Penthouse owners in Downtown Dubai and the Marina ask us the same question: can we have real lighting scenes without the building's permission, without rewiring and without losing the apartment for a month? With Rako, the British wireless lighting system we have fitted for twenty years, the answer is yes.
How it fits
A Rako wireless dimmer is small enough to sit behind the existing switch plate or in the ceiling void above the fitting. It takes the existing circuit, dims it properly and listens for the keypad over radio. The old switch is replaced by a Rako keypad in the same box, in white, black, brass or bronze, with buttons for the scenes rather than circuits.
What you get
Each room gets scenes: bright, evening, television, night. The whole apartment gets an all off by the front door and a holiday mode that lives in the apartment while you are in London. The Rako app controls it all, and if the apartment also has motorised blinds and a Sonos system, Rako links to them so one button sets the room.
The limits
Rako dims the circuits that exist. If the apartment has one circuit for a whole room, you get one dimmed channel for that room unless an electrician splits it, which is usually possible within the apartment without touching the building's risers. LED fittings with poor drivers will flicker on any dimmer, Rako included, and we test every circuit before we quote.
How long it takes
A two or three bedroom penthouse is usually fitted and programmed in two or three days, with no plastering and no redecoration. For a larger apartment or a villa we add wired Rako dimming in the plant room where the circuits allow it, on the same system and app.