Pluggable electrical solutions remove installation barriers

Published on 7 december 2022 12 April 2021Time to read: 3 minutes

There is an unmistakable trend in greenhouse horticulture where growers are switching from HPS lighting to hybrid or full-LED lighting systems. This means that light fittings have to be replaced. And the installation of new fixtures also involves adjustment of the electrical system.

However, neither the change to a new system nor the investment required need to be significant. Isolectra has developed an efficient and simple pluggable solution to meet the needs of growers and electrical contracters. “This lowers the threshold for switching to different lighting”, says horticulture specialist Erik van Wijland.

All RST^® products from Isolectra are IP66, IP67 or IP68 certified. This means that they withstand the challenging conditions in the greenhouse. Easy.

Isolectra has devised the RST^® Y-Adapter in cooperation with Wieland Electric. This pluggable electrical installation solution means that growers hardly need to modify their existing systems. “Anyone can connect the cables simply by plugging them together”, summarises Erik.

That not only sounds very simple, but it actually is that simple. “A grower who switches from HPS to hybrid lighting, for example, removes one HPS fixture and adds two LED fixtures. With our RST^® Y-adapter, it’s now a matter of 1 plug out and 2 plugs in.”

Plug en play

The phenomenon of a pluggable electrical installation is not new. In greenhouse horticulture, Isolectra started working on it together with lighting manufacturers over twenty years ago. The result was a pluggable round alternative to the waterproof connectors common up to that point. And there are now all kinds of pluggable electrical installation solutions on the market, even outside greenhouse horticulture. “This has made installation plug-and-play.” And that saves a lot of time and prevents faulty connections. “We see it saving up to 80% of the time compared to conventional installation. When installed in several hectares of greenhouses, this definitely adds up considerably.”

Erik sees pluggable electrical applications are now also being used in greenhouses for ventilation systems and sunshade installations, for example. Here, too, the ease of installation helps. “It allows companies to work much more flexibly in production as well as on the project site and to be less dependent on technically skilled personnel. They are not always easy to find either, so this is a solution.”

Colours

In addition to significant time savings on installation by the grower or fitter, there are also safety and environmental benefits to Isolectra’s pluggable electrical installation solutions. “Because everything is plug-and-play, errors are basically eliminated. It’s no longer necessary to bundle countless cables in junction boxes. Equally all the measuring, cutting and stripping are eliminated, greatly reducing waste.

Everything is tested in advance before it reaches the customer. Incorrect connection of a wire is no longer a risk. Additionally, the pluggable solutions only fit together in one way, as we work with different colours.”

Speaking of colours, Erik has seen another development emerging. “In the past, lighting manufacturers all used their own (colour) coding for the connectors, mainly black connectors. If a customer now makes the transition to a different colour, we have a solution for this in the form of a converter. In this context too, the system does not need to be changed radically; rather, it can be used as a basis to build on.”

Also watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6vv0FMIZZw

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