Patent ID: 7675195

Claim:
A load control system for controlling the amount of power delivered to a plurality of electrical loads from an AC power source, the system comprising: a plurality of link power supply devices, each link power supply device including first and second communication ports, and an internal power supply for receiving a supply voltage and for generating a link voltage; a plurality of device communication links, each coupled to the first communication port of one of the plurality of link power supply devices; a plurality of control devices, each coupled to one of the plurality of device communication links, the link voltages of the link power supplies provided on the device communication links, such that the control devices are operable to draw current from the link power supply devices, the control devices operable to transmit and receive first digital messages between each other via the device communication links; and a repeater communication link coupled to the second communication port of each of the link power supply devices, the link power supply devices each operable to receive the first digital messages via the first communication port and to subsequently transmit second digital messages on the repeater communication link via the second communication port, the second digital messages substantially the same as the first digital messages; wherein no control devices are coupled to the repeater communication link, such that no control devices draw current through the repeater communication link.