modulated dimmer "switch"

they do make voltage controlled dimmers. (about 1-10V in I think.) dunno how cheap.

A commercial lighting place may be able to help.

Bye. Jasen

Hi, 2. Crydom makes a proportional control solid state relay, which accepts a 2-10VDC input and outputs phase control of AC (like a lamp dimmer). The appropriate part number is 10PCV2415, and it's available at Newark for about $87 USD each. That's the store-bought solution, and at over $430USD it sounds like it might be a little pricey for you.

If you want something significantly cheaper, and you have "advanced" electronics assembly skills, I would recommended the Velleman K8064 kit. It is rated for up to 375W control at 120VAC, and it's about $30 each in unit quantities from their distributors. You can get more information about this kit from the Velleman website:

$150USD sound a little better? I don't think you're going to get much lower than that for 5 optoisolated AC controls.

Good luck Chris

Roll your own - check out some "color organs" Thingees that take sound and modulate light - that should give you ideas how to do it.

or search google for:

music light circuit schematic "color organ"

Some solid state relays may work if you pulse width modulate the signal to the SSR.

Another "roll your own" a SSR can be made with a "triac, LED, and CDS photocell" in a light proof enclosure. I used to do that in the 70's pre- commercially available SSRs.

Take a container (like the little plastic thing dental floss comes in) put the parts in and pot in clear polyester resin or epoxy, paint with black spray paint. Could make them small enough to fit in switch boxes with lots of room to spare. With the right container and a spray of silicone oil the epoxy block pops out and the container can be reused to pot another one.

My girlfriend at the time was a nurse who worked "on call" at the hospital and would have to go in at weird hours. I put a light detector at the end of the driveway. The headlight from her car would trigger a timer and send signals to light switches that would turn on the lights for a predetermined time so she could get to the house without stumbling over things - find the lock and go into a lit house.

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Look into the smaller end of the theatrical dimming market. There are some very cheap 4 & 6 channel dimmers that accept 0->10V control.

An analogue (as opposed to DMX) version of this sort of thing?

DMX is more common, and not exactly difficult to implement if you have a suitable RS485 card.

This end of the price range tend not to be especially good quality, but for the price, you would be pressed to build it.

Regards, Dan.

Here is one module:

DC CONTROLLED DIMMER

It takes DC control voltage in and dimmes light.

I have used the previous revision of that module on some light ptojects. Worked well.

Other option is to check the prices of cheap "DJ quality" multi channel dimmer packs. Those can be foudn nowadays at quite cheap price. Those are normally controlled either with 0-10V DC control voltage or DMX-512 digital bus.

DMX-512 might be worth to check tecnology. You just need a suitable adapter for your PC and run suitable ligth control software to do whatever you need. No I/O card needed. Links to DMX-512 information can be found here: