Patent ID: 7323826

Claim:
A luminaire control system for use with a luminaire having an alternating line current power source comprising: a photosensor system for detecting and outputting signals representative of day and night conditions; a lamp sensor system for detecting and outputting signals representative of lamp on and off conditions; a power control system for providing and interrupting power to a lamp in response to power control signals; a microcontroller system for receiving the signals from the photosensor system and the lamp sensor and for outputting power control signals to the power control system, the microcontroller being programmed to respond to signals from the lamp sensor system indicating a lamp off condition and, in response thereto, to interrupt power to the lamp, and to apply power to restart the lamp only after the expiration of a predefined period of time, the luminaire control system further comprising a signal generation system for providing a signal representative of the alternating line current frequency and a lamp dimming system, wherein the microcontroller is further programmed to operate the power control system to operate the dimming system to change between dim and bright states of the lamp only at a zero voltage crossing system of the line current.