Abstract: A wall-mountable electrical timer for controlling the delivery of power from an AC power source to an electrical load, such as a lamp or a fan motor, includes: a timer adjustment actuator for selecting a predetermined time period of operation for the load; a toggle actuator for starting the timer, turning off the timer, and placing the timer in a bypass mode of operation; a vertical linear array of light-emitting diode visual indicators for indicating the length of a predetermined time period, the time remaining, and whether the timer is in the bypass mode; a controllably conductive device for regulating the delivery of power from the AC source to the load; and a controller for receiving inputs from the timer adjustment actuator and the toggle actuator, and for transmitting outputs to the visual indicators and the controllably conductive device.

Abstract: An electronic dimming ballast comprises a filament turn-off circuit for controlling the magnitudes of filament voltages supplied to the filaments of a gas discharge lamp. Each of a plurality of filament windings is directly coupled to one of the filaments and is operable to supply a small AC filament voltage to the filaments. The plurality of filament windings and a control winding are loosely magnetically coupled to a resonant inductor of an output circuit of the ballast. A controllably conductive device is coupled across the control winding. When the controllably conductive device is conductive, the voltage across the control winding and the filament windings falls to zero volts. The controllably conductive device is driven with a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal so as to control the magnitudes of the filament voltages. The filament voltages are provided to the filaments before striking the lamp, and when dimming the lamp near low end.

Abstract: A method of controlling a motorized window treatment provides for continued operation of the motorized window treatment during an overload or low-line condition. The motorized window treatment is driven by an electronic drive unit having a motor, a motor drive circuit, and a controller. The controller controls the motor drive circuit to drive the motor with a pulse-width modulated signal generated from a bus voltage. The controller is operable to monitor the magnitude of the bus voltage. If the bus voltage drops below a first voltage threshold, the controller stops the motor or reduces the duty cycle of the pulse-width modulated signal to allow the bus voltage to increase to an acceptable magnitude. When the bus voltage rises above a second voltage threshold, the controller begins driving the motor normally once again. During an overload or low-line condition, the controller is prevented from resetting, while driving the motor with minimal interruption to the movement of the motorized window treatment.

Abstract: An electronic ballast for driving a gas discharge lamp includes a rectifier to convert an AC mains input voltage to a rectified voltage, a filter circuit for producing a DC bus voltage, an inverter for converting the bus voltage to a high-frequency AC voltage for driving the lamp, an output circuit for supplying an essentially sinusoidal voltage to the lamp, a control circuit for controlling the inverter, and a flyback cat-ear power supply for powering the control circuit. The power supply supplies current to the inverter when the rectified voltage is less than a predetermined level, and draws current only when the inverter is not drawing current directly from the AC mains, so as to make the input current to the ballast substantially sinusoidal. The ballast thus has substantially improved power factor and THD, and operates more efficiently.

Abstract: A pleated roller shade system allows a thin flexible shade fabric, such as, for example, silk, to be wrapped around a roller tube. The system comprises a pleating bar mounted parallel to the roller tube and having a fabric-receiving opening that defines, for example, a serpentine path. The shade fabric is received through the fabric-receiving opening and is folded by the pleating bar, such that the shade fabric is wrapped around the roller tube in folds as the roller tube rotates. The shade fabric is neatly wrapped around the roller tube (i.e., bunching of the shade fabric is avoided) and is stored out-of-sight when rolled up.

Abstract: A lighting control system is operable to be coupled to a security system and is pre-programmed such that the control devices of the lighting control system behave out-of-box in a predetermined manner in response to the security system. The lighting control system comprises a contact closure input that is operable to be simultaneously coupled to both a momentary contact closure output and a maintained contact closure output of the security system. Preferably, the lighting control system enters a first mode of operation when the contact closure input detects a closure, enters a second mode of operation if the contact closure input continues to detect the closure after a predetermined amount of time, and enters a third mode of operation if the contact closure input no longer closed. Accordingly, the lighting control system is responsive to either the momentary contact closure output or the maintained contact closure output.

Abstract: A load control system is operable to control the amount of power delivered to a plurality of electrical loads from an AC power source. The load control system includes a plurality of keypads, which each may include a different button assembly having a different button configuration. Each keypad is operable to determine the button configuration of the button assembly installed on the keypad in response to simultaneous actuations of the top button and the bottom button of the button assembly for a predetermined amount of time. Each keypad is further operable to store in a memory of the keypad data representing the button configuration. Therefore, after the keypad is installed in the field and the button assembly is replaced, the keypad can be easily configured to operate with the new button assembly.