[TriEmbed] [TriLUG] Anyone have their own christmas light show?

[Matt Flyer]

If the lights are powered from a 120Vac source, assuming here that it
doesn't have it's own form of electronic control and that they run on
regular AC power, it is rather easy to control the brightness using
(solid state) triacs (back to back SCRs that allow conduction in both
directions once sufficient gate current is applied).  You can use the
micro controller to find the AC zero crossing and then delay the turn
of the triac to adjust the brightness by limiting the duty cycle.

Obviously an electronic controller would not like the nasty voltage
waveform that the method would produce, but a resistive element like a
light bulb won't care.


On Tue, 2018-01-02 at 16:03 +0000, Brian Henning via TriLUG wrote:
> I'd encourage you to consider solid-state control instead of some of
> the relays, as it would give you the option of dimming.  I find
> instantaneous on/off displays, especially when really bright, hard on
> the eyes.  Of course, I'm a lighting designer by night, so I'm
> particularly opinionated about such displays. :-D