Casambi: Wireless and Hybrid Lighting Control for Retrofit Projects
Casambi builds a self-healing Bluetooth mesh into the lighting itself, with no hub needed. It suits retrofits, and it also connects to wired DALI, DMX and SPI systems and to building management systems.
17 October 2026 · 3 min read
Authorised partner · South India
STech Automation is an authorised Casambi integration partner for South India.
We design, integrate and commission Casambi lighting control for homes, hotels and commercial spaces, including hybrid projects that combine wireless Casambi with wired DALI, DMX and building management systems.
Wireless lighting control has come a long way from early proprietary radio systems and from protocols such as Zigbee, Z-Wave and Wi-Fi. Casambi is a Bluetooth-based system that has become a premium choice for wireless lighting, in retrofit projects and new builds alike.
Illustration: Casambi wireless smart lighting, with mood lighting and scenes, circadian rhythm, daylight harvesting, and app and keypad control.
At a glance
Platform: Casambi, on a Bluetooth Low Energy mesh
Network size: Up to 250 devices (Evolution firmware)
Suited to: Retrofit and new construction
Control: Casambi app and wall keypads
How wireless lighting control evolved
Early proprietary RF systems were closed ecosystems, with poor interoperability and limited ability to scale.
Wi-Fi is power-hungry and relies on a router, which can become a bottleneck when many lights are connected. It was also not designed as a mesh for dense lighting grids.
Zigbee and Z-Wave are popular, but they typically rely on a central coordinator, and larger networks have historically been harder to commission and scale.
Casambi builds on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to avoid these limits. Its mesh is designed specifically for lighting and has no single point of failure, which makes complex lighting automation smooth and reliable. Casambi's founders previously worked at Nokia Research Center, where Bluetooth Low Energy was developed.
What makes Casambi stand out
True mesh. Every device communicates directly with its neighbours. Messages are optimised for lighting, so scenes stay synchronised, and traffic reroutes itself if a device goes offline.
High capacity and speed. A single network supports up to 250 devices with the Evolution firmware (127 on the older Classic firmware), keeping lighting commands synchronised across large spaces.
Building management and IoT integration. Through gateways, Casambi connects to building management systems using KNX, BACnet, Modbus and MQTT, so lighting can become part of a wider smart-building setup.
Wired protocol compatibility. Casambi offers DALI, DMX and SPI controllers, so traditional wired lighting and advanced pixel-control fixtures can join the wireless network.
A versatile range of keypads. Battery-operated wireless switches and 230 V wall keypads give flexible choices for both retrofit and new construction.
No hub, smartphone-centred setup. There is no dedicated hub or central controller. Casambi uses the Bluetooth chip in every modern smartphone and tablet, and devices communicate directly with each other, so the system works day to day without an internet connection.
Strong security. Data is encrypted using industry-standard methods, and access is protected by multi-level authentication.
Illustration: lights in a Casambi mesh pass messages to their neighbours, so the network keeps working if one device drops out.
A premium lighting and home automation experience
Casambi follows a distributed architecture, which makes it a natural fit for retrofit projects: wireless control means there is no need to run new control cables to every light. Because it also supports wired protocols such as DALI, DMX and SPI, it works as a hybrid home automation solution, with wired and wireless parts in one system.
A DALI bus linking a controller to several Casambi wireless mesh networks. Image source: Casambi.Casambi Salvador DALI gateway wired to DALI drivers in two bus layouts. Always follow the DALI wiring specification and the allowed bus topologies. Image source: Casambi.
Casambi fully supports the lighting automation features people expect from a premium system:
Mood lighting
Scene-based light control
Circadian rhythm
Daylight harvesting
People control their spaces through beautifully designed physical keypads or the intuitive Casambi app. The app adds advanced features such as daylight harvesting, circadian rhythm tuning, smooth colour-temperature shifts and dynamic scene building.
Siqitech wall controls for Casambi, from scene keypads to the D1 multifunction rotary switch. Image source: Darklight Design.
