Re: Controlling Holiday Lights

["AIMatrix" <spam4pyros@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"sylvan butler" <ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrnel4ke1.dqe.ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:47:21 -0500, Marc_F_Hult
<MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:02:52 -0500, Marc_F_Hult
> ><MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> ><nkquk25nuvphhnqm9qj08mhu6hbuksamv1@xxxxxxx>:
> >
> >>On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 18:58:15 -0700, sylvan butler
> >><ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >><slrnekt5ln.fbp.ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> >>
> >>>On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 23:27:48 -0500, Marc_F_Hult
> >><MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>>> On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 16:05:12 -0700, sylvan butler
> >>>><ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >>>><slrneknip8.p3a.ZsdbUse1+noZs_0611@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> >>>>>> would be doing is chopping the AC into really small chunks and they
> >>>>>> would average over the entire wave(s).
> >>>>>
> >>>>>that's pretty much how it would work.  But it is a lot easier with
D.C.
> >>>>>You would have to be really motivated to do it with A.C.
> >>>>
> >>>> There you go again ;-)
> >>>>
> >>>> Powering lamps designed for 120VAC with rectified 170 VDC (= 170
VRMS)
> > as
> >>>> you suggest is problematic because if the circuit were to ever stop
> >>>> chopping, the lamp would burn out right quick.
> >>>
> >>>You misunderstand.
> >>>
> >>>120vac sine wave == about +/-170v peak.  I was not suggesting creating
a
> >>>filtered 170vdc supply, just rectifying the 120vac sine wave.
> >>
> >>Of course you did. sylvan wrote:
> >>
> >> "That gets a bit ugly (and more expensive) if you intend to
> >> control 120vac.  (Of course, one could rectify the 120vac to
> >> create ca. 170vdc and use MOSFETs...)
> >>
> >>So you did in fact clearly and unambiguously  "suggest[] creating a
> >>filtered 170vdc supply".
>
> clearly and unambiguously "suggest"??  LOL.
>
> Did not.  :)
>
>
> >> It was this statement that I responded to. The
> >>record is crystal clear.
>
> Indeed it is...
>
>
> > In forty years of designing electronic circuits,
>
> Forty years...  So maybe you also started with vacuum tubes?  I tried to
> convice the professor they were irrelevent, but he wouldn't hear it.
> Still have never used that since then...
>
>
> > I've never seen the
> > shorthand "ca." to mean "rectified but not filtered".
>
> "ca." means "circa" as in "approximately."  As in, unless you know the
> exact A.C. peak voltage, and knowing that utility A.C. delivery
> tolerance is on the order of 10's of volts (RMS), and also not knowing
> the current vs Vf curve on the rectifier and of course not knowing the
> load, there really was no point is being any more precise than
> "approximately 170vdc."
>
> > But I suppose that is what you did mean.
>
> Yes, we've seen how you continually suppose the worst.
>
>
> > If one "[rectif[ies] the 120VAC to create ca. 170vdc and use MOSFETS",
and
> > don't also "filter" (add capacitance), you get 120Vrms which has a peak
> > voltage of 170v with 100% ripple.  And depending on how this is coupled
and
> > grounded (or not) it is either DC or AC. In this case, with respect to
earth
> > ground, it is DC sensu stricto (your point).
>
> Thank you, in the strictest sense.
>
> sdb
>
> --
> Wanted:  Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
> sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

I am the OP and been following this post into the ground. Why reinvent the
wheel, if not for just trying, its all been done before.
Anyway I went with Light-O-Rama. The clincher was the new support for X10
devices witch I was all ready using so I can still use them for the slow
stuff (1 min. or more) and the Light-O-Rama controllers for the fast stuff.
The prices are reasonable.
The program with coreographing for music is $100 and is well worth it. The
controllers are cheep considering. The high power 16 channel Kit is $160,
that's $10 per channel, as cheep as X10 but faster with more power. So for
$300 I am on my way to dancing lights.

The posters that have kept this thread going have wasted more than that in
there time and nothing was developed yet.

Thru out next year I will buy more kits and make more controllers until all
30,000 of my lights are on Light-O-Rama and I will not have to worry about
the zero crossing optimum frequency of a random program.

Andy