Visible Light Decontamination (VLD) Testing and Troubleshooting

Visible Light Decontamination (VLD) Testing and Troubleshooting


Post Installation Testing:

The light modes are visible to the human eye. There are essentially two modes of light. White Decontamination Mode (occupied) and VLD Decontamination Mode(unoccupied). VLD mode is full intensity of the VLD diodes regardless of what dim setting the room was left in. White mode does have a bit of VLD mixed in with the white light and is proportional to the dim level of the room. The VLD diodes become more visible to the eye at close to full dim.
 

Ensure lights are functioning:

      White Mode Dimming, On, and Off

    1. If dimmer installed, do the white lights dim uniformly from 100% to OFF and back to 100% brightness?
    2. If on/off toggle switch installed, do lights turn on and off appropriately?
Alert
A brief flash to "purple" when the lights are turned on from being off can indicate a mis-wire. 

      White Mode Override

    1. Set lights to a lower dimmer setting.
    2. Engage override (usually a foot pedal in Imaging rooms).
    3. Wait about 1 minute then disengage override.
    4. Do light return immediately to previous dimmer setting?
Alert
A brief flash to full brightness or purple before returning to previous dimmer setting can indicate a mis-wire.

VLD Mode Switching


    1. Ensure lights manually transition to VLD Mode:
      1. With a short piece of wire, short across the screw terminals for BRN / YEL inside the VLD100 controller (lower left). This will simulate the controller calling for VLD mode.
      2. If ALL the lights switch to VLD mode (purplish-blue visible light) and back to white when the short is removed, then the lights themselves are wired to the controller properly.
    2. Double check that when white lights are set to “off” by a user, that they still switch to VLD mode manually.
Alert
If lights transition to VLD Mode manually when turned on but not when the dimmer/switch is off, is an indication of a mis-wire.
Warning
A general user of the room should NEVER have the ability to cut AC line voltage (120~277V) to the lighting fixtures. They require 24/7 line voltage for the VLD modes to function properly. White light controls are SOLEY via low voltage (0-10V Dim-to-Off) controls.

Ensure Sensors are Functioning Properly:

  1. Passive Infrared Sensor
    Set all sensors to lowest setting
    1. Passive Infrared: twist off dome and turn trim pot fully counter-clockwise and replace dome.
    2. Ultrasonic: pop off cap and set dip switches 1,2 & 3 all to off/down. Cap can stay off for testing or be replaced.
  2. With all sensors set to lowest setting, stay very still and monitor lights on VLD100 controller.
    1. Green indicates the Sensor is connected
    2. Red indicates the Sensor is triggering occupancy
    3. Bays 1, 2, and 3 are the Passive Infrared Sensors. The red lights should turn off almost immediately with no motion in the room and re-illuminate when the sensor detects motion.
    4. Bay 4 is the Ultrasonic Sensor. You may need to leave the room for this sensor to stop detecting occupancy but if you are very still and quiet, the red light may turn off.
    5. Ensure Bay 5 and 6 do not have any status light illuminated.
    6. Ultrasonic Sensor
      With all red status lights turned off, the room should transition to VLD Mode within about 60 seconds.
    7. If the red status light for Bay 4 is the only one that does not turn off, leave the room for about 2 minutes.
  3. If the room transitions to VLD Mode within about 2 minutes of leaving the room then back to white mode when someone re-enters the room, the system is functioning properly and you can return the sensors to their desired setting (30-minutes as default). If the room does not transition to VLD Mode and Bay 4's status light did not turn off before you left the room, the Sensitivity setting on the Ultrasonic sensor may need to be adjusted.

Adjusting the Ultrasonic Sensor Sensitivity:

In the event the lights are not transitioning to VLD mode when the room is unoccupied and the Bay 4 red status light did not turn off during the testing in the previous section, you may need to adjust the sensitivity of the Ultrasonic sensor. The following steps assume you are still testing the sensors as outlined in the previous section with sensors set to lowest time setting and room otherwise unoccupied other than testing staff.
  1. Turn down the "sensitivity" trim pot by turning it counter-clockwise in a very small increment.
  2. Monitor the Bay 4 red status light while remaining very still & quiet and/or leave the room for about 2 minutes.
  3. Repeat until the Bay 4 red status light turns off and/or the room transitions to VLD mode correctly.
Alert
The highest possible sensitivity setting that allows for the sensor to stop detecting occupancy is desired.
Info
If slight adjustment of the sensitivity setting does not resolve the issue or if you must turn the sensitivity fully counter-clockwise, check to see if there are other ultrasonic sensors in the space operating on the same frequencies. Building Management and Patient Tracking sensors may interfere with the VLD sensors and further coordination with our Service Team may be needed.

Troubleshooting:

Many common issues relating to a single or small number of lights not behaving normally with VLD lighting can be corrected by turning off power (120~277V) to the fixtures for 1-2 minutes and turning them back on (usually by turning off the circuit breaker, not light switch). If this does not correct the issue or the issue persists, please contact our Support Team by email or by submitting a ticket at the bottom of this page.