Homeliness, Tools and equipment
Dimmer for LED strip with remote control
LED tapes are increasingly used in the design of various objects, both inside and outside the room. They help to create both partial and basic lighting, highlighting the details. Connection takes place in a special way. For this, a dimmer is used for the LED strip. It controls the intensity of lighting and can be connected at home. To mount it on a tape, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the technology of its installation in the electrical circuit.
Features of LED strip management
To understand how to install a dimmer on an LED strip, you need to familiarize yourself with the principle of operation of such a system. LED strip is a semiconductor and has a number of specific qualities. One of them is a significant nonlinear current-voltage characteristic (VAC). The current flowing through the belt grows quite strongly, beginning with a certain threshold. This may cause the lighting device to burn out. Even with a slight drop in voltage on it, the tape may fail. Therefore, you can not connect directly to the network. Dimmer for LED tape is one of the possible solutions to this problem.
In the control circuit, devices that limit the electric current must be involved, making it stable and corresponding in value to the connected device. Sometimes powerful resistors are used for such purposes. But in this case, it will be wasted a lot of electrical power. In order for the circuit to work effectively, it is necessary to use a low-voltage stable current source, which is a dimmer, when connecting the LED strip with your own hands.
The principle of dimmer operation
The dimmer for LED strips is made as a separate module with an input voltage of 12, 24 Volts.
Manufacturers produce such lighting devices of a certain length, which usually does not exceed 5 m. If necessary, the tape is shortened by cutting it at certain points. But if you need to extend it, the next piece is not connected in parallel, but to the appropriate power supply or amplifier. Dimmer does not only enable and disable the lighting device, but also control the brightness of its luminescence.
Types of dimmers by control method
In addition to the fact that the control devices differ in power (there is a dimmer for LED tapes of 12 volts and 24 volts), they differ and the way of control. They come in the following types:
- With remote control;
- With keypad;
- Without a remote control;
- Built-in touch control;
- Setup via Wi-Fi from your phone.
In order to choose the correct control system, it is necessary to take into account the type of the dimmer itself, its remoteness from the console (it is necessary to calculate the distance from the frequent control point to the brightness adjustment device). The number of devices in the range of the remote control is also important. There are models in which it is possible to connect up to 10 dimmers. The overall dimensions of the remote also play an important role. Mini dimmer for LED strip is sometimes the most convenient among all types of adjustment.
Depending on the preferences to the level of comfort, choose a touch, push-button or portable control devices.
Management Characteristics
The dimmer without the remote control is adjusted by means of a mechanism built into its housing.
Dimmer with remote control for LED tape allows you to control the brightness of the product from a distance. This is a convenient method, especially if the tape is located high under the ceiling, on the cornice, etc.
If the design of the control device is selected for a high-tech style or its appearance is particularly attractive to the user, in-built touch panels are purchased. They are comparable in size to a light switch. But often have a set of additional functions.
To control the luminescence brightness at a considerable distance, use special software that is installed on the phone or tablet. This is very convenient for objects with a large number of tapes, located at a significant height, on the facades of the building, advertising signs.
Types of dimmers by voltage control method
By the method of adjusting the voltage variation, dimmers controlling the current through the load are distinguished, and others by means of pulse-width modulation (PWM).
More expensive and dimensional are control devices that change the voltage on the load. They are very rarely used for LED tapes, since they are not able to work at low voltages.
Most often, the scheme uses dimmers based on PWM. They are compact and manage their tasks quite effectively. At home, it's quite easy to implement LED control on the PWM principle. It will be able to even a person without much experience. For this, microcircuits of a small degree of integration are used.
Dimension matching of tape type
The dimmer for LED strips is connected in accordance with the type of device. There are single-channel and multi-channel connection schemes that correspond to the lighting tasks. To create different light effects, three- and two-channel dimmers are used.
For a RGB type tape, a three-channel control device is suitable. This type of cord has LEDs of three different colors, which when mixed give a white glow. For multi-colored lighting, they can work separately. Two-channel dimmers are used for luminophore tapes. In them, a special yellow layer is mixed with a powerful blue LED.
In monocrystalline white glow strips, one-channel brightness controls are used, which are included in the circuit after the power supply.
Advantages and disadvantages of PWM controllers
In order to understand how to connect the dimmer to the LED strip, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of PWM regulators.
After all, this type of control device is most often used for self-connecting cords.
Disadvantage of this type of dimmer is considered to be increased flickering at low brightness levels. The eye in this mode catches the oscillation of the glow. Such an effect can cause a headache and a poor psychophysiological condition, impairment of vision.
To avoid such a problem, it is necessary to use special microcontrollers in the circuit. They work in analog-digital mode.
Mounting the dimmer at home
To properly connect the dimmer for the LED strip with your own hands, you need to use a printed circuit board that is made of fiberglass with a foil. It measures 35x50 mm.
Initially, a connector for external circuits, as well as resistors. After that, diodes, capacitors, a microcircuit are added to the circuit. At the end of the process, it is necessary to solder the field-effect transistor. After this, it is necessary to remove the jumper, which is located on the terminals of the transistor. Otherwise, the entire system will burn immediately after power-up!
The dimmer is conveniently placed in a special plastic housing. For this purpose, a soap box is used, in which holes for the cable and a variable resistor are drilled.
Application
The self-assembled dimmer for LED strip can be used for a variety of purposes.
In emergency lighting of the object, when the power is supplied from the battery, the muffling of the glow of the tape makes it possible to significantly increase the operating time of the generator.
For RGB-tapes three different control devices are manufactured. This will create any shade to give the object an original appearance. This will replace, for example, a broken old controller.
Having familiarized with such a device as a dimmer for LED tape, you can easily assemble it at home. Based on the recommendations listed in the article, it will be easy to create unique lighting effects for any object outside or inside the room.
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