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A project log for Custom ESP8266 4 channel 0-10 dimmer

Smart dimmer for 0-10v lights without needing 4+ devices on wifi

brandonbrandon 02/13/2022 at 01:070 Comments

I have been using these dimmer for some months. I have finally managed to get my hand on a google home and found that google homes do not work with generic smart devices. I attempted to set it up with IFTTT but either I could not figure it out or it does not support dimming things, but it seems like google home support with this is dubious at best. The code uses the ESPALEXA library for the ESP which doesn't seem to have a good way of interfacing with anything else.

Few other problems is that the zero point adjust seems to drift. A few of my lights don't shut off decisively. It is annoying to go up in the ceiling to adjust them, so I haven't bothered yet but to me that is unacceptable. It takes anywhere from half a second to multiple seconds for a couple of them to turn off. 

I don't think I'm going to put much more work into this project or code and I don't think it is up to my level of quality to make these for others. Maybe in the future I will revisit it. I think when I do that I will make it so that the light modules are addressable so that the zero point can be configured in software instead of needing to go to every light to adjust it. 

I saw a post recently about using some small wireless modules for distributed sensors, so that would probably work great. The modules could be powered by the light's AC supply. It would be more expensive per light due to needing a 120VAC to DC power supply for each module, but a solution to that would be to have a single power supply module in the control unit and still use ethernet cabling to power each of the light modules. That would also possibly negate the use of wireless since I could use a pair of that for communication. Some sort of CAN bus like system. 

I'm busy with a few other projects, but I will probably revisit DIY controllable smart dimming in the future.

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