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  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: Date Created
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DIY AC Dimmer Circuit: Control Your Lights with a Raspberry Pi Pico -- Episode 602

Dimmer circuits consisting of Phase Angle Control are used to efficiently adjust the AC power delivered to the AC loads by controlling the conduction angle. In this episode, Surbhika developed such a circuit to enable dimming of commonly used AC lights bulbs at home. This was an interesting DIY project as it meant realizing one of the fundamental concepts in power electronics and control theory to generally usable hardware.

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Bill of Materials

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Kit
RASPBERRY-PI Raspberry Pi Pico Board, RP2040, 32 bit, ARM Cortex-M0+ RASPBERRY-PI 2 Buy Now
MULTICOMP PRO TERMINAL BLOCK EUROSTYLE, 2 POSITION, 26-16AWG MULTICOMP PRO 5 Buy Now
ONSEMI Optocoupler, Triac Output, DIP, 6 Pins, 5.3 kV, Non Zero Crossing, 400 V ONSEMI 1 Buy Now
VISHAY Optocoupler, Transistor Output, 1 Channel, DIP, 4 Pins, 50 mA, 5.3 kV, 160 % VISHAY 1 Buy Now
WEEN SEMICONDUCTORS Triac, 800 V, 16 A, TO-220AB, 1.5 V, 170 A, 45 mA WEEN SEMICONDUCTORS 1 Buy Now
BOURNS LINEAR POTENTIOMETER, 10KOHM, 20%, 50mW BOURNS 1 Buy Now
PHILIPS LIGHTING LED Light Bulb, Reflector, GU10, Warm White, 3000 K, Dimmable, 36° PHILIPS LIGHTING 1 Buy Now
ETERNA GU10 Lampholder with Flying Leads ETERNA 1 Buy Now
LEDVANCE LED Light Bulb, Reflector, GU10, Daylight White, 6500 K, Not Dimmable, 36° LEDVANCE 1 Buy Now
 

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  • The subject is interesting (although some discussion of EMC issues would be helpful) but the bench practice is life threateningly dangerous. Main voltages should never be applied to a breadboard operated on an open bench. No ifs, no buts, never.

    If you must use breadboard it should be enclosed in a protective enclosure, ideally with a mechanically linked mains ciruit breaker.

    A USB cable should never be connected directly to mains powered devices (live or neutral, doesn't matter). You have an opto-coupler but plugged into breadboard it gives no safety protection at all so in effect the USB cable is directly connected to mains.

    It is very important to set a good example in videos of this type because they are watched by a great many very inexperienced people.

    The warning at the beginning is no use if it is then ignored in the rest of the video.

    I think you should re-work this video to demonstrate safe practice.

    The obvious way to that would be to put the mains voltage parts on a separate board with adequate clearances and enclose that.

    if you need to probe the live circuit it gets harder.

    For bench work you should use a mains isolating transformer or, at the very least, an RCB (Residual Current Breaker) and suitable scope probes.

    An MCB won't save you - it has to pass the load operating current which will be more than enough to kill you.

    MK

Comment

  • The subject is interesting (although some discussion of EMC issues would be helpful) but the bench practice is life threateningly dangerous. Main voltages should never be applied to a breadboard operated on an open bench. No ifs, no buts, never.

    If you must use breadboard it should be enclosed in a protective enclosure, ideally with a mechanically linked mains ciruit breaker.

    A USB cable should never be connected directly to mains powered devices (live or neutral, doesn't matter). You have an opto-coupler but plugged into breadboard it gives no safety protection at all so in effect the USB cable is directly connected to mains.

    It is very important to set a good example in videos of this type because they are watched by a great many very inexperienced people.

    The warning at the beginning is no use if it is then ignored in the rest of the video.

    I think you should re-work this video to demonstrate safe practice.

    The obvious way to that would be to put the mains voltage parts on a separate board with adequate clearances and enclose that.

    if you need to probe the live circuit it gets harder.

    For bench work you should use a mains isolating transformer or, at the very least, an RCB (Residual Current Breaker) and suitable scope probes.

    An MCB won't save you - it has to pass the load operating current which will be more than enough to kill you.

    MK

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