Stuck on a preset
The system runs a factory demo sequence because the real show was never built, or was built on a laptop that left with the startup tech.
Controls & commissioning
Anyone can hang it. Someone has to address it.
DMX addressing, Pharos and Color Kinetics programming, scene design, and documented commissioning — in San Diego, by the electrical contractor who also installed the fixtures. One party, one punch list, no finger-pointing between the electrician and the integrator.
The problem
The lighting was specified. It was installed. It still doesn't work.
It's the most common call we get, and the cause is almost always the same. The electrical contractor bid the conduit and the fixtures, assumed the manufacturer would handle programming, and closed out. The rep provided startup support for a day. Nobody owned the addressing, nobody documented the universes, and nobody built the scenes the designer drew.
Six months later the building is stuck on one static color, or half a facade is out, and the person holding the maintenance contract has never seen the software.
Dead sections and drift
A universe drops, a power/data supply fails, or fixtures were addressed in a scheme nobody wrote down — so replacing one fixture breaks the map.
Nobody has the password
The controller is on the network, the owner has no credentials, no as-built, and no idea which vendor to call. We've recovered a lot of these.
Capability
What we actually do at the controller.
- DMX512 & RDM addressing — universe planning, fixture patching, and an as-built address map delivered to the owner.
- Pharos — LPC and VLC controllers, Designer projects, timelines, triggers, and scheduled scenes.
- Signify / Philips Color Kinetics — Data Enabler Pro gen3 topology, IntelliHue and Chromasync color management, Reach Elite and BlastElite Powercore families, Interact Landmark and Light System Manager.
- Astronomical scheduling — sunset-relative sequences, holiday and event overrides, curfew and dark-sky compliance.
- Scene and show design — building the looks the lighting designer drew, plus a set the owner can actually run.
- Legacy migration — pulling data out of end-of-life controllers, including serial and iPlayer-era systems, into supported hardware.
- Network & integration — sACN and Art-Net over a building network, DMX gateways, contact closure, and third-party triggering.
- Handover — written documentation, labeled panels, owner training, and a support line afterward.
Take over an existing system
We'll adopt a system we didn't install.
If you inherited a color-changing installation that's failing, undocumented, or just boring, we'll survey it and give you a straight answer: what's still supported, what has to be replaced, and what it costs to get it back to what it was supposed to be.
Questions we get
Common questions
Do you program lighting you didn't install?
Yes. A large share of our controls work is on systems built by other contractors. We survey what's there, document the addressing, and reprogram or replace the controller as needed.
What does commissioning include?
Verifying every fixture responds at its assigned address, building and testing the scenes and schedules, confirming failover and time-clock behavior, walking the owner through operation, and delivering written as-built addressing documentation.
Can you work on a prevailing wage or public works project?
Yes. SDSL is DIR registered and signatory to IBEW Local 569, with certified payroll and apprenticeship compliance handled in-house.
Which manufacturers do you work with?
We work across the specialty lines commonly specified in San Diego — Philips Color Kinetics, Pharos, ETC, Lumenpulse and others — and we're not tied to a single brand. If the designer specified it, we'll install and commission it.
Do you offer ongoing support after handover?
Yes. Most of our controls clients keep a service agreement for schedule changes, seasonal shows, and remote troubleshooting.