This dimmer design was a consequence of a recent house project to cover up all the
ceilings in my house with paneling to seal in the aspestos laden popcorn ceilings
that went out of style three decades ago. Part of that project was to install modern
recessed lighting (6 lights in the family room and the master bedroom; 4 lights in
all the other rooms). When a dimmer is part of the lighting installation, normally all
the lights in the room are controlled by the same dimmer. But I had the idea that it
would be kinda cool (and occationally useful) to be able to dim each light independently.
That would be somewhat impractical with traditional lights which are dimmed by
modulating the AC current that is powering the lights. But a relatively new type of
light allows you to dim the light with a separate control line which is independent
of the AC power. This type of light makes the idea slightly more practical.
Click on the skematic to see a larger image.
I will now discuss the parts used starting at the top of the diagram and working our way down.
I used the 4 inch lights shown on the left (purchased from Amazon) in two of the bedrooms and the hallways.
I used the 6 inch lights shown on the right for the rest of the house for even more brightness. However
even the 4 inch lights are surprisingly bright and most people would be satisfied with those in most
cases. I prefer very bright lights perhaps because of my aging 72 year old eyes, and with these dimmers
installed I never have to worry about too much brightness. These lights are available in even bigger
sizes but I didn't consider using them.
I bought the switches shown on the left because they were inexpensive and I liked the style and the fact
that they are illuminated when the switch is off. Amazon also sells a single pole version (about 10% cheaper)
as well as a single switch (for $9.69) if you don't need the 10 pack. This inexpensive switches worked well
for the rooms with 4 or 6 lights (a total of 60 to 120 watts). But in the kitchen and hallways, with just
2 of the four inch lights (a total of 30 watts), these switches did not work well. They are still safe and
effective in turning the lights on and off, however the switch illumination flickers. I believe this is because
the switch was designed to be used with higher wattage lights. The flickering is not dangerous, but it is
annoying, so in this low wattage situation I used the switch shown on the right. No flickering with those, the
only drawback is that this switch is more expensive. The 120VAC power is connected to the lights and the switch
using standard electrical practice appropriate for the electrical code in your area. (These lights and switches are also compatible with 240VAC and so no changes to this dimmer circuit are required if you live in a country
that uses 240VAC house wiring.)
The six 12 foot cables coming from the (pink and purple) light dimming wires use this cable shown
on the left. The picture on the right shows the 10 foot cable attached to one of the junction boxes
that comes with each light. (The aluminum conduit going off the left side of the picture is attached
to the lamp.) The black and white wires are connected to AC power with the two orange lug nuts, but
this was just temporary to test out the lamp and dimmer circuit. Of course when installed the white
and black wires would be feed thru a metal bushing inserted into one of the junction box openings.
Although I used the black cable shown on the right for later builds, this was the first one I built
and I used the white wire shown here which I happen to have laying around. The green wire normally
goes to the third wire ground but my home is older and was not built with a third wire ground
(except for a few circuits in the kitchen). So I just bundled up the green wire along with the pink
and purple dimming wires to keep it out of the way.
As you would expect, I used the red wire of the 2 conductor cable as well as the red wire of the JST
connectors (pictured below) for the positive 10V signal and the black wires for the ground (common).
You might guess that the pink dimmer wire (which looks somewhat close to red) from the lamp should
be connected to the red wire. But NO! The pink wire is actually the negative and so you should connect
it to the black wire of the cable and the purple wire is the positive and should be connected to the
red wire of the cable. (As you can see later, all the negative wires are connected together). If you
reversed the pink and purple, the purple wires would e connected together and the dimmer circuit would
not work. (In my opinion this was a poor choice of colors by the lamp manufacturer.)
As you can see from the picture on the right, the female JST connector is connected to the other end of
the 12 foot 2 conductor cable coming from the light. During installation, all six of these female JST
connectors will be gathered together near the light closest to the on/off switch where they will be
connected to the male JST connectors attached to the 7 wire cable shown below. Allthough my diagram calls
for all six of the 2 conductor cables to be 12 feet long I didn't actually build it that way. For a very
large room a few of the cables might need to be even longer. Also the lamp closest to the switch doesn't
really need a cable at all and the female JST connector could be connected directly to the pink and purple lamp
dimming wires.
Next it's time to build the ten foot 7 conductor cable. On one side of the cable I attached 6 male JST connectors.
The colored electrical tape just below each JST connector (on the picture to the right) are not covering up
any electrical connection. The tape is just there to identify the six different lamps. On the other side of the
ten foot cable I attached one of the IDC connectors shown below. I cut one of the cables in this set in half
and used one end or the other, split the 8 wires apart on the ribbon cable, stripped the insulation and soldered
it to the 7 conductors of the 10 foot cable and protected all the connections with shrink tubing. The first time
I built this cable I attached the 8 pin ribbon cable before installation. However it was too difficult to thread
the cable from the attach down to the switch box so I ended up cutton of the ribbon cable part, then twisted the
7 wires together to create the smallest footprint possible to snake the cable from the attic down to the switch box.
Once the cable was sticking thru the switch box, I reattached (soldered) the ribbon cable and again protected
it with shrink tubing.
note: More to follow ... I'm still working on finishing this page
dimmer/1.5K resistor.png
https://www.amazon.com/Resistor-Tolerance-Resistors-Limiting-Certificated/dp/B08QRW12B3/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2USDTYHNCUF01&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dypd1_FFfkUIDFYJPnX6YizlhSfXnWGe6tIDtKDfBd1MbjJtIXWW3LDpqlxgK0Aad1h9ljoUEGmXXdXg2l9fkkZQTr8ZIJvLIihXyhxdXLrj7xQXn4F6evDzp5LbXh9I_NMB_eAz5Cz2TfadKnbWwMSFVIG9A5fFKjWF1MDvKNkENc5F9rRVQDtAzNrqVazWeFPtduJlpUvflPIOFULSz6VkYdwajqw5zZ4FfyZMvqo.EO7T6CYrrkWb_GUHQl13ImBhLm0lcrVs4sPkYJSOZzs&dib_tag=se&keywords=1.5k%2Bohm%2Bresistor&qid=1770440453&sprefix=1.5k%2Caps%2C216&sr=8-8&th=1
dimmer\4 inch Light.png
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W5DLYR1?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1
dimmer\6 inch Light.png
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W5G36GJ?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1
dimmer\JST Connector.png
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8HYT91V?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3&th=1
dimmer\Ribbon Connector.png
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9J5VYP3?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1
dimmer\2 Conductor Cable.png
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV7WV8JW?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_9&th=1
dimmer\7 Conductor Cable.png
https://www.amazon.com/DEKIEVALE-Conductor-Electrical-Stranded-Extension/dp/B0D3WQ148X/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1LX8MOYSKOKXZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6A-KZrmxwilLKBFhE8S5DTGRvSK9h1xtnqzPodzFaKg5-5-VTy4UAf0hgxy2YHm1AN22jRhpuZOPsjKFsuR2s5M3y-fyGvt7IT-NKV1XOUby1V9PvnONuL45RWl5BL98u2f1O0el12QbYcQmJFhJnX_qQ5BsbEqVxKpKUa8T31ufqoc_o_zregjP7b982dBP1QAUwH4wln0iMLbnGxu83qtLMLgo0LYkGmJ1e3l7OjahfgFyHmmlz3S2p1Jag8rvf4waLiHHJitE254b06WzWunevZsKVC9wxEX9DYhlmX4.3pSJBGKS2QRgcew0EsLw8F-yzF0ZNE0U1fW3mjNX27c&dib_tag=se&keywords=22%2Bgauge%2B7%2Bconductor&qid=1770456989&s=industrial&sprefix=22%2Bgauge%2Bconductor%2Cindustrial%2C168&sr=1-6&th=1