I have several (Cree LED bulbs) that I would like to dim via microcontroller. According to Cree the bulbs are dimmable with compatible dimmers. A local hardware store here in Canada has one of the listed dimmers in a convenient form factor (Lutron TTCL-100LH-WH-C). The dimming control in the particular product is a slider. The goal is to try to spoof the slider signal so it can be controlled remotely via microcontroller.
Does anyone have an experience how the dial controls of LED dimmers interface with the control circuitry? I'm hoping that the slider acts like a potentiometer and outputs a linear voltage to the control circuitry. This would mean that I can easily drive it with PWM + low pass filter or external DAC.
Hoping to get some feedback before cutting into one these modules. Has anyone done a teardown on these devices? Thanks.
Best Answer
The drive circuitry in dimmable CFL/LED bulbs detects the "truncated" sine waveform in the supply line generated by classic DIAC-TRIAC dimmers and converts it to the appropriate mechanism for dimming the given light generation technology. So yes, generation of this modified sine waveform by a MCU in the supply will also cause these bulbs to dim.