Category: Products

Products Technical
Smarter, Stronger, Faster
Introducing an all-new, completely re-designed bar hanger system that makes installation simpler and saggy trims a thing of the past
August 11, 2021

At DMF, we pride ourselves on engineering and improving every aspect of the fixture. From lighting performance to ease of maintenance and everything in between, this philosophy permeates every aspect of our design.

Our latest innovation is a completely re-designed bar hanger system. An often neglected aspect of lighting fixtures, bar hangers have remained largely unchained — but we spoke with the top electrical engineers in the country to discuss common issues they experience when installing housings. We took this information and re-thought every aspect of the bar hangers.

The result, an all-new bar hanger system that’s sturdier, simpler to install and more compatible than ever.

Eliminate Sag

The first thing you’ll notice about the new bar hangers is that it eliminates the traditional four independent connecting ends. Instead, we engineered a cross brace that connects the ends of the two bars, essentially turning them into one rigid unit. The bar hanger system is so strong it can even provide structural stability with just one side mounted in with a single screw.

Stability is increased further by a completely re-designed railing, which utilizes an innovative S-shaped interlocking system that increases the surface area of where the sliding rails meet. This increased strength results in bar hangers that lock tighter and won’t shift, preventing against trim sag even when fully extended to 24″.

The new bar hanger system can withstand weights of 200 pounds

And combining the new bar hangers with our signature adjustable housing depth and secure Twist and Lock Technology, flush trim installations become easier and light has nowhere to escape.

Work smarter

The new bar hanger system features a host of unique updates that make installation faster and easier. Here is everything, big and small, that makes them easier to mount.

  • Reinforced bar hangers can hold the entire housing in place after just one mounting point so the contractor no longer has to hold the housing while mounting four separate ends
  • Fewer mounting points — the entire bar hanger system can install with as few as two screws or nails

  • Pre-installed screws replace the previously included nails for quicker installs

  • Angled Locking Screw allows for easy tightening from below the housing

Installs Anywhere

Not only are the bar hangers more stable and easier to install, they’re also compatible with more applications. The cross brace features a re-designed ledge and nine different mounting points for installation in any of the following:

  • Hat channel
  • T-bar
  • C-channel
  • Laminated Wood
  • Quick-Span
  • I-Beam
  • Standard Joist
  • Concrete Pour Application

 

Always Evolving

Re-thinking every detail of  the bar hangers may sound excessive. And some of the updates may sound minor, but it’s this attention to detail that drives DMF Lighting to continue to innovate — even in areas you may never have considered.

The new bar hangers are available now for the DRD Series with all non-classic DMF housings, including the OneFrame and SquareFrame.

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Products
Put to the Test
The DRD Series underwent rigorous testing to ensure optimal performance in any environment
June 24, 2021

To ensure the next generation DRD Series stands up to the challenges of even the most extreme environments, we put it to the test. The modules endured hundreds of surge spikes and continuously ran in ambient environments of excessive temperatures. This high level of stress tests ensures maximum reliability.

 

Passing with Flying Colors

A combination of third party and in-house labs conducted the testing. No matter where it was done, the results were the same. The DRD Series passed with no hiccups or lumen degradation — exceeding the LM-84 standard.

  • Elevated ambient operation at 80°C (176°F) for over 700 hours
  • Thermal cycled between -10°C to 80°C (14°F to 176°F)
  • Extended operation at high levels of humidity
  • Power cycled over 10,000 times at voltage extremes 100VAC and 300VAC
  • Lightning strike immunity per IEC 61000-4-5 Class 3

 

Bulletproof Design and Reliability

How did DMF achieve such reliable results? By controlling nearly every aspect of the module. Our in-house team of engineers designed the components to ensure flawless integration and optimal performance.

Learn more about the DRD Series.

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Products
The Next Generation of Upgrades
Everything that's changed in the new DRD2
June 16, 2021

Here’s a breakdown of all the major updates and enhancements for the next generation DRD2 Fixed Downlight.

The O1 Driver: Integrated 0-10V Dimming

Engineered in-house specifically for the next generation DRD Series, our O1 Driver provides the DRD downlights with smooth, flicker-free 0-10V dimming, fully integrated into the LED module. Combined with our T2 triac/ELV driver, our new drivers make design, installation, and maintenance simpler than ever.

 

Precise Control, Ultimate Flexibility

The next generation DRD Series is engineered for ultimate flexibility. Select from a host of new optics ranging from 15 to 90+ degrees to ensure the ideal light distribution for any space. These tool-free, field-changeable optics easily handle any design changes, even post-installation.

 

Brilliant performance

The DRD2 increases its illumination without sacrificing stellar efficiency or color rendering performance. The new 1250 lm option allows the DRD Series to conquer even more lighting specs, including higher ceilings and detailed work areas.

Learn more about the DRD Series.

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Products
It's What's Inside That Counts
Say goodbye to remote mounted drivers and hello to a fully integrated solution
June 14, 2021

Engineered in-house specifically for the next generation DRD Series, our O1 Driver provides the DRD downlights with smooth, flicker-free 0-10V dimming, fully integrated into the LED module. This high-performance solution in a compact form factor simplifies design, installation, and maintenance.

 

Things Change

Projects change and evolve at every stage. Traditionally, the light fixture’s 0-10V driver sits on a shelf on the housing. With other manufacturers, once housings are installed, lumen package and dimming protocol are locked in. Ripping open the ceiling and completely replacing the fixture may be required to make design changes.

Our DRD modules, with either the integrated O1 0-10V or T2 triac/ELV driver, make change orders a breeze. Because the driver lives inside the module’s heat sink, and is not remotely mounted, all changes can be done from below the ceiling plane. Install either our round OneFrame or SquareFrame housing at rough-in, and determine your dimming protocol, lumen package and beam angles later.

 

Mis-Orders Happen

Perhaps TRIAC/ELV was ordered when a 0-10V solution was truly needed. Because the driver is fully integrated into the module, the dimming type and lumen package are not determined by the housing. Swapping between triac/ELV and 0-10V is as simple as changing a light bulb. With quick connects used in both dimming types, this solution truly is plug and play.

Once installed, any maintenance to the driver or the fixture is done from below the ceiling plane. No need to rip open the ceiling, fish for the driver, replace the complete fixture, patch or paint. If the fixture needs to be replaced, simply twist and unlock the trim, unscrew two Philips Head screws, unplug the module and make the swap.

The DRD Series covers 98% of downlight use cases in one product family with either the O1 0-10V  or T2 triac/ELV driver, fixed or adjustable module, tool-free field-changeable beam angles from 15° to 90°+ and 750, 1000 or 1250 lumen options.

No matter the project stage, the modularity of the next generation DRD Series and DMF designed integrated drivers simplifies specification, installation and maintenance.

The O1 and T2 Drivers are available in our next generation DRD2 Fixed and DRD4 Adjustable Downlights.

Learn more about the DRD Series.

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Insights Products Technical
Introducing the DRD Series
DMF’s next generation DRD Series modular downlighting system now hits every lighting spec you may come across
June 7, 2021

We’ve stayed up for hours, so you don’t have to

The next generation DRD Series is engineered for ultimate flexibility. Write fixture schedules with ease using a single housing. This versatile solution can keep up with the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of your projects.

A single family can support 98% of downlighting use cases.

  • Fixed, adjustable, or wall wash downlighting
  • 750 to 1250 lumen output
  • Field-changeable beam angles from 15 to 90+ degrees
  • Integrated 1% dimming with TRIAC/ELV or 0-10V
  • A range of color temperatures including Warm Dim

Learn more about the DRD Series

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Insights News Products Technical
Gold Standard
DMF Lighting’s award-winning DCD Series recognized again for its lighting performance, flexibility and innovation
January 8, 2021

2020 PIA Award Winner

The DCD Series follows up its 2020 LFI Innovation Award with another prestigious accolade, a 2020 Product Innovation Award.

Now in their tenth year, the PIA celebrates the latest advancements and achievements in lighting. Presented by Architectural SSL, the judging panel recognized the DCD Series in the Downlight category, praising how it simplifies the installation process with its breadth of modular features.

 

JUDGES’ COMMENT:
“Finally! A downlight for all applications. A designer’s dream come true. Love the ‘one-stop shopping’ mentality for creating this design sensitive fixture. I really appreciate the flexibility, (spot lights, wide angles, etc.) within the same housing. From the design aesthetics point of view, it allows for consistent and uniform grid of downlights while they can have different functions. And options for changing the type of heads without removing the entire fixture is definitely an added bonus and adds flexibility if the space changes.”

Modular Downlight

The DCD Series downlighting system is flexible enough to illuminate your whole project with a broad range of light and aesthetics options, all with just one housing. Select from either a General or Adjustable module, and pair it with a beautifully finished trim to create exactly the results you’re looking for. The DCD Series makes it all simple with precision-crafted, inter-operable components.

The DCD Series is literally whatever you want it to be, as its flexibility radically simplifies configuration in the field. With just one housing type, it allows for adjustment of beam angles; increased light output; driver service—all without tools.

 

Learn more about the award winning DCD Series Higher Lumen Downlight.

Architectural SSL Magazine, November – December 2020

 

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Products
DRD5 Top 5
Top five reasons why the DRD5S Surface Mount produces superior lighting
November 5, 2020

With a bezel-less design, ultra-thin form factor and durable finish, the DRD5S is striking yet affordable for even the most budget conscious builder. It matches the aesthetic of a high-end recessed downlight while retaining the economy of a surface mount.

But make no mistake, the DRD5S is not all about looks. It produces class-leading exceptional lighting as well. Here are the top five reasons why the DRD5S outperforms other surface mount LEDs.

 

1) Uniform Illumination

Featuring a precisely optimized array of over 100 LEDs, the backlit DRD5S delivers smooth, uniform illumination with no visible fasteners. The LEDs are expertly engineered to evenly illuminate the specialized lens edge-to-edge, leaving no hint of hot or dark spots to distract the eye.

 

2) Reduced Glare

Since the light source is completely visible for all surface mounts, they are susceptible to producing a large amount of glare that detracts from the rest of the room. The DRD5S combats this with a specialized lens that transmits clear, consistent light with a subtle diffusion to minimize glare even at full light output.

 

3) Accurate Color Representation

With a 90+ CRI rating, the DRD5S matches the color rendering capabilities of most premium recessed downlights. This ensures a more accurate color representation so objects don’t appear to be a different shade during day and night.

 

4) Smooth Dimming

Compatible with either TRIAC/ELV or 0-10V dimming controls, the DRD5S is powered by DMF’s proprietary driver. It provides flicker-free, smooth dimming down to 1% light output.

 

5) Disappears Into the Ceiling

The primary function of any surface mount is to mimic more expensive recessed fixtures, blending into its surface to create a “quiet ceiling”. While others are close, the DRD5S excels at this through its combination of glare mitigation, uniform illumination, bezel-less design and slimmest in class design. It’s truly in a class of its own with a disappearing act that leaves the competition behind.

 

 

DMF designs products that perform beautifully and are intuitively simple. The DRD5S epitomizes this, offering incredible lighting capabilities at an unbeatable price point. That’s because we understand that light is more than illumination; light is what makes a space beautiful, useful, and, ultimately, enjoyable.

Learn more about the DRD5S Surface Mount LED.

 

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Products
Product Training: DID Series
Learn about the all-new downlighting system engineered exclusively for custom integrators
October 13, 2020

Next up in our continuing series of expert-hosted video training, the recently announced DID Series — the light designed to evolve with your every need.

Available in limited supply this winter, every element of the DID Series is engineered to be interchangeable in the field. Our signature modular design allows the DID to adapt to changing homeowner preferences, future room designs, even retrofits. 

It’s also our best performing fixture ever and designed exclusively for home integrators.

DID Series Training

Go to our training page and use the Custom Webinar form to request a training session.

 

 

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Insights Products
Creating Layered Light with DMF's Modular System
Each DMF LED module is specially designed to play a different role in illuminating a space
August 4, 2020

Properly lighting a room requires more than just picking a few bulbs to screw in. Of course, using any general light bulb will sufficiently illuminate an area so you can see. But what if you want to highlight an accent wall? Or need an area to relax or work? That requires lighting design. And today, lighting design lives in three distinct layers: Ambient, Task, and Accent Lighting. All three of which can be achieved using a combination of versatile DMF downlights.

DRD2: Ambient Lighting

Also called General Lighting, the ambient layer provides the illumination required for occupants to see the space in its entirety. Most often, this layer is constructed through recessed downlighting and the DRD2 excels at it. With it’s wide beam angle and shadow-less illumination, the DRD2 makes spaces feel secure and inviting.

DRD2X: Task Lighting

Once the ambient layer sufficiently illuminates the space, use the task layer to enhance function of specific areas. In an office, this might be the desk workspace. In a kitchen, task lighting illuminates cooking surfaces or countertops. This requires a light source with a high center beam candlepower value, like the Apex Series DRD2X. Plus, its controlled optics produce tighter beamer angles, making it a great spotlight over surfaces like work tables.

For higher ceilings, the DCC Cylinder, which suspends from the ceiling, is another option for ensuring the light is focused and makes it to the desired surface.

With both the ambient and task layer in place, any room should be fully functional for its intended purpose. The final layer will take the functional bases of the ambient and task layers and add artistry and style.

DRD4: Accent Lighting

The accent layer adds a decorative finish by complimenting the other two layers and highlighting architectural features like columns, floral arrangements, and wall art. This layer is the most subjective of the three but offers the most opportunity for artistic influence. A great lighting designer can use the accent layer to blend the other two and tie the space together.

The natural fit in this layer is the DRD4 Adjustable Downlight, which pivots smoothly and locks in place to perfectly illuminate the features of the room.

Tying it All Together

Depending on the usage of the space, a room’s lighting needs may change throughout the day. To achieve this, lighting layers must work in conjunction with each other, but also independently of one another.

Lights off and shades up in the middle of the day. Task lighting at the work station in the late afternoon. Dimmed ambient lighting with contrast accent lighting to relax in the evening. You can automate all these settings with a keypad control, creating different scenes and a room with multiple zones of light at different light levels.

Modular Lighting

Laying out a space with different light sources in different areas to achieve unique lighting effects while interfacing with a specific control system may seem like a daunting proposition, but DMF’s award winning modular systems are up to the task. Compatible with three LED modules, each interchangeable during and after installation, allows your lighting to easily adapt to changing owner preferences and future room redesigns.

Modular lighting reaffirm our commitment to designing products that perform beautifully and are intuitively simple.

Learn more about the benefits of modular lighting.

 

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Products Technical
Q&A: DCD Series
We spoke with Amir Lotfi, Mechanical Engineering Manager at DMF Lighting, about his team and how they designed the award winning Higher-Lumen Downlight
June 9, 2020

Recognized for its robust lighting capabilities within a modular system, the DCD Series was named the 2020 Lightfair Innovation Award Category Winner for Recessed Downlights, Wall Washers and Multiples. DMF is proud to have the DCD continue our tradition of designing award winning products and spoke with Amir to learn more about working at DMF and the innovation that went into designing the DCD Series.


Describe what you do here at DMF.
The product development process at DMF has a few different sides to it. One part is the mechanical, another side is electrical, and we have optical systems too. And at the end of the day, all these parts need to come together to become a product. My main task at DMF is really to bring this whole development process together.

So what’s your favorite part of bringing it all together?
The most joyful moment of the product development process comes toward the end. When you have the product in your hand, and you see the iterations from where you started. Once you get to the point of when you can show it to people, show how it performs and behaves in different situations and environments and ultimately, how it’s superior to other products.


What gets you excited about what you do?
During the product development process, what gets you excited on almost a daily basis is when you work on a specific challenge and you start looking at the issues you have on hand. You do these brain storming sessions and then you create prototypes. We’re creating prototypes on a daily basis. The results you can basically see, how step-by-step you’re making it better and better every day. At some point, you make the decision to show it to a broader audience and from that point on, you feel that this unknown challenge you’ve had at the beginning has been solved. That’s what really gets people excited.


Explain what DMF is trying to achieve with their new products.
The way that I see it, DMF is a company that wants to be number one in downlighting. And what that really means is that it doesn’t matter where you start, residential type of construction all the way to commercial, it could be multi-family, every different type of scenario. We want our products to be the number one option people choose. And that can be tricky because a lot of people look at lighting differently. Some people look at the price, some at quality, and some at performance. For us, we try hit all three.  That’s how we want to win in the market, by becoming number one in all three aspects. From quality to how we price the product and ultimately the performance.

What makes DMF products unique in the industry?
How easy and interchangeable and modular our products are. They give different customers different tools. From the contractor to the lighting designer or even the homeowner, people work with our products differently. How easy it is to swap out different products, how easy it is to maintain our products, and how reliable and durable our products are. This is how we make our products unique, and it’s standard across the board in all our products.

Tell us about the engineering team at DMF.
We’re basically a combination of different talents from different industries with multiple different disciplines. We have people from the auto industry, from Aerospace, from the medical industry, and of course lighting. Having all these different backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets really contributes to our product innovation and is unique to DMF.


What drives product development at DMF?
We look to address needs in the market. We normally start the product development process from the perspective of the customers. So you have to do a lot of interviews, talk to people and try to determine where existing products cannot answer their needs. Where do you have issues? Performance? Installation? You have to talk to different groups too. You don’t only focus on the lighting designer and architect. You also go out and talk to the homeowners, the builders, and the contractors. We gather all the pain points from these different groups and design our products to address them.

Is that how the DCD started?
Yes, we discovered that in a commercial application, even though a lot of the planning is done in advanced, there’s always changes. And any changes that occur towards the end of the project are very costly. We set out to design a commercial product that can adapt to those changes. Changing the product had to be easy and the installation had to be forgiving.

“That’s why everything is modular,
simple, and tool-free.”

Once you put it in the ceiling, everything after that point is tool-free. You can swap out modules. Swap out optics. Swap out trims. All by hand. Nearly every piece of this product family is interchangeable.

What were the challenges in achieving that?
Designing a housing that can accommodate both a downlight and adjustable. When you look at other adjustable commercial housings on the market, they have a frame in the ceiling that’s already set for an adjustable. There are a number of structures inside the frame that are needed to hold their adjustable light, so you lose that adaptability.

But not only that, adjustables often have issue with light leakage. That’s why a lot of competitors use a “shoe box” where they put everything in a big box. But the whole system becomes very clunky hard to install. It will interfere with the ceiling insulation, joists, HVAC system.

“We wanted to make sure
everything is minimized and
compacted into a smaller space.”

Combining those requirements of a universal frame and a system that works in a small space were the biggest obstacles. That’s what led us to designing the cold-fused light shield.

Finally, what do you love most about the DCD Series?
It all comes down to performance. We wanted to make sure the DCD is spec grade. There’s a minimum cut off angle you want to hit in order to achieve a quiet ceiling, where you can’t see the light until you are under it. You usually lose a lot of light with this, so it’s important in balancing the recessed depth of the product while at the same time meeting ENERGY STAR efficiency requirements and higher-lumen performance.

We believe we did just that. We were able to basically hit every important aspect you would want from a lighting system in one product.

 

Learn more about the DCD Series series.

 

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