IR control of Halogen lighting

["Quinten Uijldert" <yahoogroups@xxxxxxx>]

Having recently upgraded my living room furniture to version 2.0, I have
no
longer any ceiling lights illuminating my living room, but instead use
fashionable (well, thats what SWMBO tell me) halogen spotlights
carefully
positioned in strategic locations.

And this is my problem.  With V1.0 of the living room, I was able to
switch
of all lighting at the flick/twist of a dimmer unit, which is
conveniently
located near the door so when it was bedtime, I could shut down my
living
room platform in one go.  With the new version in place, I find
myself
turning off every individual spot one by one...  Since this is number
3 on
my annoyance list (right after SWMBO and kid, but I can't yet upgrade
these
versions ;-) ) I would like to add IR control to each spotlight.

I'm not a complete novice with electronics, and making it look good isn't
a
problem either.  The problem is that I haven't got a clue on the
electrical
side of it (them being halogen instead of normal mains).  IIRC, the
adaptors
deliver 20V for a certain wattage (40W?), but if I look at those
Velleman
Kits (as you do when visiting Maplins) they all mention the maximum
amps
they can control.  It seems like such a trivial task to do, but
daunting
none-the-less...  What would be ideal is some solution that takes the
2
wires (20V and GND) and either puts power on it or not at the other
end.

Oh, and before someone suggests X10 applicance modules...  They are
ugly and
SWMBO would definately throw a fit if I fitted them all around the
living
room ;-)

Q.

--
I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up.



http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
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