Glossary
Installers and homeowners often use different words for the same thing. Here is both, in plain English.
- 110V household power
- Standard household electrical power, used as the input for the system’s control and power equipment.
- 24V lighting
- The low-voltage power the Minleon Pebble lighting runs on. Substantially below household line voltage.
- Architectural lighting
- Lighting meant to emphasize the shape or features of a building rather than function purely as seasonal decoration.
- Brightness control
- The ability to raise or lower light output. Matters both aesthetically and in neighborhoods with expectations about exterior lighting.
- C9
- The traditional larger Christmas bulb style used along rooflines. When we say "C9 appearance" we mean the classic spaced points-of-light look, not the bulb itself.
- Color matching
- Selecting or painting track so it blends with your trim, fascia, gutter or soffit. This is most of what determines daytime appearance.
- Control box
- The enclosure holding the system’s power and control components. Plugs into a standard outlet.
- Controller
- The electronics that tell addressable lights what colors and effects to display.
- Dimming
- Reducing output. See brightness control.
- Drip edge
- Roof-edge flashing that directs water away from the structure. Also a useful architectural reference point for certain installations.
- Effect
- An animated lighting behavior — movement, chasing, transitions, color changes.
- Fascia
- The finished board or trim running along the edge of a roof.
- Front-facing roofline
- The roof edges most visible from the street. Usually the priority in a lighting design, and often all a house needs.
- Gutter line
- The horizontal roof edge where the gutter system runs.
- HOA
- Homeowners association. Rules on permanent exterior lighting vary by community — check yours rather than assuming.
- Jump / spacer cable
- A non-illuminated cable connecting two lit sections while keeping the space between them dark. This is how a system skips areas that should not have lights.
- Low voltage
- Electrical operation well below standard household line voltage.
- Modular strand
- A section of lights that connects to compatible sections and comes in different lengths, so the layout fits the actual architecture.
- Permanent holiday lighting
- A lighting system mounted to the home year-round and configured electronically for holidays, events and other uses.
- Pebble light
- Minleon’s compact permanent-light module — the individual light in the system we install.
- Pixel
- An individually controllable light within an addressable system.
- Pixel Dancer
- The app Minleon currently specifies for controlling its WEC3 platform.
- Power injection
- Adding power further into a long run when the electrical load exceeds what the original feed point can supply.
- RGB
- Red, green and blue channels combined to produce many colors.
- RGBW
- RGB plus a dedicated white component — so the system can produce a true white rather than approximating it.
- Roofline
- The visible edges and contours of a roof.
- Schedule
- A programmed instruction that turns lighting on or off, or changes it, by time.
- Soffit
- The finished underside of a roof overhang.
- Strand
- A connected section containing multiple lights.
- Track
- The mounting channel that positions the lighting and conceals its wiring. Available in white, brown, black, gray and sand.
- Track cover
- The trim installed between lights to hide wire and finish the appearance. Skipping this step is why some installations look like stapled wire.
- Transition
- The point where lighting moves from one architectural section to another. Handled well or badly, it is very visible.
- Warm white
- The warmer white associated with classic incandescent Christmas lighting.
- WEC3
- The Minleon controller platform used to run compatible permanent-lighting systems.
- Wi-Fi controller
- A controller that communicates over your network to provide app-based control.
