.
In Europe and numerous other nations, the conventional NEMA 7-Pin (ANSI 136.41) standard has been swiftly replaced by the Zhaga (book 18) socket interface.
- The installation of a shorting cover is required for NEMA receptacle-based luminaires, but not for Zhaga socket-based luminaires.
- Zhaga interface provides OLC with 24V DC of pure auxiliary power. This contrasts with the NEMA outlet’s AC grid voltage. The lifespan and dependability of the OLC as well as the complete luminaire are considerably increased by DC power to the OLC.
- There are numerous vendors who sell Zhaga (book 18) sockets, including TE, Amphenol, Tridonic, and Longjoin, to mention a few. Additionally, the vast majority of streetlight OEMs provide Zhaga approved streetlight fixtures.
For cities and people, we think intelligent lighting is essential. Our goal is to make our products widely available so that cities may easily and cheaply become more sustainable and intelligent. Our intelligent outdoor light controllers (OLC) and streetlight controllers (SLC) are compatible with Zhaga (book 18).
Plug & Play Interface for Smart, Future-Ready Street Lights
The Digital Illumination Interface Alliance, often known as DALI Alliance or DiiA, is a significant standards organization that works to enhance the functionality and interoperability of public lighting infrastructure. For intelligent, IoT-ready street luminaires, DiiA’s D4i DALI standard protocol ensures great software compatibility between the OLCs and the streetlight fixture.
In order to monitor the entire street lighting infrastructure, including the LED module(s), LED Driver, subsurface Power-Grid, and Lamp Controller, D4i delivers a defined data model. D4i certified LED drivers deliver over 60 standardized data-points. A data model with this level of standardization is a huge advance and great news for asset managers, utilities, and local governments.
D4i certified drivers also provide supplemental power (24V). Instead of using AC power from the direct grid, the lamp controller can now operate on clean, protected DC power. As a result, a Zhaga OLC’s lifespan and dependability are greatly increased.
Streetlight standardization has advanced even further with the most recent release of the new Zhaga-D4i (ZD4i) interface standard, a joint effort between the DALI Alliance (DiiA) and the Zhaga Consortium. This standard guarantees plug-and-play compatibility between the LED luminaires and the streetlight controller in the future.
Dual certification is supported by the ZD4i. Meaning that a certified product complies with DALI-2 and D4i standards set by DiiA and has a standard Zhaga book 18 interface. These plug-and-play, interoperable, cost-effective, and future-ready smart lighting products are a given.
Zhaga D4i Smart Streetlight
Would you like to see Zhaga D4i in action? Our brilliant plug-and-play Zhaga controller, Zhaga motion sensor, and D4i certified streetlight luminaire are used on a cycling highway in Chongqing City, China
What then would we advise?
These are the main conclusions:
- Choose only streetlight luminaires that are Zhaga-ready. Your public lighting system will be future-ready with a somewhat higher investment.
- Select either a single Zhaga socket (the option for controls only) or two Zhaga sockets (for both, control and motion sensor capability)
- Choose a controls vendor that can provide the whole line of Zhaga solutions, including RF Mesh and IoT. Make sure that Dali D4i communication is supported by Zhaga OLC.
