Well,
Let me introduce you to “Jack” the electrician. There are thousands of electricians like Jack
And let me introduce you to “Rupert”. Rupert is a cash-rich, time-poor guy who often needs to put lighting (whether temporary or more permanent) into various buildings that are part of his businesses.
Rupert is terrified of Jack. Jack always overcharges Rupert. When Jack is asked to quote the maximum time a lighting wiring job will take, Jack always takes exactly that time, even if it appears that he could have finished much sooner.
-And Rupert has to sit there “babysitting” Jack whilst Jack works, meaning Rupert’s precious time is taken up. Rupert is worried that Jack might steal something whilst he works in Ruperts properties. Rupert is worried that Jack might notice nice things in Ruperts properties, and maybe Jack will go down the local pub or bar, and tell his mates about the “nice things” that he saw in Rupert’s house….maybe one of Jack’s mates will come and break in to Rupert’s property and steal what Jack told him about. Rupert has expensive jewellery and items in some places in his rooms, and Jack might see such wealth when he comes round to deliver the quotation, and on seeing such wealth, will decide that Rupert can pay a lot of money, and will charge Rupert a lot of money…..Rupert has to spend ages hiding all the jewellery and nice furniture so that Jack doesn’t think he’s too wealthy when he comes round.…..Rupert hasn’t got a clue what Jack’s job involves, and though he pretends as best as he can, he hasn’t a clue whether or not Jack is charging a fair price.
Rupert is rich. –But Rupert doesn’t like being ripped off….that’s partly why he’s rich now.
Mains wiring is dangerous, and Rupert hasn’t a clue how to do it safely. If he tried it himself he could electrocute himself, or somebody else. In many countries, Rupert isn’t even allowed to do mains wiring himself….he must find a “Jack” to do it for him.
But Rupert hasn’t got a clue whether or not Jack has done a job properly, or whether Jack has taken terrible short cuts.
Rupert would like a lighting system that he can put up himself …easily.
Rupert has two choices, since he obviously wishes to start from the mains, or a mains generator…...
1..Mains to 24VDC.
2..Isotera.
If Rupert chooses “Mains to 24VDC”, then he needs to have a 24VDC power hub…..he can then have a long bus with connectors hanging off it every two yards or so……He then has to hope that the connectors will all line up exactly where he wants the lights to go………also, some of the connectors may not be used, and will be open contacts into which dirt and grime can collect…and water can get in and short the bus out, meaning that all the lights go out.
So, instead Rupert can choose “Mains to 24VDC” and have a 24VDC power hub, with say ten paralleled connectors on its output……each connector will need strain relief….that’s a nuisance , because Rupert doesn’t know what “Strain Relief” is (isn’t that what happens when he takes one of the secretaries out for dinner?)
Rupert doesn’t want to know what “strain relief “ is.
Once Rupert spent hours reading about “connectors”, and “series connection” , “parallel connection”, “strain relief”, “wire gauges”, “Voltage” , “current” etc etc…but two weeks later, he had forgotten all of what he read. He won’t bother trying again.
So anyway, with the ten or so paralleled output connectors and the 24VDC. He has to take wires from each connector to each lamp……so its “star connection”, and involves a lot of wire……..its thick wire too because at such a low voltage, the current is relatively high. When he’s finished with all the lengths of wire, he probably can’t re-use them because they won’t be the right size for the next job…..different wire lengths will need to be cut, and connectors etc will need connecting to each new wire length. Rupert hates “connectors”…there are millions of them….and each have such confusing specs.
With isotera, Rupert can re-use the bus. He can “clip” lights to anywhere along the bus, and needs no connectors.
All in all, the isotera system is Ruperts best choice.
Sometimes the isotera ibus may not be quite long enough to go where every single lamp is needed, but for those few cases he can always have a few lengths of wire from the icoupler to the lamp, and do a bit of “stretching” there…..nothing too complex.
There is a connector on the output of the icoupler……but its not like one of the ten connectors at the output of the 24vdc power hub that needs strain relief etc etc…..in fact, Rupert need never disconnect that connector if he so chooses.
Please be aware that not all the general public have the knowledge of the readers of this post. Some are down right confused by wires and connectors, etc etc.
These people want isotera…..but probably don’t even know it exists.
Jack will not tell Rupert about isotera…..i wonder why?