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

[sylvan butler <ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 11:53:29 -0500, Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> But sylvan's/your Conceptual Model (2) of how TRIACS work was flat-out
> wrong.

According to your supposition of my model...


> And you were unable to provide mathematical descriptions as either waveforms
> or equations (3a & 4a  See your non-responsive answers  to Dan's simple
> questions.

Simple question without a simple answer.  A square wave is hard enough
to describe mathmatically, but when it has varying on and off times, the
math becomes more ugly than I care to deal with.  It is easier to
describe algorithmically, which I attempted.


> didn't, couldn't, and never can (except by chance) because the physics in

Isn't it entertaining how much has been discovered "by chance" and
practiced successfully for many years before the physics were understood
and mathmatically described...  Oh, wait, we are still trying to define
many natural processes as we discover the previous formula did not
describe the details visible under improved observation.

> Although you too presumably benefited: you could spend the rest of your life
> putzing with perceptual coding and *never* get the TRIACS to work with your
> approach. You did larn that, right? ;-)

As I said, it'd probably be easier with the zero-crossing sync.

> What is your field ( 'area of expertise', 'core competency') ?

Professionally I guess you'd call me a software engineer or something
like that, but that's only a few small facets.

I started playing with electricity before I could walk, computer stuff
starting in 1976, and I've been online since 1982 when a friend working
in a government lab created a gateway between his home BBS and the
internet in his lab.  I started college to get the sheep skin saying I
knew electronics but found I liked the computer classes more.  Now I
have degrees in computer systems and computer science.  Doing grounds
maintenance and sprinkler system repair+installation plus a bit of
warehouse management paid my way thru school (until I got my first
software gig), so I graduated with good grades, a wife, no debt and
money in the bank.  And sometimes I think that was rather stupid, if I'd
rented an expensive apartment and bought a new car I'd have qualified
for government handouts to pay for it all...  But oh well.

Non-professionally I've been known to do auto mechanics; home-related
construction and repairs from framing on up including plumbing,
electrical and HVAC; technical theatre; alternative energy systems
(solar PV, thermal and wind); and yes, still the landscaping and a bit
of electronics.  I've never met a tool I didn't like.  (All of my
grandparents were college graduates, grandfathers were independent
farmers who built their own homes and took care of everything
themselves.  I suppose I inherited a bit of that.)

Now I'm living on a hobby ranch with cows and chickens and four boys so I have
also mucked out a stall and changed a diaper or two before the oldest learned
how and when the misses wasn't available (she's a good one, let's me get away
with a lot).  I'm also a "Tech Plus" (too lazy to take the General and Am-Extra
tests), and am NRA life (first member in my family) though I prefer GOA and
JPFO (no I'm not Jewish).

Specialization is for insects.  (from R.H. in his good days)  The only
problem is time to avoid it.  But when I hire someone else it has always
turned out no better than acceptable and usually worse.  So I usually
don't.  Wondering if I should go into law or medicine next.

Still prefer to hire someone to do the butchering for me...

And all that is pretty much how I think of "me" at the moment.

Concluding thought for the day after elections:
"That government is best which governs not at all."  (Henry David Thoreau)

sdb

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