Almost every light dimmer available at typical electrical supply stores can only handle a limited amount of electricity.
The power handling capacity is typically a few hundred watts. A power of up to 1 kW can be controlled by the simple dimmer circuit shown below.
With regard to the circuit's specifics, barely anything has to be described.
High Power Light Dimmer Overview
So this high-power light dimmer is pretty cool because it has a triac, a single diac, and an RC network all working together.
What is neat is that you can actually fix the period for how long the capacitor C2 charges and discharges by using this thing called a potentiometer P1.
It gives you some control over the dimming!
Now to keep things nice and quiet—like, no annoying noise disturbances or sudden spikes in power—there are two components at play: capacitor C1 and inductor L1.
They work together to smooth everything out.
How to Set It Up
When you are getting ready to set up this circuit, the first thing you want to do is adjust pot P1 all the way up to its maximum resistance.
After that you will need to fiddle with preset P2 until the lamp that you have connected is just about to turn off.
You want it right on that edge!
Oh and if you are planning on using a lamp that is over 100 watts make sure to attach the triac to a heatsink.
This heatsink should have a heat transfer specification rate of around 6 °C/W to keep everything cool.
If you are using this circuit as a 1000-watt dimmer then you will want the suppressor coil L1 to be rated for handling a current of 5 amps with an inductance value that can go up to 40uH.
Also do not forget about fuse F1—it needs to be rated at 6.3 amps.
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