Monitoring system and method

A lighting system comprising:

• a light source;
• a ballast connected to AC mains and providing power to the light source;
• a wiring electrically interconnecting the light source, the ballast and the AC mains;
• a field bus;
• and
• a monitoring unit comprising a housing, an electrical connection to the field bus, and an interface with at least one of the light source and the ballast,
• wherein the monitoring unit is powered by the filed bus via the electrical connection, and detects a status of the at least one of the light source and the ballast via the interface, the interface including a galvanically isolated connection of a sensor configured within said housing with at least a portion of the wiring disposed outside of the housing of the monitoring unit, and the detected status is based at least on said galvanically isolated connection with said portion of the wiring disposed outside of the housing of the monitoring unit.

A lighting system comprising:

• a plurality of light sources;
• a plurality of ballast connected to AC mains and providing power to the respective light sources;
• a plurality of wirings electrically interconnecting each of the light sources and respective ballasts, and the AC mains;
• a field bus;
• and
• a plurality of monitoring units each comprising a housing, an electrical connection to the field bus, and an interface with the respective at least one of light sources and the ballasts,
• wherein each of the monitoring units is powered by the filed bus via the electrical connection, and detects a status of the respective at least one of the light sources and the ballasts via the interface, the interface including a galvanically isolated connection of a sensor configured within said housing with at least a portion of the wirings interconnecting the respective at least one of the light sources and the ballasts, and the AC mains, said portion of the wirings disposed outside of the housing of the respective monitoring unit, and the detected status is based at least on said galvanically isolated connection with said portion of the wirings disposed outside of the housing of the respective monitoring unit.

A lighting system comprising:

• a light source;
• a ballast connected to AC mains and providing power to the light source;
• a wiring electrically interconnecting the light source, the ballast and the AC mains;
• a power line communication master;
• and
• a monitoring unit comprising a housing, an electrical connection to the power line, and an interface with at least one of the light source and the ballast,
• wherein the monitoring unit detects a status of the at least one of the light source and the ballast via the interface, the interface including a sensor configured within said housing in a galvanically isolated connection with at least a portion of the wiring disposed outside of the housing of the monitoring unit, and the detected status is based at least on said galvanically isolated connection with said portion of the wiring disposed outside of the housing of the monitoring unit, and
• the monitoring unit communicates the detected status to the power line communication master in response to a polling request from the power line communication master.

A monitoring method comprising:

• disposing a monitoring unit with respect to a wiring of an electrically powered device, said monitoring unit comprising a housing and a sensor configured within said housing of the monitoring unit;
• sensing an AC current signal of said wiring of the electrically powered device via a galvanically isolated communication of said sensor with at least a portion of the wiring of the electrically powered device, said portion of the wiring disposed outside of the housing of the monitoring unit;
• converting the sensed AC current into a DC voltage for analogue to digital signal conversion and averaging processing, and
• deriving from the averaging processing monitoring data indicative of a status of the electrically powered device;
• and
• outputting the monitoring data indicative of the status of the electrically powered device.