Looking for a Fader for LED c9

S

Snunicycler

New member
I'm hoping something like this exists already since I'm very inexperienced with electronics. I can't find anything though so I figured I'd ask.

This is our 1st house: I bought commercial grade (dimmable) led c9 bulbs and stringer for my new house and they are MUCH brighter than I expected. I have 225 of them running off of one plug (channel?). I love them actually but my wife... She worries about bothering the neighbors and wants them to be dimmer. I don't want them dim all the time, that's boring, what I'd like to do instead is have them fade in and out slowly, from say 30% to 70%.

The only things I've found are dimmers (to set to a constant dim setting), Arduino controllers that switch on/off (strobe), And diy ideas for pixel lights. None of those will work for this application. Any ideas? Thanks!

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Ok so a couple questions right off the bat:
I have an Arduino someone gave me last year but have no experience with electronics. Were you referring to a hockey puck style or a board style (and will i have to assemble it from a kit)? I assume I would have to connect the ssr to the Arduino somehow and find some code to act as the controller, correct? Anything else would I need?

This over my head honestly but it sounds like a fun project to learn. The code stuff doesn't scare me that much but the hardware does. Thanks!

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I think that your problem will be not being able to find a single channel dimmable SSR, but I could be wrong. And then you would need to use a sketch for the Arduino that supports dimming as well.

You might be able to find a light dimmer that you would use for house lights, like kitchen lights.

Good luck.
 
I'd second guess the idea of pulsing constantly from 30-70% for hours on end. Even if it's a slow ramp. That will be more irritating to the neighbors than just leaving them on.
Dimming AC lights isn't as simple as it sounds. In order to dim them, you need to adjust the duty cycle of the AC sine wave. So you first need to sync the code with the AC power cycle. This is done with a zero cross detector circuit. That will trigger cycle your code to turn on the SSR for a given percentage of the cycle.
If you go with some thing like a renard controller (or DMX dimmer, or something like that) all that stuff will be done for you. You just need something to give it instructions. That's simple for an arduino. But you will need to lean how to program the arduino to create the pattern and send it out in the appropriate format (protocol).
Arduinos are generally prebuilt as a board with no enclosure.
Renards are generally available in kit form that you'll need to assemble and then upload load the firmware to the PIC chip.
If you're nervous about the hardware stuff, I'd recommend starting with something prebuilt, or kit form for the AC side of things. That can be dangerous if you're not comfortable with it. The control side is pretty safe. You might fry a $5 arduino, but you won't hurt yourself in the process.
 
Ok thanks! I'll probably just leave it alone then. And that's a good point about the fade being more annoying, I was only thinking about the brightness but you're probably right that fading might be more noticeable.

Now I want to figure out a good project for my Arduino though since I've got it and have found this community. I see the beginner section so I'll get started looking through there. Thanks!

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Yep, already read through the wiki about the ssr stuff - didn't understand much of it! Haha. Might need to take a basic electronics course or something so I can actually understand what I'm reading. Thanks!

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I have assembled a single channel dimmer using a igbt and a Esp to do exactly what you are trying to accomplish .

What concerns me though is your lack of experience with electronics in order to recommend you diy the same .

Anything diy with AC is a concern as it can be deadly if safety is not paramount .

I have posted a thread here.
 
edit: whoops, quoted the wrong comment

But Ya, anything even sort of dangerous is probably going to be a 'no' for me haha! I think I should start with simpler projects until I understand what's going on

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