Re: TRIAC dimmer control spreadsheet; was Re: Controlling Holiday Lights

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Max,

What I meant would have been clearer had I written "scene" instead of
"scenario" ;-) Oh Strunk and White -- where art you? )

In terms or *static*  _scenes_ (WatchingTV, GoodNight, Entertainment, AllON,
AllOFF) 16 different levels seem plenty. I know I could get by jist fine with
4 or 5 intermediate levels.

But as Robert wrote earlier in the thread, and you point out here, dynamic
(changing) scenes such as those used in theatre and concerts need more levels.
(Note though,  that 256 levels are that all the great majority of professional
theatres and other entertainment venues have,  so if 256 is not enough, the
majority of performances world wide are unsatisfactory ;-)

I realize now that fade rate may be something that is of interest to others in
HA, and for that purpose, 16 levels may indeed be inadequate depending on
one's preferences.

... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org


  On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:25:30 GMT, "Max" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message  <K7v2h.78621$E67.6635@clgrps13>:

>I have done some playing around with this and found that in order to change
>the intensity of a light very very slowly, without seeing any noticeable
>step
>in brightness (especially noticeable at the lower brightnesses) you need
>each
>change in time to be around 10us or so.  This means for the criteria
>mentioned,
>you would need many hundreds of steps, likely about 500 or so.  I would
>consider a 100 step dimmer marginal and a 256 step minimum.  But that is
>just my preference :-)
>
>
>> can be used to select values for a new, equal intensity, 16-step dimmer
>> curve
>> with Full ON, Full OFF and 14 intermediate steps each causing about 6%
>> reduction in light intensity.  This would be 'perceptually' plenty good
>> enough
>> in nearly all practical home automation scenarios.
>>
>> ... Marc
>> Marc_F_Hult
>> www.EControl.org
>>
>
>