The Difference between DALI & DALI-2

What is DALI?

The Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) is both a transport mechanism and a data protocol. A number of leading manufacturers of lighting equipment collaborated on the development of DALI and drafted the specification. Lighting control systems based on DALI's standard protocol are easier and simpler to specify and operate, while also promoting competition to lower installation costs.

What is DALI-2?

For the first time, DALI-2 is based on version 2 of IEC 62386, which includes control devices (Part 103 and Parts 3xx). DALI-2 versions will be published for all new parts of the standard. It is anticipated that some (but not all) of the older parts will be updated to DALI-2. Below is an extract from DiiA.

extract from DiiA DALI (IEC62386) - International Standard for Lighting Control - has been revised and tightened to ensure interoperability and backward compatibility among devices from different manufacturers. MOONS' is an associate member of DiiA (Digital Illumination Interface Alliance), which administers DALI.

The Difference between DALI & DALI-2

In light of this, what has changed? We now have DALI-2 and, perhaps more importantly, DALI-2 products on the market. Despite the fact that DALI-2 is fundamentally backward compatible with DALI, there are a few areas that can catch the unwary off guard. With DALI-2, a number of improvements have been made. It has added additional addresses for control interfaces, which means that your control panels are no longer required to consume the address space for 64 fixtures. Color control is the most significant change. DEVICE TYPES There was a concept of Device Type (DT) in DALI-1, but it was of limited significance to the average user. In the following table, you will find a list of the Device Types defined in DALI-2.

DT Number	Device Type
DT0	Fluorescent lampsDT1
DT1	Emergency lighting
DT2	High-intensity discharge
DT3	Low voltage halogen
DT4	General purpose dimmable
DT5	Analogue convertors
DT6	LED modules
DT7	Switching or relay
DT8	Color control

DALI-1 did not support Device Types DT7 and DT8. In DALI-1, Device Types had little impact on the actual control system. As an example, many LED modules report that they are DT0 (Fluorescent) when they should report DT6 (LED module). The fact that both Device Types are equipped with a simple, single-channel intensity control (called ARC) does not matter - they can be controlled similarly. DT8 is not affected by this.

MOONS' DALI-2 Product

MOONS' dual output LED drivers have successfully passed the DALI-2 certification process, including verification by DiiA. The same is true for DALI DT8, which uses one address to achieve tunable white applications (dimming the color temperature).