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Lamp / Light Control Circuits
Lamp Controls:   #'s - B       C - K       L - M       N - S       T-Z


Last Updated: June 02, 2021 01:45 PM

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Circuits Designed by Dave Johnson, P.E. :

Night Light from White LEDAs many of you know, I have a pet peeve with poorly made LED night lights.  Often, the light from the LED quickly fades, so within months, the light is useless.  I have posted several versions of modified night lights using higher quality components. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-November, 2008

One-Watt White LED Night LightAs many of you know, I have a pet peeve with poorly made LED night lights.  Often, the light from the LED quickly fades, so within months, the light is useless.  I have posted several versions of modified night lights using higher quality components.  This circuit is yet another version, which produces much more light than those other designs. . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David A. Johnson P.E.-November, 2008

Optical Filter using Color Film NegativeThis isn’t an electronic circuit but the file shows the curve for an optical filter made from exposed color film.  The material blocks most visible light but is very transparent to 880nM infrared light.  Kodak 100ASA is exposed to "cool white" fluorescent light for about 5 seconds . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David A. Johnson P.E.-January, 1998

Pushbutton Controlled Up/Down Ramping LightThere are times when you want a lamp to gradually change from dark to light and from light to dark, with each push of a pushbutton switch.  The circuit below performs this control function using a flip/flop and a classic pulse width modulation or PWM. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-March, 2009

Ramping Lamp DriverThis circuit drives any 12v lamp, incandescent or LED type, in a ramping fashion.  Each press of the button toggles the lamp from a fully off mode to a fully on mode.  But, instead of an instantaneous lamp intensity change, the power is slowly ramped up a . . . Hobby Circuit designed by Dave Johnson P.E.-December, 2007

Ramping LED DriverThe circuit below was designed to drive a LED with an intensity ramping mode.  Two 555 timers generate two different triangle waveforms.  The upper device generates a 10KHz signal while the lower unit produces a 1Hz signal.  The two signals are fed to a. . . Circuit by Dave Johnson P.E.-December, 2007

Reduced Power Sequential LED FlasherThe 74HC4017 is a neat decade counter which has 10 decoded outputs.  When supplied with a low frequency clock and with a LED attached to each of the outputs, an interesting ten step sequential flasher effect can be produced.  The LEDs can be configured in . . . Hobby Circuit designed by Dave Johnson P.E.-November, 2008

Revisited-Model Train Lighthouse FlasherThis was originally designed for a model in a HO train set.  It simulates the behavior of the light from a lighthouse.  The LED intensity gradually increases, then flashes with a bright light and finally decreases slowly in intensity . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David Johnson P.E.-July, 2006

Safety LightMy 1200 square foot metal shop only has one small entrance door and no skylights.  If the lights are turn off while inside, there is not enough light to safely find the door to exit the building.  On a couple occasions, while I was quietly working at my test bench, my wife would walk into the shop, grab a garden tool and rush back out, turning off the lights and closing the door without thinking . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David A. Johnson P.E.-November, 2004

Shop Safety LightMy 1200 square foot metal shop only has one small entrance door and no skylights.  If the lights are turn off while inside, there is not enough light to safely find the door to exit the building.  On a couple occasions, while I was quietly working at my test bench, my wife would walk into the shop, grab a garden tool and rush back out, turning off the lights and closing the door without thinking . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David Johnson P.E.-November, 2004

Simple Circuit for White LED Night LightThis simple circuit is designed to plug into a standard AC electrical outlet.  It uses four super bright white light emitting diodes (LED) in conjunction with a capacitor coupled full wave rectifier circuit. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-July, 2003

Sound Triggered Night LightA while back, I received a schematic from a guy by the name of Karl.  He described a situation he and his wife found themselves in aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean.  They were staying in a room toward the inside of the ship, which did not have any port holes, windows or a balcony. . . Circuit by David A. Johnson P.E.-August, 2013

Super Bright 3v Powered LED FlasherI have posted several kinds of LED flashers over the years.   This is yet one more flasher, designed to flash any high power LED of any color.  It hits the LED with a 25ms 250ma pulse once every 2 seconds.   This works out to an average current about 3ma.  It. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-April, 2009


Links to electronic circuits, electronic schematics and designs for engineers, hobbyists, students & inventors:

Solar Charged LED Utility Light -  Tired of always spending money on flashlight batteries only to have them fail just when you need them? Try this simple circuit out.  It would make an excellent science fair project.  The white LEDs are quite bright, they provide enough light to illuminate a small room at night.  The LEDs produce a nicely focused beam.  You can read by the light of this device.   __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Flasher -  This circuit is a single transistor flyback  (Joule Thief) circuit that features a third coil.  With it, flash duration and brightness is much enhanced, without resorting to large value capacitors.  The performance can be seen in the following Videos  (on Youtube) : http://www.  youtube.  com/watch?v=tgcYcPdBwNo __ Designed by QS

Solar Lamp with Variable Power Supply & Charger -  A simple circuit of a solar lamp with variable power supply and charger is described here.  It is useful where mains power failure is frequent.  The power supply can be used...__ Electronics Projects for You

Solar Light for a Portable Toilet -  Despite being more expensive than standard permanent outdoor toilets, portable toilets  (Fig.1) have several significant benefits as these are self-contained and can be placed almost anywhere.  These days portable toilets...__ Electronics Projects for You

Solar Lighting SystE - M -  The world cannot continue to rely for long on fossil fuels for its energy requirements.  Fossil fuel reserves are limited.  In addition, when burnt, these add to global warming, air pollution...__ Electronics Projects for You

Solar Powered Reading Lamp -  The goal of this project was to produce a self contained reading lamp that could be used by students in developing countries for reading at night.  The circuit can be used for a wide variety of lighting applications __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Shed Lighting Testing -  Analysis of a typical solar shed LED lighting circuit.   __ Designed by REUK-Renewable Energy UK website

Solar-Powered Lighting SystE - M -  Need lighting away from a power source? Try this one: it's ideal for your garden, shed or even a camp site.  With a 5W solar panel, a 12V SLA battery and a smart controller, it has 3-stage charging for the battery and Maximum Power Point Tracking    (MPPT) for the solar panel.__ SiliconChip

Solar-Powered Lighting System, Pt.2 -  Last month we described the operation of our new off-grid lighting system, featuring free power courtesy of the sun! Now we move on to the fun part: building it!__ SiliconChip

Solar-Powered Pedestal Lighting SystE - M -  This solar-powered pedestal lighting system uses power LEDs for lighting.  Solar energy is first converted into DC electricity by a solar photovoltaic cell and used to charge a storage battery.__ Electronics Projects for You

Solid State 120 VAC Lamp Chaser -  This circuit is basically the same as the 10 channel LED sequencer with the addition of solid state relays to control the AC lamps.  The relay shown in the diagram is a Radio Shack 3 amp unit    (part no.275-310) that requires 1.2 volts DC to activate.  No current spec was given but I assume it needs just a few __ Designed by Bill Bowden

Solid-State Flasher Has Short-Circuit Protection -  01/16/97 EDN-Design Ideas The circuit in Figure 1 switches an inductive or resistive grounded load using a bootstrapped, n-channel, power MOSFET.  The circuit features short-circuit, reverse-polarity, and transient-input-voltage-spike protection.  The input voltage, VDD, can vary from about 18 to 30V, and the circuit can handle as much as approximately 10A with proper heat sinking of the FET.  The circuit flashes at a rate of about 100 flashes/minute, with a duty cycle of about 47%.  You can use this circuit as a solid-state flasher for vehicles with 24V nominal-power systems. Design by Navdhish Gupta, TDF Corp, Naperville, IL

Solidstate Signal Lamp -  This solidstate signal lamp is a good alternative to revolving mechanical signaling lamps used in ambulances. It uses ultra-bright blue LEDs for signaling. However, you can replace blue LEDs with bright

Sound Triggered Night Light -  A while back, I received a schematic from a guy by the name of Karl.  He described a situation he and his wife found themselves in aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean.  They were staying in a room toward the inside of the ship, which did not have any port holes, windows or a balcony. . . Circuit by David A. Johnson P.E.-August, 2013

Sound-Operated Switch for Lamps -  This inexpensive, fully transistorised switch is very sensitive to sound signals and turns on a lamp when you clap within 1.5 metres of the switch.  One of its interesting applications is...__ Electronics Projects for You

Special Effects from a Six Pack -  Four channel Sequencer to Analog Dimmers and idea how to couple relay to the circuit

Strobe from Flash -  After using a disposable camera, you can build a strobe light  (flashing light) with one simple modification.   (6/02/2006)  __ Designed by Jose Pino

Strobe Light -  A xenon flash tube is a triggered gas discharge device.  A voltage may be impressed across the tube and it will not conduct until the xenon gas is ionised by an external high voltage  (typically 3 to 5kV) .  Once triggered, the gas becomes a very low impedance, and discharges the storage capacitors in about 1ms  (this varies considerably, but this figure is fine for basic calculations)  __ Designed by Rod Elliott  ESP

Strobe Light -  Disco anyone? Actually, this strobe serves a much more useful purpose then making it look cool when you dance in the dark.  You can use it to view fast moving objects, look for craks in PC boards  (hold the strobe on the trace side of the board and look from the component side) , and it is a great attention getter in a store window __ Designed by Aaron Cake

Strobe Light 12 Volt Coil Powered -  This circuit will give provide a Good Strobe Effect for a variety of
Portable Uses.  Nominal current draw is "up to about" 1 amp at 12 volts.  Depending on value of capacitor on pin 2 of the 555 and the particular choke that is used.  The .01 cap on pin 2 of the 555 may be slightly changed in value to optomize the output drive to the 22 mfd capacitor.   __ Designed by G.L. Chemelec

Strobe Trigger -  These pictures are scenes frozen by a flash unit that is triggered by the action being recorded.  They were made by setting up a shot, opening the camera shutter using its "bulb" setting, and carrying out some action that opened or closed a circuit to trigger the flash.  The balloon pictures were taken by triggering the flash when the balloon began to shrink after being popped.  In most cases the balloon had a strip of foil attached to it with probes pressed against it on two sides, with a circuit interrupted when the foil pulled away from the probes __ Designed by John DuBois

Strobex Schematic -  Schematic only for a Variable Intensity Variable Speed Stroboscop, no circuit description given.   __ Designed by Samuel M. Goldwasser

Strobo Control -  Remote controller for professional lighting system stroboscope, controls the flashing speed.   __ Designed by Tomi Engdahl

Strobo Disco Light using Standard Tube Lamp (TL) -  Using a standard fluorescent tube lamp  (TL) , you can make your own disco light, similar to a stroboscope light.  You can even use a half-broken lamp, which one side of the heating filaments has broken.  This circuit use only one side heating filament inside the tube.  Look at the circuit’s schematic below.

Stroboscope -  The 220v supply is rectified and then used to charge the two 3µ* capacitors.  The 1µ capacitor also charges  (more slowly) through the 150k resistor and 1M variable resistor.  When the voltage across the 1µ capacitor is high enough to cause the diacs to conduct, the thyristor is triggered.  This produces a high voltage "pulse" at the secondary of the transformer.  This pulse causes the tube to conduct and a flash of light is produced.  __ Acknowledgements The stroboscope was taken from an excellent French electronics magazine  sadly, no longer published called "Elex"

Stroboscope triggers -  This circuit typically uses a voltage around 300 volts for the main high voltage supply and needs a low voltage supply of typically 6 to 15 volts.   __ Designed by Don Klipstein

Sunrise Lamp using 120VAC 60 Watt Lamp -  In this circuit, a 120VAC lamp is slowly illuminated over a approximate 20 minute period.  The bridge rectifier supplies 120 DC to the MOSFET and 60 watt lamp.  A 6.2K, 5 watt resistor and zener diode is used to drop the voltage to 12 volts DC for the circuit power.  The bridge rectifier should be rated at 200 volts and __ Designed by Bill Bowden

Sunset Lamp -  LDR-based automatic lights flicker due to the change in light intensity at dawn and dusk.  So compact fluorescent lamps  (CFLs) are unsuitable in such circuits as flickering may damage the electronic...__ Electronics Projects for You

Sun-Up Alarm -  The SunUp Alarm can be used to provide a audible alarm for when the sun comes up or it can be used in a dark area and detect when a light comes on.  It can also be used to detect a light beam, headlights etc.  The circuit works as follows.  The phototransistor is very sensitive to light.   (Any phototransistor will work fine)  __ Designed by Randy Linscott

Super Bright 3v Powered LED Flasher -  I have posted several kinds of LED flashers over the years.   This is yet one more flasher, designed to flash any high power LED of any color.  It hits the LED with a 25ms 250ma pulse once every 2 seconds.   This works out to an average current about 3ma.  It. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-April, 2009

Super Simple Circuit Flasher -  File contains several designs, please scroll to find this circuit.  Here is a simple flasher circuit that uses no resistors! However, it relies on leakage in the base of the PNP germanium transistor and only some will work; be prepared to try a few.  If you add a 100k resistor from the base to the collector of the PNP, the circuit will work with most germanium transistors and will work down to 1 VDC! The NPN should be a silicon type.  The 100 uF may be replaced with a 22uF in series with a 5k resistor and it would be a good idea to add 39 ohms in series with the base of the NPN  (but then the circuit starts to lose its charming simplicity) .   __ Contact: Charles Wenzel of Wenzel Associates, Inc.

Switch controls lights -  04/07/11  EDN-Design Ideas Cities and towns worldwide are considering and installing LED streetlights to help save electric energy, reduce costs, protect the environment, and improve lighting for their citizens.  Despite this trend, the lamps’ turn-on/turn-off time control is receiv Design by C Castro-Miguens, University of Vigo, Spain, and JB Castro-Miguens, Cesinel, Madrid, Spain; Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville

Switching Regulator Controls CCFT -  02/16/95 EDN-Design Ideas You can control the current in a cold-cathode fluorescent tube (CCFT]and, hence, its brightness with a switching-regulator IC Design by Doug Vargha, Maxim Integrated Products Sunnyvale, CA

Switching regulator turns into light source -  07/17/97 EDN-Design Ideas Simple external feedback circuit transforms a switching regulator into a constant-intensity light source Design by Donald V Comiskey Jr, Power Trends Inc, Warrenville , I - L

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