Home Assistant Lighting Dimmer

ESP8266 based dimmer module specifically designed for Home Assistant. Easy to setup and fully customizable. This 1 Channel DIN Rail mounted dimmer is suitable for new builds and renovations, where lighting control is semi-centralized. This module uses the FL5150/60 Dimming IC to control timing and zero crossing, and dim level is set with a DAC, dim mode is also selectable. This is the first in a series with 4 and 8 channel dimmers to come.

[@thierry3610]

Very interesting indeed. I'll be keeping track of your progress on this range or products...

[@pingwuan_works]

Freaking AWESOME MAN considered me subbed can't wait to you release this!

[@Probsnawt]

Cool project, but I’m more interested in how you got 3ø at home 😍

[@CamStansell]

very cool

[@BradA25]

Hi Jimmy, really cool product! Will you be sharing the board design and code? I'd be keen to make some.

[@AshishEmbedd]

hey jimmy i was also working on same project like your can you please share more detail like circuit diagram and various challenges you faced in this project

[@raviteja8335]

Hi Jimmy, Are you facing any flickering while using with Trailing-Edge LEDs Drivers??? I tried your previous design, getting flicker with LED lights.

[@akshaythite5943]

Hello James, It's a very good circuit. Can you share me the schematic file so I can build the same at test it on my own.

[@saidboudkhil6393]

Hello, Thanks for this video, Can you share with me the PCB and circuit diagram of this project. Regards.

[@PatrickFelstead]

great project Jimmy. Impressed with your custom component too. Are you concerned about your dimmer not being certified in case of a fire and insurance claim etc? Much discussion about this issue on the Home Assistant forum under subject "Australia - Electrically Certified Hardware"

[@SparkyJames]

Thanks, my plan is to work toward getting it certified, would like it to be available to buy certifiied, as a Home Assist Dimmer and the exact same design available open source for those that want to make their own. Obviously a DIY model would have no certification

[@PatrickFelstead]

very cool and good luck, it's a lot of work getting them certified from what I've read of the standards!

[@JaccoBezemer]

Hey Jimmy, great product/project. I'am also in the process of making an AC dimmer but then for the Philips HUE system. My first version i made with a JN5168 (Zigbee) and a ATtiny85 for doing the zero cross detection and cutting the AC fase. The interface between the JN5168 and the ATtiny is also MCP4726. Then i came upon the FL5150 that does a very good job at dimming all kind of loads with less components then using a low power ZCD circuit and a ATtiny85. But i must say i have little luck with my first batch of five FL5150's. The first 2 didn't work (took my i while to figure that out), the third worked great for a while and the fourth and fifth also didn't work. How is your experience with this chip? And may i ask why you're using a 12V PSU and a 3.3V regulator. Why not use a 3.3V PSU?

[@SparkyJames]

I have had some fails, but the fl5150 so far works well and is quite low parts count, as you likely know, easy to use. The 12v is for the igbt , which needs at least 10v, the original design uses 17v on the gates. The 3.3 is for the esp module and the DAC. I did try to make my own PSU for it but it was complicated so I'm focusing on getting the dimmer work with off the shelf power. With the design in the data sheet the resistor that powers the fl5150 run very hot and uses quite a bit of power , so the 12v smps powers the everything including the wifi. I'm waiting on getting a differential probe, and I was going to do more testing to make sure everything is working ok with no weak links/failure points. It's been more complicated than I thought, but very interesting.

[@JaccoBezemer]

@Jimmy James Thanks for your reply. Ok, so you’re feeding pin 6 with the HLK-2M12? I agree that things are more complicated then initially thought. A differential scope would indeed be a great tool to see what is going on. Success with your efforts to tune and optimize this great product.

[@isaacbreuer6017]

Great project, why is all dimmers I have seen caped in terms of watts, yours has a 1amp fuse , I am currently using Shelly's wih is limited to 220 wats, an I struggle with a large led strip totaling around 250w.

[@SparkyJames]

It comes down to you need surface area to disappate the heat generated from switching and the power supply to run the wifi module. The Shelly is just too small to have a large load, but its size is it's advantage, perfect to add a dimmer to a room with a few lights.

[@theironcobra89]

Out of curiosity, what ADF web protocol converter are you using? different system integrated into HA?

[@theironcobra89]

Disregard, jut watched the Zen control video. Funny, I was looking at integrating Dali someway into HA as well! Good luck!

[@JamesEggleston]

It is a DALI to MQTT, I wasn't very impressed with it. I have just got a HASSEB DALI interface which was cheaper and works much better, but it's not MQTT it does have a python library though so it should be possible to get something working with Home Assistant. I am working on another video that should be very interesting its an open source wired protocol am testing it out with this dimmer, so look out for that video soon.

[@theironcobra89]

@@JamesEggleston sounds awesome! I'll keep an eye out!

[@mutaharalshami7671]

Hi Jimmy, how did you solve the issue of the resistor getting very hot in your in this latest revision, i see you have completely removed the KSP44 transisitor! Please share you soultion to that issue if you can.

[@SparkyJames]

Hi Mutahar, I have powered the device with a 12v 2w isolated supply instead. It works really well. But it’s quite large in size. The 12v supply also runs the esp8285, module. Btw the module I used is pin compatible with the new one from ai thinker esp32-c3 so you could use that and you wouldn’t need the dac, the downside is that you can never get 100% power with out 5v from the dac. I sort of stopped working on it when the Shelly dimmer came out. The other problem it it doesn’t scale, you can’t cost effectively make a 4 channel dimmer with one mcu with trailing edge dimming in general because each channel need control side isolation. I also had trouble with mains side interference between channel and would say it need some sort of filtering, which sort of got out of my area of knowledge.

[@freakysuwin]

whats the i2c ic that you used there????? in the fl5150 there is 0ffset potentiometer. did you remove that also???

[@SparkyJames]

It is an mcp4716a0t-e/ch DAC, it replaces the 2 Potentiometers that you see in the datasheet. Not all I2C DAC will work, you can use a ESP32 as well as they have a builtin DAC, DO NOT POWER THE ESP32 FROM YOUR PC if you use it, it'll fry your computer, probably. Remember this entire circuit is at mains potential, even 3.3v parts when it is operating, so be careful, and use an RCD protected circuit to power it.

[@freakysuwin]

@@SparkyJames Thank you very much!!@

[@freakysuwin]

@@SparkyJames i am using ADUM 1251 i2c digital isolator to isolate the mains from the esp 32. Still in testing phase. Hope it will work

[@sudrao143]

Hi, Can you share project pcb and code

[@SparkyJames]

Hi I will soon, I'm just waiting for one part to arrive to test a multi channel dimmer if it works ok, I'll post the files for both of them.

[@ahmedayman2164]

Can you share the diagram please 🙏

[@SparkyJames]

oshwlab.com/james_6977/17v-ac-dc-converter-240v-input_copy Is the lastest I've done so far, it has a 240v switch input to activate the dimmer, I think the input circuit is overly complicated, you don;t need the NPN Transistor, I was hoping to simplify it. I have an optocoupler in use, which is required, as I have an issue with grounds causing a short through the IGBT ground for switching the mosfets which I haven't fully worked out a better way yet. But it does work I've had 4 of them working regularly for over a year with no problem.