Arduino Relay's and Light Dimming

Hey guys, I am working on hooking up an Arduino UNO to the ceiling lights in my room so that I can control them remotely. My current plan is to unhook the switch from the wiring then in it's place hook the wiring to some kind of a relay then hook the relay to the Arduino UNO. The only problem is that I have no idea what relay i should get or even where to get one. So firstly if you could provide any information on how to pick the correct relay (or even provide a link to a specific type) then that would be great. Secondly I want to have the lights be able to dim so if you all could provide any information on how to set up dimmers and such that would also be great. And finally it would be a huge help if you all could provide any additional information that I may need for this project. Thanks so much, I'm kind of a newbie to this stuff so sorry I had a lot of broad or stupid sounding questions.

Thanks again

Top Replies

mcb1 over 13 years ago in reply to ntewinkel +1

Nico is right. This is not the stuff for newbies to be playing with. For anything that has a plug, I used RF remote controlled units. There is some info here. http://digistump.com/board/index.php/topic…

0 ntewinkel over 13 years ago

Hi J J,

Working with house wiring is an extremely dangerous thing to be doing, especially as a beginner project. That's both in terms of you getting injured or killed, and in terms of the chance of burning down the house.

I highly recommend just buying something off the shelf for the solution you need, like this remote controlled dimmer for 40 bucks at Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.ca/product/maestro-ir-remote-control-dimmer-in-white/971409 - and get a professional to install it if you're not familiar with wiring.

And then choose some safe low voltage projects for your Arduino to learn on.

Oomlout has a nice easy example of how to use relays (with low voltage options like LEDs and small DC motors) - http://www.oomlout.com/oom.php/products/ardx/circ-11

You could also acchieve your original goal safely using low voltage lighting options like LEDs. You could use PWM to dim the LEDs, and use an infrared remote with it.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
-Nico
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 ntewinkel over 13 years ago

ps, Adafruit has good tutorials on using IR remotes: http://learn.adafruit.com/ir-sensor
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 mcb1 over 13 years ago in reply to ntewinkel

Nico is right. This is not the stuff for newbies to be playing with.

For anything that has a plug, I used RF remote controlled units.

There is some info here.
http://digistump.com/board/index.php/topic,371.msg1904.html#msg1904

or here (When your home is alone)

http://www.theshedmag.co.nz/online/downloads/arduino-downloads

I'm picking that a clever Android developer could do something ...although the interface to the device needs to be addressed.

Mark
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 colecago over 13 years ago

You don't want to do voltage dimming with relays. They have a maximum switching speed and would probably weld themselves if you tried to use them as dimmers. Also they would make a nasty chattering. Look at AC SSR's if you plan on PWMing or turing on and off rapidly. You could also look into Triacs and SCR's though your electronics will get more complicated with those.

Also, I agree that you shouldn't be playing with AC as a starter project. Try using LED's instead to get some concepts down.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel