--- title: "More than 1,000 lighting cabinets since 2021: the Smart Light Controller story" url: "https://maker.wiznet.io/Alan/resellers/more-than-1000-lighting-cabinets-since-2021-the-smart-light-controller-story/" markdown_url: "https://maker.wiznet.io/Alan/resellers/more-than-1000-lighting-cabinets-since-2021-the-smart-light-controller-story/md" type: "VAR: Value-Added Reseller Products" author: "industrial shields" author_url: "https://www.industrialshields.com/blog/arduino-industrial-1/four-years-more-than-300-000-luminaires-the-smart-light-controller-story-681?" editor: "WIZnet" editor_url: "https://maker.wiznet.io/" original_author: "industrial shields" original_url: "https://www.industrialshields.com/blog/arduino-industrial-1/four-years-more-than-300-000-luminaires-the-smart-light-controller-story-681?" published: "2026-10-26" language: "en" likes: 0 views: 4 comments: 0 source: "WIZnet Makers (https://maker.wiznet.io/)" --- # More than 1,000 lighting cabinets since 2021: the Smart Light Controller story > More than 1,000 lighting cabinets since 2021: the Smart Light Controller story Original author: industrial shields (source: https://www.industrialshields.com/blog/arduino-industrial-1/four-years-more-than-300-000-luminaires-the-smart-light-controller-story-681?) ## Article ## How Does Industrial Shields Use W5500-Based PLCs in Smart Street Lighting Control? ![](https://maker.wiznet.io/upload/ckeditor5/08a1d646807f4456ab296a9f75505190.png) ### Overview **Industrial Shields** has developed a Smart Light Controller (SLC19R) for monitoring and controlling public street lighting cabinets. The system combines astronomical lighting schedules, three-phase electrical measurements, relay control, fault detection, and cellular communication in a single industrial control platform. According to Industrial Shields, more than **1,000 lighting cabinets have been connected since March 2021**, with approximately **780 cabinets currently active** across installations for Spanish city councils and provincial governments. An important aspect of this project is its use of the **M-Duino industrial PLC platform** in the initial installations. Industrial Shields' official M-Duino documentation confirms that the PLC family uses the **WIZnet W5500 Ethernet controller**, connected to the Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller through SPI. The lighting system primarily uses GPRS/GSM for remote communication, while the M-Duino hardware provides additional wired Ethernet capability through W5500. This makes the project an example of how W5500-based industrial PLC hardware can support a larger automation architecture involving fieldbus communication, relay outputs, cellular connectivity, and centralized monitoring. --- ### What Problem Does the Smart Street Lighting Controller Solve? ![](https://maker.wiznet.io/upload/ckeditor5/1a30fecf5bce424baecd4df333218861.jpg) Traditional public lighting installations often rely on fixed timers, manual maintenance, and limited monitoring. This creates several challenges for municipalities: - Lights must turn on and off at the correct times throughout the year. - Electrical consumption must be measured accurately. - Failed lighting circuits must be detected quickly. - Unauthorized cabinet access and cable theft must trigger alarms. - Operators need to manage many geographically distributed cabinets. - Lighting schedules must continue working during communication outages. Industrial Shields addresses these requirements with a controller installed directly inside each public lighting cabinet. The controller operates the lighting circuits locally while exchanging operational data with a centralized management platform. Instead of requiring a dedicated concentrator or private radio network, each cabinet uses its own SIM card to communicate over GPRS/GSM. --- ### How Is the System Structured? The Smart Light Controller integrates three main functions: - Lighting circuit control - Electrical measurement and alarm monitoring - Remote communication and management The reference installation includes: - Smart Light Controller SLC19R - Circutor CEM-C21 three-phase network analyzer - 24 VDC power supply - RS-485 connection between the analyzer and controller - Relay outputs connected to lighting contactors - Digital inputs for cabinet and cable monitoring - Integrated GPRS/GSM modem and SIM card - MicroSD card for local data storage The main system architecture is: ```plaintext Three-Phase Electrical Supply | v Circutor CEM-C21 Network Analyzer | RS-485 / Modbus RTU | v Smart Light Controller M-Duino Platform | ATmega2560 MCU | +-----+------+ | | Relay I/O W5500 Ethernet | (PLC hardware) | Lighting Contactors | v Street Lighting Circuits Remote Communication ------------------------------ Smart Light Controller | GPRS / GSM | Central Monitoring Platform | Web / Mobile Interface ``` The architecture separates local automation from remote monitoring. The PLC continues to control the lighting circuits, even when the cellular communication link is temporarily unavailable. --- ### Where Is W5500 Used? The original Smart Light Controller installations were based on Industrial Shields' M-Duino PLC platform. Industrial Shields explicitly identifies W5500 as the Ethernet controller used in its M-Duino family. The official M-Duino 19R+ user manual provides specific implementation details. | Hardware item | Specification | | --- | --- | | PLC | M-Duino 19R+ | | Main MCU | Arduino Mega 2560 / ATmega2560 | | MCU clock | 16 MHz | | Ethernet controller | WIZnet W5500 | | Ethernet interface | 10/100 Mbps | | MCU interface | SPI | | W5500 chip select | Arduino Mega pin 10 | | Ethernet software | Arduino Ethernet-compatible libraries | | PLC power supply | 12–24 VDC | | Installation | DIN rail | This confirms the hardware relationship between the MCU and W5500. The W5500 provides the Ethernet interface, while the ATmega2560 executes the PLC application. The manufacturer documents support for Arduino Ethernet libraries, allowing developers to implement network communication using the existing Arduino software environment. The published street lighting architecture uses GPRS/GSM for communication with the remote management platform. Therefore, W5500 should be understood as the wired Ethernet capability of the M-Duino hardware, rather than the documented cellular communication path. --- ### What Does W5500 Add to the Industrial PLC? W5500 integrates a hardwired TCP/IP stack, Ethernet MAC, and 10/100 Mbps PHY. It communicates with the host microcontroller through SPI. For an industrial PLC based on an ATmega2560, this provides several useful capabilities. #### Ethernet Without a Software TCP/IP Stack The W5500 processes supported TCP/IP functions in hardware. This reduces the need for the application MCU to handle a complete software network stack. The controller can dedicate processing resources to sensor readings, relay logic, equipment control, and other automation functions. #### SPI Integration The M-Duino documentation identifies SPI as the interface between W5500 and the Arduino Mega controller. The Ethernet controller uses Arduino Mega pin 10 as its chip-select signal. This is a practical architecture for adding Ethernet to microcontroller-based industrial hardware without requiring an integrated Ethernet MAC. #### Arduino Software Compatibility Industrial Shields documents compatibility with Arduino Ethernet libraries. This allows developers to implement Ethernet applications using a familiar programming environment. #### Additional Industrial Network Capability The M-Duino platform also supports RS-485, RS-232, and other communication interfaces. W5500 adds an Ethernet interface alongside these industrial communication options. This allows the PLC platform to be used in applications requiring both local field-device communication and wired IP networking. --- ### How Does the Controller Manage Street Lighting? The controller operates lighting circuits using astronomical schedules. Instead of relying only on fixed clock times, it can calculate switching behavior from the sunrise and sunset times of the installation location. The schedule can be adjusted with a configurable time offset. For example, a municipality may choose to activate lighting a few minutes before sunset and switch it off after sunrise. The controller supports: - Astronomical switching schedules - Fixed-time switching - Seasonal or date-based schedules - Remote activation and deactivation - Individual circuit control - Whole-cabinet control - Dimming profiles where supported The lighting circuits are controlled through relay outputs connected to contactors. The relays operate the contactor control circuits rather than directly carrying the full power of the street lighting network. This arrangement is suitable for industrial lighting cabinets containing multiple high-power lighting circuits. --- ### How Does the System Measure Electrical Consumption? The reference cabinet uses a **Circutor CEM-C21 network analyzer**. The analyzer measures electrical quantities for the three-phase supply. The controller obtains these values through RS-485 using Modbus RTU. The measured parameters include: - Voltage - Current - Active power - Power factor The system can monitor these values for each electrical phase. The control platform also maintains historical measurements, including minimum, average, and maximum values. This allows municipalities to understand actual electrical consumption rather than relying only on estimated lighting operating hours. The collected data can support energy audits, fault identification, and decisions about lighting efficiency. --- ### How Are Faults and Security Events Detected? The Smart Light Controller also monitors the condition of the lighting cabinet. Digital inputs are used to detect equipment and security events. Examples include: - Cabinet door opening - Cable theft detection - Phase failure - Tripped electrical protection - Abnormal electrical consumption - Lighting circuit failure When an alarm condition occurs, the controller reports the event to the remote management platform through the cellular communication link. Each input can be assigned a description and an alarm state. This makes it possible for maintenance teams to identify the type of problem and the affected cabinet. The system therefore combines lighting control with electrical monitoring and infrastructure security. --- ### What Happens When the Communication Link Fails? An important part of the design is local operation during network outages. Each lighting cabinet contains its own controller, schedule, and real-time clock. If the GPRS connection is interrupted, the controller continues executing its programmed lighting schedule. Operational data can also be retained locally on a microSD card. According to Industrial Shields, the management platform marks a cabinet as unreachable when no data has been received for **60 minutes**. This design prevents an interrupted cellular connection from automatically disrupting the local lighting schedule. The separation between local automation and remote monitoring is particularly valuable for geographically distributed municipal infrastructure. --- ### How Large Is the Deployment? Industrial Shields reports the following deployment figures for the Smart Light Controller: | Item | Reported information | | --- | --- | | Deployment began | March 2021 | | Lighting cabinets connected | More than 1,000 | | Currently active cabinets | Approximately 780 | | Primary application | Public street lighting | | Deployment region | Spain | | Remote communication | GPRS/GSM | | Cellular connections | One SIM per cabinet | | Local automation | Independent lighting control | | Remote management | Web and mobile platform | The project is a useful example of a distributed industrial automation system deployed across many separate field locations. It also demonstrates that a relatively compact PLC-based architecture can manage lighting schedules, power measurements, security inputs, and remote monitoring within the same controller. --- ### How Has the Hardware Platform Evolved? Industrial Shields explains that the first Smart Light Controller installations used M-Duino PLCs. New deployments use the company's ESP32-based industrial PLC platform. Both families retain the same general industrial automation approach: - DIN rail installation - Relay outputs - Digital and analog inputs - RS-485 communication - Ethernet connectivity - Arduino IDE programming The ESP32 PLC family also uses W5500 for its Ethernet interface, according to Industrial Shields' official technical documentation. In the ESP32 version, the controller uses a dual-core processor running at up to 240 MHz. This allows application tasks and communication tasks to be distributed across the processing resources. The hardware evolution illustrates how an industrial control architecture can move from an ATmega2560-based PLC to an ESP32 platform while retaining similar I/O capabilities and a W5500-based Ethernet interface. --- ### What Applications Can Use This Architecture? The same control approach can be adapted to other distributed industrial systems. Potential applications include: - Public street lighting control - Municipal infrastructure monitoring - Industrial lighting automation - Remote electrical cabinet monitoring - Energy consumption monitoring - Electrical fault and alarm systems - Smart city infrastructure - Outdoor equipment monitoring - Distributed relay controllers - Network-connected industrial I/O systems The core concept is to combine local automation with remote visibility. Field devices continue operating independently, while centralized software provides monitoring, configuration, and maintenance information. --- ### Why Is This a Valuable W5500 Reference? This project is notable because it connects W5500-based PLC hardware to a documented, large-scale industrial application. The street lighting case identifies actual deployment figures, the PLC architecture, communication protocols, and field I/O functions. Separately, Industrial Shields' official hardware documentation identifies W5500 as the Ethernet controller used in the M-Duino family. Together, these sources establish several specific points: - The initial street lighting controllers used M-Duino PLC hardware. - M-Duino PLCs incorporate W5500 for Ethernet connectivity. - The W5500 communicates with the Arduino Mega microcontroller through SPI. - The controller combines Ethernet capability with RS-485, relay outputs, digital inputs, and cellular communication. - The street lighting system has been deployed across more than 1,000 cabinets. This makes the case useful for understanding how W5500 can fit into a broader industrial PLC architecture. It is also important to distinguish hardware capability from application-specific data flow. In the documented street lighting deployment, Modbus RTU over RS-485 is used for electrical measurement, and GPRS/GSM provides the remote connection to the management platform. W5500 supplies the PLC's wired Ethernet interface, but the case study does not describe it as the primary communication path for remote street lighting telemetry. --- ### Conclusion Industrial Shields' Smart Light Controller demonstrates how an industrial PLC can combine lighting automation, electrical measurements, alarm monitoring, and remote communication. The system uses astronomical schedules to control lighting circuits, Modbus RTU to retrieve electrical measurements, and GPRS/GSM to connect each cabinet to a centralized management platform. The initial controller installations were based on the M-Duino PLC family, which uses the **WIZnet W5500 Ethernet controller**. The official hardware documentation confirms that W5500 provides 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and communicates with the Arduino Mega microcontroller through SPI. With more than 1,000 lighting cabinets connected since March 2021, the project provides a documented industrial application in which W5500-based PLC hardware forms part of a field-proven automation platform. It illustrates how embedded Ethernet capability can coexist with industrial fieldbus communication, local control logic, and cellular networking in smart infrastructure systems. --- ### References **Industrial Shields - Smart Street Lighting Controller Case Study** **Industrial Shields - M-Duino 19R+ User Manual** Ethernet section 10.6 - W5500 controller, SPI interface, and Arduino Mega pin 10. **Industrial Shields - M-Duino Features and Communications** **Industrial Shields - ESP32 PLC Features and Communications** --- Source: https://maker.wiznet.io/Alan/resellers/more-than-1000-lighting-cabinets-since-2021-the-smart-light-controller-story/