DALI-2 sensors

How to add DALI-2 sensors (movement and light) to an iDM3 project, set them up, and read their values.

DALI-2 sensors, such as movement detectors and light sensors, connect to the DALI bus of the CU3-09M. This page explains how to add them to your project, which settings to use, and what the values in the monitor mean.

In short: add the Internal-DALI-2-Master, give the sensors an address in the DALI-2 manager, add one DALI-2-Unit for each sensor with one device for each thing it measures (movement, light), then compile and upload the project.

---

1. How a sensor looks in the project

Each physical sensor is one unit. Most sensors measure more than one thing, for example movement and light. Each of these is called a channel, and each channel is a separate device inside the unit.

In the project	What it is
DALI-2-Unit	One physical sensor. Its address = the sensor's DALI address.
State-IN	The health of the sensor. It is always there and is read-only.
Ocupanci-IN	A movement channel.
Light-IN	A light channel.

Example: a sensor that detects movement and measures light looks like this:

DALI-2-Unit  (address 00)
 ├─ State-IN       ← always there
 ├─ Ocupanci-IN    ← movement channel
 └─ Light-IN       ← light channel

---

2. Add the DALI-2 master (only once)

DALI-2 sensors use their own DALI master, separate from the one for lights. Skip this step if Internal-DALI-2-Master is already in your project.

1. Project ribbon tab → Device manager.

2. Select the central unit → New unit → Internal-DALI-2-Master → OK.

3. Close the Device manager and save.

---

3. Address the sensors (DALI-2 manager)

New sensors come without an address, so give them one first. This is done in the DALI-2 manager, while connected to the central unit.

Open the DALI-2 manager

1. Connect iDM3 to the central unit.

2. Managers ribbon tab → Dali manager.

3. Select Internal-DALI-2-Master (double-click it, or select it and click ✓ OK).

Because you picked the DALI-2 master, the manager opens in its DALI-2 view, made for sensors.

The buttons

Button	What it does
Add new	Addresses only new sensors. Sensors that already have an address stay.
Search	Reads the sensors and their channels from the bus. Changes nothing.
New DALI	Deletes all sensor addresses and gives every sensor a new one.
Change address	Gives the selected sensor the address you typed.
Delete address	Removes the address of the selected sensor.
IDENTIFY	Makes the selected sensor show itself, so you can find it on the ceiling.
Read params	Reads the channels and settings of the selected sensor.

Give the sensors an address

Situation	Button to use
First time – no sensor has an address yet	New DALI
Adding sensors to a working installation	Add new
Just checking what is on the bus	Search

Never use New DALI on a working installation. Every sensor gets a new address, and they will no longer match the DALI-2-Units in your project. To add sensors, use Add new.

Find out which sensor is which

1. Press Search. The list shows every sensor it found (Device__00, Device__01, …).

2. Select a sensor and press IDENTIFY. The physical sensor shows itself.

3. Write down which address belongs to which sensor.

Change an address (optional)

1. Select the sensor in the list.

2. Click its address number next to the name and type the new one.

3. Click Change address.

4. Press Search again to check.

The DALI-2 manager shows normal numbers (00, 01, … 63) — no hexadecimal. Sensors have their own addresses 0 – 63, separate from the addresses of the lights.

A red exclamation mark (!) next to a sensor means the master reported a problem with that address — for example, two sensors with the same address. Select it, click Delete address, then use Add new to address it again.

---

4. Find the numbers you need

After addressing, press Search once more. Each sensor is shown with its channels underneath:

Device__00
    #0  Occupancy sensor
    #1  Light sensor

Write down two things:

What to copy	Where it goes
The device number (00, 01, …)	The address of the DALI-2-Unit in your project
The channel number (#0, #1, …)	The Instance number of the matching device

The Instance number must match. If it doesn't, the central unit ignores that channel and it never reports anything.

---

5. Add the sensor to the project

1. Project ribbon tab → Device manager.

2. Select Internal-DALI-2-Master → New unit → DALI-2-Unit → OK.

3. Set the unit's Address to the device number from the DALI-2 manager (for Device__00, enter 0).

4. Give it a Description, for example Office sensor.

5. A new DALI-2-Unit already contains one Light-IN device. Select the unit and click New unit to add more devices, so that there is one for each channel of the sensor — Ocupanci-IN for movement, Light-IN for light.

6. For each device, set Instance number to the # number of that channel, and set up the other parameters (see the next two sections).

7. Close the Device manager and save.

New channels start switched off. Every new device starts with Instance flags = 0 and Event filter = 0, so it reports nothing. Set Instance flags = 1 and the Event filter you need (usually 3 for movement, 1 for light).

---

6. Set up a movement channel (Ocupanci-IN)

In most installations you only need to set the first three parameters and Time hold. The others are for fine-tuning.

Parameter	Values	What it does
Instance number	0 – 31	Which channel of the sensor this is. Copy it from the DALI-2 manager.
Instance flags	0 or 1	1 = channel on. 0 = channel off. Don't use any other value.
Event filter	0 – 31	Which events the sensor sends. 3 is the normal setting. Use 7 if you also want a regular status update. See Event filter values.
Time hold	0 – 254	How long the room stays "occupied" after the last movement. 0 = 1 s, otherwise value × 10 s.
Time report	0 – 255 s	How often the current state is repeated (only if the Event filter includes Repeat). 0 = never.
Time deadtime	0 – 255	Minimum quiet time after an event. 0 = off, otherwise value × 50 ms. Reports can't come faster than this.
Detection range	0 – 100 %	How far the sensor reaches. 100 = maximum. Ignored by sensors that don't support it.
Detection sensitivity	0 – 100 %	How easily movement triggers the sensor. 100 = most sensitive. Ignored by sensors that don't support it.

Time hold examples

Value	Hold time
0	1 s
6	1 min
30	5 min
90	15 min
254	42 min 20 s

Time deadtime example: 15 = 15 × 50 ms = 750 ms.

---

7. Set up a light channel (Light-IN)

Parameter	Values	What it does
Instance number	0 – 31	Which channel of the sensor this is. Copy it from the DALI-2 manager.
Instance flags	0 or 1	1 = channel on. 0 = channel off. Don't use any other value.
Event filter	0 or 1	1 = send the light level (normal setting). 0 = send nothing.
Hysteresis	0 – 25 %	How much the light must change (in %) before a new value is sent. For example, 5 = 5 %. 0 = only send on Time report.
Hysteresis minimal	0 – 255	The smallest change (in raw units) that is always sent. Useful in the dark, where a percentage is too small. 0 = use only the percentage.
Time report	0 – 255 s	Send the light level at a regular interval, even if it hasn't changed. 0 = never. 20 = every 20 s.
Time deadtime	0 – 255	Minimum quiet time between light reports. 0 = off, otherwise value × 50 ms.

Keep Hysteresis between 0 and 25. The Device manager accepts values up to 100, but values from 26 to 100 must not be used.

---

8. Event filter values

Movement channel

The Event filter tells the sensor which events to send. Each event has a number. Add up the numbers of the events you want.

Event	Number	When it is sent
Occupied	1	The room has just become occupied.
Vacant	2	The room has just become empty (Time hold has run out).
Repeat	4	The current state, repeated every Time report seconds.
Movement	8	Every single movement detected.
No movement	16	Every time movement stops.

Example: Occupied (1) + Vacant (2) + Repeat (4) = 7.

Values you will normally use:

Value	Events	When to use it
3	Occupied + Vacant	Recommended default.
7	Occupied + Vacant + Repeat	When you also want a regular status update.
0	None	The channel stays silent.

Don't use 31 (all events) on a live installation. It sends every single movement and can flood the DALI bus. Use it only for troubleshooting. Values from 32 to 255 are reserved and must not be used.

Full list of values (0 – 31)

Value	Events enabled
0	None – the channel stays silent
1	Occupied
2	Vacant
3	Occupied + Vacant (normal default)
4	Repeat
5	Occupied + Repeat
6	Vacant + Repeat
7	Occupied + Vacant + Repeat (with regular update)
8	Movement
9	Occupied + Movement
10	Vacant + Movement
11	Occupied + Vacant + Movement
12	Repeat + Movement
13	Occupied + Repeat + Movement
14	Vacant + Repeat + Movement
15	Occupied + Vacant + Repeat + Movement
16	No movement
17	Occupied + No movement
18	Vacant + No movement
19	Occupied + Vacant + No movement
20	Repeat + No movement
21	Occupied + Repeat + No movement
22	Vacant + Repeat + No movement
23	Occupied + Vacant + Repeat + No movement
24	Movement + No movement
25	Occupied + Movement + No movement
26	Vacant + Movement + No movement
27	Occupied + Vacant + Movement + No movement
28	Repeat + Movement + No movement
29	Occupied + Repeat + Movement + No movement
30	Vacant + Repeat + Movement + No movement
31	All events – troubleshooting only, heavy bus traffic

Light channel

Value	What happens
0	The channel sends nothing.
1	Sends the light level. Always use this.

Event filter = 0 only stops the events; the channel is still on. To switch a channel off completely, set Instance flags = 0.

---

9. Reading the values in the monitor

Movement channel (Ocupanci-IN)

The channel shows one number that describes the whole state. The quick way to read it:

You see	Meaning
10, 11, 14, 15	Occupied
8, 12	Vacant
0	No event received yet since the central unit started

What each value means in detail

Value	Meaning
0	No event received yet since the central unit started.
8	Vacant, no movement.
9	Vacant with movement (should not normally happen).
10	Occupied, no movement right now.
11	Occupied, movement right now.
12	Vacant, no movement – regular repeat of the state.
13	Vacant with movement – regular repeat (should not normally happen).
14	Occupied, no movement – regular repeat.
15	Occupied with movement – regular repeat.

Why do the values start at 8? The sensors report themselves as movement sensors, which adds 8 to every value.

Repeat values (12 – 15) are just a reminder of the current state, not a change. They don't change occupancy, so your lights should not flicker when a repeat arrives.

Presence sensors (which detect occupancy directly instead of from movement) use the same values without the 8, so they show 0 – 7. For a presence sensor, 0 can also mean "vacant".

Light channel (Light-IN)

The monitor shows the brightness as a number from 0.00 (dark) to 655.35 (the sensor's raw value 0 – 65535, divided by 100).

This value is not in lux. A higher number simply means more light on that sensor. Find the switching thresholds you need by testing on site, and don't copy them to a different sensor model.

Sensor health (State-IN)

0 means everything is fine. If there is a problem, the value tells you what it is. If several problems are active at the same time, their numbers are added together.

Value	Meaning
0	Everything is fine.
1	Error inside the sensor.
2	Quiescent mode – the sensor is deliberately silent.
4	The sensor has no address.
8	The sensor's own application controller is on.
16	Error in the sensor's application controller.
32	The sensor was powered off and on again.
64	The sensor is in its reset state.

Example: 33 = 1 (sensor error) + 32 (power cycle).

---

10. Good to know

Settings are sent when the project starts. The central unit writes the parameters to the sensors at startup, not from the DALI-2 manager. After you change a parameter, compile and upload the project.

The sensor's own application controller is switched off. Many DALI-2 sensors can switch lights by themselves. The central unit turns this off so that iNELS stays in control. If you need it, switch it back on in the DALI-2 manager with the Application controller checkbox in the device details.

---

11. Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
A channel always shows 0	In the DALI-2 manager, select the device and press Read params. Event scheme must be 2, and Event filter must be what you set.
Event scheme is 0	The sensor refused the setting, so its events can't be matched to it.
A channel never reports anything	Check that Instance number matches the # number in the DALI-2 manager, and Instance flags = 1.
The sensor doesn't respond at all	Check that the DALI-2-Unit address matches the device number in the DALI-2 manager.
The sensor isn't found by Search	It has no address yet. Use Add new (or New DALI on a first installation).
A red ! next to a sensor	Address problem, for example two sensors with the same address. Delete address, then Add new.
Lights switch without iNELS	The sensor's application controller is on. Check State-IN (value 8) and turn it off in the DALI-2 manager.
The DALI bus is slow or overloaded	Check that no sensor uses Event filter 31, and that Time report isn't set too short.
Changes have no effect	Compile and upload the project – parameters are applied only at startup.