Dimming 120v lites with Stamp
Archiver
Posts: 46,084
Hello all,
I have a customer who is a painter and he has requested a lighting
control system. He is trying to simulate dusk-to-dawn lighting on the
painting over the course of 60 minutes.
He will be using 3 different colored lights to simulate the different
stages of sunlight.
What he wants is the ability to bring on each of the lights gradually
in a certain sequence. This will require a light going smoothly from
very dim to 100% bright. He doesn't want any noticeability of the
light ramping up or down, more of a linear voltage control to the
lights.
I figure I could try to use a triac for each light, but I don't know
if you can "dim" a triac as such.
The next question is how I would couple a Basic Stamp to the dimming
triac so that it's base voltage can be varied thru programming,
thereby accomplising the required lighting control.
If anybody has done something similar to this with success, or if
anyone has any suggestions or ideas to consider, much thanks in
advance.
Brian Dalziel
Milwaukee, WI, USA
I have a customer who is a painter and he has requested a lighting
control system. He is trying to simulate dusk-to-dawn lighting on the
painting over the course of 60 minutes.
He will be using 3 different colored lights to simulate the different
stages of sunlight.
What he wants is the ability to bring on each of the lights gradually
in a certain sequence. This will require a light going smoothly from
very dim to 100% bright. He doesn't want any noticeability of the
light ramping up or down, more of a linear voltage control to the
lights.
I figure I could try to use a triac for each light, but I don't know
if you can "dim" a triac as such.
The next question is how I would couple a Basic Stamp to the dimming
triac so that it's base voltage can be varied thru programming,
thereby accomplising the required lighting control.
If anybody has done something similar to this with success, or if
anyone has any suggestions or ideas to consider, much thanks in
advance.
Brian Dalziel
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Comments
better off staying with industry standards - DMX. You need a dimmer
pack that handles DMX (widely available on the net) and a RS232 to
DMX converter. I just did a large project with 36 lights and
objects timed to follow a script over 20 minutes, and this works.
The converter is from Durand Interstellar Inc. controlling three
lights is very simple using this method and with simple code. I
don't think you need to keep very accurate time for your purposes,
and the stamp can keep your 60 minute rotation easily.
Al
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "signaltech_99" <bdalziel@e...>
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a customer who is a painter and he has requested a lighting
> control system. He is trying to simulate dusk-to-dawn lighting on
the
> painting over the course of 60 minutes.
>
> He will be using 3 different colored lights to simulate the
different
> stages of sunlight.
>
> What he wants is the ability to bring on each of the lights
gradually
> in a certain sequence. This will require a light going smoothly
from
> very dim to 100% bright. He doesn't want any noticeability of the
> light ramping up or down, more of a linear voltage control to the
> lights.
>
> I figure I could try to use a triac for each light, but I don't
know
> if you can "dim" a triac as such.
>
> The next question is how I would couple a Basic Stamp to the
dimming
> triac so that it's base voltage can be varied thru programming,
> thereby accomplising the required lighting control.
>
> If anybody has done something similar to this with success, or if
> anyone has any suggestions or ideas to consider, much thanks in
> advance.
>
> Brian Dalziel
> Milwaukee, WI, USA
their GraphicEye dimming controller. It sounds to me this will be the
perfect fit. As with any dimmer, you will need to know each light
fixture lamp type, fixture voltage and total fixture watts. I suspect
that you could use their 4-channel device. The GraphicEye dimmer will
allow you to set the fade time of your "scenes". If you need to
externally trigger the scene, you must use one of Lutron's interfaces
for a trigger based on time or a interface for contact closure or an
interface for RS-232.
Let me know what you think.
--Guy
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "signaltech_99" <bdalziel@e...>
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a customer who is a painter and he has requested a lighting
> control system. He is trying to simulate dusk-to-dawn lighting on
the
> painting over the course of 60 minutes.
>
> He will be using 3 different colored lights to simulate the
different
> stages of sunlight.
>
> What he wants is the ability to bring on each of the lights
gradually
> in a certain sequence. This will require a light going smoothly
from
> very dim to 100% bright. He doesn't want any noticeability of the
> light ramping up or down, more of a linear voltage control to the
> lights.
>
> I figure I could try to use a triac for each light, but I don't
know
> if you can "dim" a triac as such.
>
> The next question is how I would couple a Basic Stamp to the
dimming
> triac so that it's base voltage can be varied thru programming,
> thereby accomplising the required lighting control.
>
> If anybody has done something similar to this with success, or if
> anyone has any suggestions or ideas to consider, much thanks in
> advance.
>
> Brian Dalziel
> Milwaukee, WI, USA