Dimmer Switch Tear-down

An inexpensive dimmer switch for home lighting on offer at any home improvement center is more than a variable resistor. Unboxing it, there are a couple of capacitors, a BTA12 600B TRIAC, a delightful little inductor coil, and some other odds and ends. Could you give us a tour and a circuit diagram explaining how it all comes together?

Thanks

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dougw over 1 year ago +1

You could ask Dave Edwards ( a531016 ) to do a teardown on element14 Presents .
a531016 over 1 year ago in reply to dougw +1

There are lots of different types of dimmer designed to work wit different load types, variac, triac, trailing edge leading edge etc. It could make a good episode if anyone is interested?
colporteur 4 months ago +1

I had to go do a search to recall someone did a tear down of a dimmer before. What's inside a 20+ year old dimmer switch? scottiebabe has always been a top shelf contributor to the community. I'm not…

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dougw over 1 year ago

You could ask Dave Edwards ( a531016 ) to do a teardown on element14 Presents.
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dougw over 1 year ago

You could ask Dave Edwards ( a531016 ) to do a teardown on element14 Presents.
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a531016 over 1 year ago in reply to dougw

There are lots of different types of dimmer designed to work wit different load types, variac, triac, trailing edge leading edge etc. It could make a good episode if anyone is interested?
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kmikemoo over 1 year ago in reply to a531016

If there are lots of types... I'm interested. I figured that they were all the same since all that I have seen have the same 600w limit.
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tp86 4 months ago in reply to a531016

Hi mate. Yesterday I watched your youtube video on the wm-ex631 teardown. It was very interesting. I unfortunately need to replace or at least probe to diagnose my hold spdt switch. To do this I need access to the mainboard on the side the tape cassete goes. I was wondering if you managed to get access to this side of the mainboard without soldering out the many solder pins that the service manual suggests to remove the mainboard (Ideally I didnt want to desolder as I do not have the tools). Many thanks in advance for any advice. Kinds regards. Tom P

Reference video: www.youtube.com/watch
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