Dimmers for marine lighting

[Randy McHugh]

I was checking out lighting controls and dimmers for lights and was amazed
at the cost of them. I want to design my own to do the things I want, as
well as controlling my powerheads, pump, float control and options for Kalk
dosing, and autofeeding. I think designing a microcontroller system to
control these would be fairly easy. Instead of paying $3,000.00 for
seperate items, I could probably build them all in one box for $300.00.
My problem is, do the dimmers for florescents just flicker the bulbs from
on to off (after the ballast) at a given frequency to give the "appearance"
of lower light. I believe they do but I need confirmation. If so it should
be easy to do.
Also, if I do design this, would any of you be interested in the plans. I,
of course, won't be held liable for anyone KILLING themselves and I would
have to check with my lawyer to make sure I can't be held liable. If all
goes well there may be some pis_ed off companies that sell these products.
Oh well, I never said I was well liked :-)