Dimmer
Dimmers are devices connected to a light fixture and used to lower the brightness of light. By changing the voltage waveform applied to the lamp, it is possible to lower the intensity of the light output. Although variable-voltage devices are used for various purposes, the term dimmer is generally reserved for those intended to control light output from resistive incandescent, halogen, and compact fluorescent lights and light-emitting diodes. More specialized equipment is needed to dim fluorescent, mercury vapor, solid-state, and other arc lighting.
Dimmers range in size from small units the size of domestic light switches to high-power units used in large theatrical or architectural lighting installations. Small domestic dimmers are generally directly controlled, although remote control systems are available. Modern professional dimmers are generally controlled by a digital control system like DMX or DALI. In newer systems, these protocols are often used in conjunction with Ethernet.
In the professional lighting industry, changes in intensity are called "fades" and can be "fade up" or "fade down". Dimmers with direct manual control had a limit on the speed they could be varied at but this problem has been largely eliminated with modern digital units.
Modern dimmers are built from semiconductors instead of variable resistors, because they have higher efficiency. A variable resistor would dissipate power as heat and acts as a voltage divider. Since semiconductor or solid-state dimmers switch quickly between a low resistance "on" state and a high resistance "off" state, they dissipate very little power compared with the controlled load.
History
Early dimmers were directly controlled through the manual manipulation of large dimmer panels. This required all power to come through the lighting control location, which could be inconvenient, inefficient and potentially dangerous for large or high-powered systems, such as those used for stage lighting.In 1896, Granville Woods patented his "Safety Dimmer", which greatly reduced wasted energy by reducing the amount of energy generated to match desired demand rather than burning off unwanted energy.
In 1959, Joel S. Spira, who would found the Lutron Electronics Company in 1961, invented a dimmer based on a diode and a tapped autotransformer, saving energy and allowing the dimmer to be installed in a standard electrical wallbox.
In 1966, Eugene Alessio patented a light bulb socket adapter for adjusting a light level on a single light bulb using a triac. To house this device, he decided on a 2-inch round device with one end capable of being screwed into a light bulb socket and the other end able to receive a light bulb.
When solid-state dimmers came into use, analog remote control systems became feasible. The wire for the control systems was much smaller than the heavy power cables of previous lighting systems. Each dimmer had its own control wires, resulting in many wires leaving the lighting control location.
More recent digital control protocols such as DMX512, DALI, or one of the many Ethernet-based protocols like Art-Net, ETCnet, sACN, Pathport, ShowNet or KiNET enable the control of a large number of dimmers through a single cable.
Types of dimmer
Rheostat dimmer
Dimmers based on rheostats were inefficient since they would dissipate a significant portion of the power rating of the load as heat. They were large and required plenty of cooling air. Because their dimming effect depended a great deal on the total load applied to each rheostat, the load needed to be matched fairly carefully to the power rating of the rheostat. Finally, as they relied on mechanical control they were slow and it was difficult to change many channels at a time.Saltwater dimmer
Early examples of a rheostat dimmer include a salt water dimmer or liquid rheostat; the liquid between a movable and fixed contact provided a variable resistance. The closer the contacts to each other, the more voltage was available for the light. Salt water dimmers required regular addition of water and maintenance due to corrosion; exposed parts were energized during operation, presenting a shock hazard.Coil-rotation transformer
The coil-rotation transformer used a fixed-position electromagnet coil in conjunction with a variable-position coil to vary the voltage in the line by varying the alignment of the two coils. Rotated 90 degrees apart, the secondary coil is affected by two equal but opposite fields from the primary, which effectively cancel each other out and produce no voltage in the secondary.These coils resembled the standard rotor and stator as used in an electric motor, except that the rotor was held against rotation using brakes and was moved to specific positions using high-torque gearing. Because the rotor did not ever turn a complete revolution, a commutator was not required and long flexible cables could be used on the rotor instead.
Autotransformer dimmer
Variable autotransformers were then introduced. While they are still nearly as large as rheostat dimmers, which they closely resemble, they are relatively efficient devices. Their voltage output, and so their dimming effect, is largely independent of the load applied so it was far easier to design the lighting that would be attached to each autotransformer channel. Remote control of the dimmers was still impractical, although some dimmers were equipped with motor drives that could slowly and steadily reduce or increase the brightness of the attached lamps. Autotransformers have fallen out of use for lighting but are used for other applications.Solid-state dimmer
or semiconductor dimmers were introduced to solve some of these problems. Semiconductor dimmers switch on at an adjustable time after the start of each alternating current half-cycle, thereby altering the voltage waveform applied to lamps and so changing its RMS effective value. Because they switch instead of absorbing part of the voltage supplied, there is very little wasted power. Dimming can be almost instantaneous and is easily controlled by remote electronics. This development also made it possible to make dimmers small enough to be used in place of normal domestic light switches.The switches generate some heat during switching and can also cause radio-frequency interference. Inductors or chokes are used as part of the circuitry to suppress this interference. When the dimmer is at 50% power the switches are switching their highest voltage in Europe) and the sudden surge of power causes the coils on the inductor to move, creating a buzzing sound associated with some types of dimmer; this same effect can be heard in the filaments of the incandescent lamps as "singing". The suppression circuitry might be insufficient to prevent buzzing to be heard on sensitive audio and radio equipment that shares the mains supply with the lighting loads. In this case, special steps must be taken to prevent this interference. European dimmers must comply with relevant EMC legislation requirements; this involves suppressing the emissions described above to limits described in EN55104.
In the electrical schematic shown, a typical silicon-controlled rectifier based light dimmer dims the light through phase-angle control. This unit is wired in series with the load. Diodes form a bridge, which generates pulsed DC. R1 and C1 form a circuit with a time constant. As the voltage increases from zero C1 will charge up. When C1 is able to make Zener diode D6 conduct and inject current into the SCR, the SCR will fire. When the SCR conducts, D1 will discharge C1 via the SCR. The SCR will shut off when the current falls to zero and the supply voltage drops at the end of the half cycle, ready for the circuit to start work on the next half cycle. This circuit is called a Leading-Edge Dimmer or Forward Phase Dimming. Leading edge dimmers work well with incandescent lamps, but not with all types of LED lamps.
Dimmers based on Insulated-gate bipolar transistors do away with most of the noise present in TRIACs by chopping off the falling side of the sine wave. These circuits are called Trailing-Edge Dimmers or Reverse Phase Dimming, and work well with LED lamps.
An even newer, but still expensive technology is sine-wave dimming, which is implemented as high power switched-mode power supplies followed by a filter.
Control
Non domestic dimmers are usually controlled remotely by means of various protocols. Analogue dimmers usually require a separate wire for each channel of dimming carrying a voltage between 0 and 10 V. Some analogue circuitry then derives a control signal from this and the mains supply for the switches. As more channels are added to the system more wires are needed between the lighting controller and the dimmers.In the late 70s, serial analogue protocols were developed. These multiplexed a series of analogue levels onto a single wire, with embedded clocking signal similar to a composite video signal or separate clocking signal.
Digital protocols, such as DMX512 have proved to be the answer since the late 80s. In early implementations a digital signal was sent from the controller to a demultiplexer, which sat next to the dimmers. This converted the digital signal into a collection of 0 to +10 V or 0 to −10 V signals which could be connected to the individual analogue control circuits.
Modern dimmer designs use microprocessors to convert the digital signal directly into a control signal for the switches. This has many advantages, giving closer control over the dimming, and giving the opportunity for diagnostic feedback to be sent digitally back to the lighting controller.
Some dimmers in residential applications are also equipped with a radio receiver to be used as wireless light switches which can be remotely controlled by a radio transmitter.
Patching
Patching is the physical or virtual assignment to a circuit or channel for the purpose of control.Hard patch
Dimmers are usually arranged together in racks, where they can be accessed easily, and then power is run to the instruments being controlled. In architectural installations electricity is run straight from the dimmers to the lights via permanent wiring. They are hard run and cannot be changed.However venues such as theatres demand more flexibility. To allow for changes for each show, and occasionally during shows, theatres sometimes install circuits run permanently to sockets around the theatre. Instead of these circuits going directly to the dimmer they are connected to a patch bay. A patch bay usually sits next to the dimmers enabling the dimmers to be connected to specific circuits via a patch cable. The patch bay may also enable many circuits to be connected to one dimmer and even series connection for low-voltage lamps. Also in some theatres individual cables are run directly from the light to dimmer. The assigned connections between the circuits and the dimmers is known as the mains or hard patch. This is most common in older theatres, and on a tour where dimmers will be brought in by the touring company.
Soft patch
Most modern fixed installations do not have patch bays, instead they have a dimmer-per-circuit and patch dimmers into channels using a computerised control consoles Soft Patch.Dimming curves
The design of most analogue dimmers meant that the output of the dimmer was not directly proportional to the input. Instead, as the operator brought up a fader, the dimmer would dim slowly at first, then quickly in the middle, then slowly at the top. The shape of the curve resembled that of the third quarter of a sine wave. Different dimmers produced different dimmer curves, and different applications typically demanded different responses.Television often uses a "square law" curve, providing finer control in top part of the curve, essential to allow accurate trimming of the colour temperature of lighting. Theatrical dimmers tend to use a softer "S" or linear curve. Digital dimmers can be made to have whatever curve the manufacturer desires; they may have a choice between a linear relationship and selection of different curves, so that they can be matched with older analogue dimmers. Sophisticated systems provide user-programmable or nonstandard curves, and a common use of a nonstandard curve is to turn a dimmer into a "non-dim", switching on at a user defined control level.
Preheat
Switching high-intensity incandescent lamps to full power from cold can shorten their life dramatically, owing to the large inrush current that occurs. To reduce stress on the lamp filaments, dimmers may have a preheat function. This sets a minimum level, usually between 5% and 10%, which appears turned-off, but stops the lamp from cooling down too much. This also speeds up the lamp's reaction to sudden bursts of power that operators of rock'n'roll-style shows appreciate. The opposite of this function is sometimes called top-set. This limits the maximum power supplied to a lamp, which can also extend its life.In less advanced systems, this same effect is achieved by literally pre-heating the globes before an event or performance. This is usually achieved by slowly bringing the lights up to full power over a period of between 1/2 to 1 hour. This is as effective as a built-in preheat function.