Light timer/dimmer?
Calab
I have a need to control a light fixture in my home. At a certain time I
need the light to come on and later on the light should go out. The problem
is that I need it to change states slowly. Load could be anything between
100 and 600 watts.
It would be nice to find something that fits in a 1 gang electrical box, but
I haven't been able to find anything.
I also have the need for something similar, controlling about a dozen LEDs,
for the lighting in a fish tank.
Does anyone have any idea how I can do these?
DaveM
The very last circuit (Varying brightness AC lamp) on the page at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Bill_Bowden/page4.htm looks to be
straightforward and easy to build. No expensive or exotic parts; give it a
look.
If you'd rather have a kit, look at the slow dimmer kit at
http://youdoitelectronics.com/Kits/id1226.htm, kit #K8029 (SLOW ON-OFF DIMMER).
Oopsss.. that one will only handle 200 watts. You could probably replace the
triac in the kit with a higher current type... and you might have to put it on a
heatsink for the higher power loads. You can probably find that kit at a number
of other web vendors.. just Google for Velleman K8029. Looks like the PC board
might fit inside a box... but you need to measure to be sure.
The dimmers above are the slow dimmer portion only, they will not control the
times your lights turn & off. For that, I recommend that you look at an
appliance timer from your local home improvement or tool center. Something like
the timer at
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95205.
That should get you going in short order.
--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the
address)
Experience: What you get when you don't get what you want
Dave Platt
>need the light to come on and later on the light should go out. The problem
>is that I need it to change states slowly. Load could be anything between
>100 and 600 watts.
I believe that some of the professional-grade X10 light-dimmer control
circuits have this basic capability, and there are probably some
variations that can handle up to 600 watts.
--
Dave Platt <dpl...@radagast.org> AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
Rich Webb
wrote:
>>I have a need to control a light fixture in my home. At a certain time I
>>need the light to come on and later on the light should go out. The problem
>>is that I need it to change states slowly. Load could be anything between
>>100 and 600 watts.
>
>I believe that some of the professional-grade X10 light-dimmer control
>circuits have this basic capability, and there are probably some
>variations that can handle up to 600 watts.
FWIW, the "regular" X10 controllers can dim from 100% to 0% but they
don't want to go the other way; a lamp that's off can only be set to a
dimmed brightness by first turning it on (=100%) and then dimming it.
Once it's on, of course, the dimming setting can be adjusted up and
down; just can't go directly from off to, say, 10%.
Note that the controllers I'm running are pretty old and the newer ones
(or other models) may not have this limitation.
--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA
BobW
I used to be an X10 fan, but now it's Zwave, for me. It's very cool
technology.
The Home Settings line from Intermatic stuff will do exactly what you want
it to (timing, soft on, soft off).
Bob
--
== NOTE: I automatically delete all Google Group posts due to uncontrolled
SPAM ==
Calab
"BobW" <nimby_N...@roadrunner.com> wrote in message
news:o8mdnaMoq-ZMLPLV...@giganews.com...
|
| "Calab" <mys...@csd.ca> wrote in message
| news:4dCbk.56339$Jx.13974@pd7urf1no...
| >
| > I have a need to control a light fixture in my home. At a certain time I
| > need the light to come on and later on the light should go out. The
| > problem
| > is that I need it to change states slowly. Load could be anything
between
| > 100 and 600 watts.
| I used to be an X10 fan, but now it's Zwave, for me. It's very cool
| technology.
|
| The Home Settings line from Intermatic stuff will do exactly what you want
| it to (timing, soft on, soft off).
|
| http://www.homesettings.com/
Thanks!
The modules are a bit pricey, but I don't need many. I'm going to try the
Zwave stuffs.