UW Home College of Arts & Sciences ArtsUW Directories Maps MyUW

Log in

PEOPLE PROGRAMS & COURSES FACILITIES & EQUIPMENT RESEARCH NEWS & EVENTS RESOURCES ABOUT

Home › Wiki Home ›

DXARTS WIKI
AC Dimmer Circuit
WIKI Home
Facilities Instruction
Overview Tutorials
Simple AC Dimmer circuit for incandescent bulbs. 128 levels of brightness. Parts are relatively cheap!
Select Course Archives
Internal
How it Works
Print PDF
This is an AC Chopping Circuit.
The dim level sets where the AC waveform gets chopped on. More of the cycle makes the bulb brighter, less is dimmer.
(from digikey http://www.digikey.com/ca/en/techzone/lighting/resources/articles/Retrofit-LED-Bulbs-and-Drivers.html)

Photo

Digital Signals. The four signals on the left. They are labelled on the board.
Yellow: light dimming signal, comes from Arduino digital pin 11.
White: zero-cross signal, goes to Arduino digital pin 2 in.
Red: arduino +5V supply.
Black: arduino GND.
The LED on board should dim or fade along with the AC light source. Fading will not work until AC power is connected, it depends on the zero-
cross info from the H11AA1 chip.
AC Signals. The four white cords on the right. The bottom two cables on the right are the AC plug. The top two are the Bulb. These are labelled on
the board, but are partially covered by the large screw terminals.
Bottom is AC Power - Neutral.
Bottom Middle is AC Power - Hot.
Top Middle is Bulb - Hot.
Top is Bulb - Neutral.
NOTE: For help identifying Hot and Neutral on lamp cord, look here.

Code

example with slow on/off fade: acdimmer_sleeping.zip

example with potentiometer control: acdimmer_pot.zip

Schematic

Board Layout

PCB Files

EagleCAD - acdimmer_11_eagle.zip

Gerber - acdimmer_11_gerber.zip

Building the Circuit

Parts

acdimmer_parts.txt
33K
10K
1K
470
180
2.4K
0.01uF capacitor
generic LED
H11AA1 - Optocoupler AC Input 1 Channel http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_18825_-1
MOC3020 - DIP-6 OPTOISOLATOR Triac Driver http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_277780_-1
BTA12-600 - 600 V, 12 A, SNUBBERLESS TRIAC http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2034010_-1

 From a PCB
If you had some of these manufactured, then you'll want to build the PCB. See our tutorial on Populating a Fabricated
PCB.

On a Breadboard

CLICK THROUGH FOR ANNOTATED FLICKR VERSION

 Notes

Make sure your Triac (T1, BTA12-600) is rated at high enough current for the device you are controlling. The product linked above is rated at
12Amps RMS. That's a lot of current!
Alternative TRIACs with different power ratings:

TIC201M Thyristor TRIAC 600 Volt 12A 3-Pin (2.5A RMS) -

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_1165690_-1
Q4008L4 TRIAC 400V (8.0A RMS) - http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_160207_-1
Q6008L5 TRIAC 600V (8.0A RMS) - http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_160215_-1
Q6015L5 TRIAC 600 V (15A RMS) - http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_160231_-1

Alternative Design
Alternative SSR instead of MOC/Triac combination:

SSR 120VAC .6A TRIAC 8-DIP - http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=425-2361-5-ND $1.17

SSR 120VAC .9A TRIAC 8-DIP - http://sharp-world.com/products/device/lineup/data/pdf/datasheet/pr29mf11_e.pdf $1.44
SSR 120VAC 3A TRIAC 4-SIP - http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=425-2386-5-ND $5
SSR 120VAC 8A TRIAC 4-SIP - http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=425-2395-5-ND $4.13
SSR 120VAC 12A TRIAC 4-SIP - http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=425-2397-5-ND
SSR 120VAC 16A TRIAC 4-SIP - http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=425-2398-5-ND

AC Phase Control (that's what we are doing):

http://arduino.cc/playground/Code/ACPhaseControl

Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media · DXARTS • University of Washington • 207 Raitt Hall, Box 353414 • Seattle, WA 98195-3414
Telephone: (206) 543-4218 • Fax (206) 616-3346 • Email: dxarts@uw.edu

COPYRIGHT © 2012-2019 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON | PRIVACY | TERMS | SITE MAP | CONTACT US