Electronic load power regulators. Thyristor power regulator: circuit, principle of operation and application Variants of regulator circuits

The use of modern circuit technology using simple original solutions on traditional element base and on new small-sized microcircuits allows us to produce compact and easy-to-use high power regulators. This article describes several simple designs of load power regulators up to 5 kW, which can be easily made from available parts.

Electronic power regulatorsloads are currently widely used in industry and everyday life forsmooth regulation of the rotation speed of electric motors, temperature of heating devices, intensity of room lighting with electric lamps, setting the required welding current, adjusting the charging current of batteries, etc. Previously, bulky transformers and autotransformers with stepwise or smooth switching of the turns of their windings working on the load were used for this. Electronic regulators are more compact, easy to use and light in weight with significantly greater power. Basically, the executive elements of electronic AC power regulators are: thyristor, triac and optothyristor, the latter is controlled through an optocoupler built into it, which eliminates the galvanic connection between the control circuit and the power supply network.

Power regulation by these elements is based on changing the switching phase of the triac in each half-wave of the sinusoidal voltage by the control circuit. As a result, the voltage waveform at the load is “cuts” of half-waves of a sinusoid with steep fronts (Fig. 1).In this case, the voltage waveform on the power regulator itself has the form shown in Fig. 2. This signal form has a wide range of harmonics, which, propagating through electrical wiring, can interfere with electronic devices: televisions, computers, sound-reproducing equipment, etc. In this regard, RC or RLC filters are installed at the network inputs of such power regulators.

Fig.1

In practice, all currently produced electronic household devices and computers have their own built-in network filters, thanks to which interference from power regulators may not affect the operation of these electronic devices. The author tested various power regulators without their own network filters in rooms where a TV,

Fig.2

Computer, FM receiver and DVD player with UMZCH No interference was observed on this equipment, but this does not mean that filters are not needed at all. These power regulators can interfere with the electronic equipment of neighbors in the entrance. Practical studies of the propagation of interference along electrical wiring in adjacent rooms using an oscilloscope showed that when regulating load power up to 2 kW, an RC filter is sufficient, which is confirmed by circuit diagrams of industrial products. For higher power regulators, it is necessary to connect an LC filter after the RC filter,

Fig.3

Fig.4

The schematic diagram of the mains filter for an industrial power regulator up to 4 kW type RT-4 UHL4.2 220V-1 P30 is shown in Fig. 3,installation of the regulator - in Fig. 4. Each coil contains 90 turns of PEV-2 wire with a diameter of 1.5 mm, wound in two layers on a frame, inside of which there is a ferrite core with a permeability F600 with a diameter of 8 mm. The inductance of the coil is 0.25 mH. Power regulators without filters can be used in garages, individual utility rooms, cottages, etc., that is, away from neighbors. If the power regulator is a separate product and is intended to connect loads of different power, it is important for users to know that with the same position of the regulator knob, different loads will have different voltages. For this reason, the power regulator must be set to zero before connecting the load. If necessary, you can control the voltage on the load using a separate or built-in voltmeter.

On the Internet and electrical magazines there are many different circuits of electronic load power regulators with almost the same functions, but there are also other circuit solutions, for examplenon-interfering regulators. These regulators produce bursts of sinusoidal currents, the duration of which regulates the power in the load. The circuits of such regulators are relatively complex and can be used in some special cases. The use of such regulators in industry has not been encountered. The vast majority of power regulators are built on the principle of phase control of current in the load. The main difference is the control circuits for thyristors and triacs. The power part consists of practically three options: a thyristor in the diagonal diode bridge, two back-to-back thyristors and a triac. Control circuits are various options based on transistors, microcircuits, dinistors, gas-discharge devices, unijunction transistors, etc., some of which are given in [1-6]. Such circuits contain many parts and are relatively complex to manufacture and set up.

Thyristor regulators

The simplest and most widely used power regulator was a thyristor regulator connected to the diagonal of the diode bridge and with a simple control circuit (Fig. 5). The principle of operation of this regulator is very simple: while capacitor C2 is charged through R2 and R4, the thyristor is locked, when the unlocking voltage is reached at C2, the thyristor opens and passes current into the load, and C2 is quickly discharged through a low

Fig. 5 power regulator on a thyristor

open thyristor resistance. When the sinusoidal network voltage passes through zero, the thyristor turns off and waits for a new increase in the voltage on C2. The more time C2 is charged, the less time the thyristor is in the open state and the less current in the load. The smaller the value of R4, the faster C2 is charged and the more current is passed into the load. The advantage of this circuit is that, regardless of the parameters of a working thyristor, the positive and negative current pulses in the load are always symmetrical, as well as the presence of only one thyristor, which were in short supply when they appeared. The disadvantage is the presence of four powerful diodes, which, together with the thyristor and coolers, significantly increases the dimensions of the regulator. Power regulators based on back-to-back thyristors are more compact and twice as powerful. Using two KU202N thyristors with a simple control circuit, a load power regulator of up to 4 kW is obtained, which the author has been using for a long time in a high-power heater.

The schematic diagram of such a regulator with a line filter is shown in Fig. 6. The disadvantage of such circuits is the asymmetry of positive and negative current pulses in the load when the thyristor parameters vary.

Fig.6

The asymmetry manifests itself in the initial stage of opening the thyristors. For heating devices and power tools with commutator motors, this asymmetry does not play a practical role, and lighting devices, when their brightness decreases, begin to blink, since pulses of some polarity disappear altogether. To eliminate this drawback, it is necessary to select thyristors with identical parameters for the opening current and holding current of thyristors from a technological direct current source at the appropriate load, or by selecting a second thyristor based on the absence of lamp blinking at minimum filament heat.

One of the varieties of thyristors are optothyristors, to control which, when connected in back-to-back parallel mode, the control principle of the circuit in Fig. 5 can be applied.with separation of positive and negative control pulses using diodes or dinistors.

A practical schematic diagram of such a load power regulator up to 5 kW is shown in Fig. 7.This regulator is used by the author to adjust the welding current and operating modes of other powerful electrical devices. The power regulator is equipped with a dial indicator of voltage at the load, which increases the convenience of its operation. In Fig.8a dial indicator (pos. 1) is visible, on which parts of its rectifier and filter are glued. The regulator does not have a surge protector, as it is used either in the country house or in the garage. If necessary, you can use a filter, the diagram of which is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 7, diagram of a power regulator using optothyristors

Fig.8

Regulators on triacs

Of particular interest are modern circuits of power regulators using triacs. Traditional triac control circuits contain relatively many parts, as can be clearly seen on the industrial regulator circuit board shown in Fig. 4.For example, a microcircuitKR1167KP1B outputs control pulses to the control electrode of the triac, shown on the oscillogram (Fig. 9).A schematic diagram of a power regulator using this microcircuit, common among Zaporozhye electricians, is shown in Fig. 10. This heatsinkless power regulator for VS1 can handle loads up to 200W

Fig.9

(Fig. 11), and with a radiator with an area of ​​at least 100 cm 2 - up to 2 kW. It turned out that this scheme can be further simplified without loss of quality. A simplified diagram of a regulator with this microcircuit is shown in Fig. 12.When using serviceable parts, these circuits do not require adjustment.

Fig. 10, power regulator circuit using triacs

In the manufacture of regulators for bedside lamps, it turned out that some triacs and microcircuits have defects that affect the symmetry of the pulses and, accordingly, the uniformity of the lamp glow adjustment, and even lead to their

Fig.11

blinking. Resoldering parts on a printed circuit board is an unpleasant procedure and leads to its damage. In this regard, a test board was made according to the diagram in Fig. 10(without R1 and C1) with a socket for a single-row microcircuit, which solved these problems. Regulators are soldered to contacts 1-2 of the printed circuit board.

Rice. 12

polishing resistor R5. An incandescent lamp is connected as a load. Before installing parts for testing, the board must be disconnected from the power supply.

Based on the diagram in Fig. 11, a portable process controller for various works was manufactured. Installation of parts is shown in the photoat the beginning of the article (the bottom cover is removed). The circuit is assembled in an aluminum case, which also serves as a triac cooler, isolated from the case by a mica gasket and a special insulating washer. After attaching the triac, it is imperative to check the insulation resistance between its anode and the case, which must be at least 1 MOhm. This regulator, when tested for two hours, worked normally without heating the case to a load of 500 W.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the load power regulators assembled according to the diagrams in Fig. 6 and Fig. 10, tested by long-term operation, are the most optimal in terms of reliability, compactness, simplicity of parts, installation and commissioning. With small variations in thyristor parameters and asymmetry in triac parameters, these regulators can operate on all types of loads of appropriate power, except for lighting devices. Deviations of resistor and capacitor values ​​from those indicated in the diagrams by 10...20% do not affect the operation of the regulators. The above control circuits can also work with more powerful thyristors and triacs in power regulators for loads up to 5 kW. Power regulator according to the diagram in Fig. 12 is recommended for use for lighting devices with a power of up to 100 W without a heat sink. The operation of this regulator for other types of loads has not been tested, but presumably it should not be worse than the regulator assembled according to the diagram in Fig. 10 .

A.N. Zhurenkov

Literature

1. Zolotarev S. Power regulator // Radio. -1989. - No. 11.

2. Karapetyants V. Improvement of the power controller // Radio. - 1986. -№11.

3. Leontiev A., Lukash S. Voltage regulator with phase-pulse control // Radio -1992. - No. 9.

4. Biryukov S. Two-channel triac regulator // Radio. - 2000. - No. 2.

5 . Zorin S. Power regulator // Radio. -2000. - № 8 .

6. Zhurenkov A. Hair dryer with electronic power regulator // Electrician. - 2009. - No. 1-2.

7. Zhurenkov A. High-power heater // Electric. - 2009. - No. 9.

I welcome everyone who stopped by. The review will focus, as you probably already guessed, on a very useful power regulator/dimmer, designed for 2000W and allowing you to adjust the output power of various devices. The adapter is very useful in everyday life, it has a lot of applications, so if anyone is interested, you are welcome under the cat...
Upd, added a couple of tests with a higher load

General form:


Brief technical characteristics:
- Maximum power – 2000W
- Supply voltage – 50-220V
- Housing - no
- Dimensions - 52mm*50mm*30mm
- Weight – 41g

Dimensions:

The power controller/dimmer comes in a standard bag and is small in size. Here is a comparison with a thousand dollar note and a box of matches:




Appearance:

The regulator has only one working element, which allows you to change the output power more or less:


The number of parts is small, the soldering is good, the flux has been washed off:


To connect to the network/devices, a terminal block with protective sides is soldered on the board:


The connection is simple: two left terminals (IN) for connecting to a 220V network, two right terminals (OUT) for connecting a load.
Unfortunately, the device does not have any housing, so be careful when using it in this form!

Testing:

As an example, let's try to regulate the power of the EPCN-40 soldering iron, with a power of 40W:


We will monitor the parameters with a homemade wattmeter:


In nominal mode, the soldering iron consumes about 39W:


The minimum possible power with this regulator was 10W:


The maximum possible power through the regulator is 38W:


The difference of 1-2W can be offset by losses in additional wires and different input voltages, i.e. When the regulator is set to MAX, the output power is almost unlimited.
Many people will ask, why change the power of the soldering iron. My answer is to minimize tip burnout. With much smaller tip sizes or high soldering iron power, if it is left in the “standby” mode for a long time, the tip “burns out.” If you constantly turn off the power to the soldering iron, you will need to wait several minutes for it to heat up to the desired temperature again. Agree – it’s not very convenient. This regulator, in turn, only slightly reduces the temperature and, if necessary, in order to bring the soldering iron parameters to nominal, it will take much less time than with full heating. At the same time, the wear of the tip is small; it warms up to the nominal temperature in half a minute. In the photo below the power is set to about 30W:


At the request of readers, I am adding a small test with a more powerful load, which is a KLT-3A hot air gun. A homemade wattmeter was connected to the output of the regulator.
With a load of 700W (the regulator slider is set to MAX), the triac radiator is warm, in 5 minutes it heated up to 35°C:


It can work in this mode for a long time. In the second mode of the hot air gun (control slider at MAX), the temperature reached 50°C in a minute. The power was about 1350W:


With such power, this radiator is not enough for long-term operation; it is necessary to attach a more massive radiator or active cooling (cooler). In my opinion, up to 800-900W you can use the regulator “as is”; at higher powers and long-term operating modes, the cooling needs to be modified!
A couple more examples, the regulator is set to the middle position:


Slightly above average:


Very common applications of the regulator:
- Change in revolutions of commutator motors:
Suitable as a budget regulator for most power tools (angle grinders/grinders, drills, hammer drills, planes, sanders). A very convenient thing for models that do not have a built-in speed controller or soft start systems, for example, the same budget angle grinders with a nominal spindle speed of 11,000 rpm. The only thing you need to remember is that as power decreases, the torque on the shaft also decreases, plus the cooling system is designed for rated speeds and will not cool properly at reduced speeds. There is a risk of burning the instrument due to overheating
- Adjusting the power of lighting lamps is an irreplaceable thing when turning off a certain group of lamps is unacceptable. The regulator allows you to smoothly change the brightness of the glow in the right place
- Adjusting the power of heating devices: heating elements, soldering irons

Total, the regulator is good, the radiator practically does not heat up at low powers (up to 800-900W), at higher powers it is advisable to improve the cooling and traces on the board. The regulator is cheap, recommended for purchase...

The product was provided for writing a review by the store. The review was published in accordance with clause 18 of the Site Rules.

I'm planning to buy +78 Add to favorites I liked the review +54 +103

A selection of circuits and a description of the operation of a power regulator using triacs and more. Triac power regulator circuits are well suited for extending the life of incandescent lamps and for adjusting their brightness. Or for powering non-standard equipment, for example, 110 volts.

The figure shows a circuit of a triac power regulator, which can be changed by changing the total number of network half-cycles passed by the triac over a certain time interval. The elements of the DD1.1.DD1.3 microcircuit are made with an oscillation period of about 15-25 network half-cycles.

The duty cycle of the pulses is regulated by resistor R3. Transistor VT1 together with diodes VD5-VD8 is designed to bind the moment the triac is turned on during the transition of the mains voltage through zero. Basically, this transistor is open, respectively, a “1” is sent to the input DD1.4 and transistor VT2 with triac VS1 are closed. At the moment of crossing zero, transistor VT1 closes and opens almost immediately. In this case, if the output DD1.3 was 1, then the state of the elements DD1.1.DD1.6 will not change, and if the output DD1.3 was “zero”, then the elements DD1.4.DD1.6 will generate a short pulse, which will be amplified by transistor VT2 and open the triac.

As long as there is a logical zero at the output of the generator, the process will proceed cyclically after each transition of the mains voltage through the zero point.

The basis of the circuit is a foreign triac mac97a8, which allows you to switch high-power connected loads, and to regulate it I used an old Soviet variable resistor, and used a regular LED as an indication.

The triac power regulator uses the principle of phase control. The operation of the power regulator circuit is based on changing the moment the triac is turned on relative to the transition of the mains voltage through zero. At the initial moment of the positive half-cycle, the triac is in the closed state. As the mains voltage increases, capacitor C1 is charged through a divider.

The increasing voltage on the capacitor is shifted in phase from the mains voltage by an amount depending on the total resistance of both resistors and the capacitance of the capacitor. The capacitor is charged until the voltage across it reaches the “breakdown” level of the dinistor, approximately 32 V.

At the moment the dinistor opens, the triac will also open, and a current will flow through the load connected to the output, depending on the total resistance of the open triac and the load. The triac will be open until the end of the half-cycle. With resistor VR1 we set the opening voltage of the dinistor and triac, thereby regulating the power. At the time of the negative half-cycle, the circuit operation algorithm is similar.

Option of the circuit with minor modifications for 3.5 kW

The controller circuit is simple, the load power at the output of the device is 3.5 kW. With this homemade amateur radio you can adjust lighting, heating elements and much more. The only significant drawback of this circuit is that you cannot connect an inductive load to it under any circumstances, because the triac will burn out!

Radio components used in the design: Triac T1 - BTB16-600BW or similar (KU 208 or VTA, VT). Dinistor T - type DB3 or DB4. Capacitor 0.1 µF ceramic.

Resistance R2 510 Ohm limits the maximum volts on the capacitor to 0.1 μF; if you put the regulator slider in the 0 Ohm position, the circuit resistance will be about 510 Ohms. The capacitance is charged through resistors R2 510 Ohm and variable resistance R1 420 kOhm, after U on the capacitor reaches the opening level of dinistor DB3, the latter will generate a pulse that unlocks the triac, after which, with further passage of the sinusoid, the triac is locked. The opening and closing frequency of T1 depends on the level of U on the 0.1 μF capacitor, which depends on the resistance of the variable resistor. That is, by interrupting the current (at a high frequency) the circuit thereby regulates the output power.

With each positive half-wave of the input alternating voltage, capacitance C1 is charged through a chain of resistors R3, R4, when the voltage on capacitor C1 becomes equal to the opening voltage of dinistor VD7, its breakdown will occur and the capacitance will be discharged through the diode bridge VD1-VD4, as well as resistance R1 and control electrode VS1. To open the triac, an electrical chain of diodes VD5, VD6, capacitor C2 and resistance R5 is used.

It is necessary to select the value of resistor R2 so that at both half-waves of the mains voltage, the regulator triac operates reliably, and it is also necessary to select the values ​​of resistances R3 and R4 so that when the variable resistance knob R4 is rotated, the voltage on the load smoothly changes from minimum to maximum values. Instead of the TC 2-80 triac, you can use TC2-50 or TC2-25, although there will be a slight loss in the permissible power in the load.

KU208G, TS106-10-4, TS 112-10-4 and their analogs were used as a triac. At the moment when the triac is closed, capacitor C1 is charged through the connected load and resistors R1 and R2. The charging speed is changed by resistor R2, resistor R1 is designed to limit the maximum value of the charge current

When the threshold voltage value is reached on the capacitor plates, the switch opens, capacitor C1 is quickly discharged to the control electrode and switches the triac from the closed state to the open state; in the open state, the triac bypasses the circuit R1, R2, C1. At the moment the mains voltage passes through zero, the triac closes, then capacitor C1 is charged again, but with a negative voltage.

Capacitor C1 from 0.1...1.0 µF. Resistor R2 1.0...0.1 MOhm. The triac is switched on by a positive current pulse to the control electrode with a positive voltage at the conventional anode terminal and by a negative current pulse to the control electrode with a negative voltage at the conventional cathode. Thus, the key element for the regulator must be bidirectional. You can use a bidirectional dinistor as a key.

Diodes D5-D6 are used to protect the thyristor from possible breakdown by reverse voltage. The transistor operates in avalanche breakdown mode. Its breakdown voltage is about 18-25 volts. If you don’t find P416B, then you can try to find a replacement for it.

The pulse transformer is wound on a ferrite ring with a diameter of 15 mm, grade N2000. The thyristor can be replaced with KU201

The circuit of this power regulator is similar to the circuits described above, only the interference suppression circuit C2, R3 is introduced, and the switch SW makes it possible to break the charging circuit of the control capacitor, which leads to instant locking of the triac and disconnecting the load.

C1, C2 - 0.1 MKF, R1-4k7, R2-2 mOhm, R3-220 Ohm, VR1-500 kOhm, DB3 - dinistor, BTA26-600B - triac, 1N4148/16 V - diode, any LED.

The regulator is used to regulate load power in circuits up to 2000 W, incandescent lamps, heating devices, soldering iron, asynchronous motors, car charger, and if you replace the triac with a more powerful one, it can be used in the current regulation circuit in welding transformers.

The principle of operation of this power regulator circuit is that the load receives a half-cycle of the mains voltage after a selected number of skipped half-cycles.

The diode bridge rectifies alternating voltage. Resistor R1 and zener diode VD2, together with the filter capacitor, form a 10 V power source to power the K561IE8 microcircuit and the KT315 transistor. The rectified positive half-cycles of the voltage passing through capacitor C1 are stabilized by the zener diode VD3 at a level of 10 V. Thus, pulses with a frequency of 100 Hz follow to the counting input C of the K561IE8 counter. If switch SA1 is connected to output 2, then a logical one level will be constantly present at the base of the transistor. Because the microcircuit reset pulse is very short and the counter manages to restart from the same pulse.

Pin 3 will be set to a logical one level. The thyristor will be open. All power will be released at the load. In all subsequent positions of SA1 at pin 3 of the counter, one pulse will pass through 2-9 pulses.

The K561IE8 chip is a decimal counter with a positional decoder at the output, so the logical one level will be periodic at all outputs. However, if the switch is installed on output 5 (pin 1), then counting will only occur up to 5. When the pulse passes through output 5, the microcircuit will be reset to zero. Counting will begin from zero, and a logical one level will appear at pin 3 for the duration of one half-cycle. During this time, the transistor and thyristor open, one half-cycle passes to the load. To make it clearer, I present vector diagrams of the circuit operation.

If you need to reduce the load power, you can add another counter chip by connecting pin 12 of the previous chip to pin 14 of the next one. By installing another switch, you can adjust the power up to 99 missed pulses. Those. you can get about a hundredth of the total power.

The KR1182PM1 microcircuit has two thyristors and a control unit for them. The maximum input voltage of the KR1182PM1 microcircuit is about 270 Volts, and the maximum load can reach 150 Watts without the use of an external triac and up to 2000 W with the use, and also taking into account the fact that the triac will be installed on the radiator.

To reduce the level of external interference, capacitor C1 and inductor L1 are used, and capacitance C4 is required for smooth switching on of the load. The adjustment is carried out using resistance R3.

A selection of fairly simple regulator circuits for a soldering iron will make life easier for a radio amateur.

Combination consists in combining the ease of use of a digital regulator and the flexibility of adjusting a simple one.

The considered power regulator circuit works on the principle of changing the number of periods of the input alternating voltage going to the load. This means that the device cannot be used to adjust the brightness of incandescent lamps due to visible blinking. The circuit makes it possible to regulate power within eight preset values.

There are a huge number of classic thyristor and triac regulator circuits, but this regulator is made on a modern element base and, in addition, was phase-based, i.e. does not transmit the entire half-wave of the mains voltage, but only a certain part of it, thereby limiting the power, since the triac opens only at the required phase angle.

I’ve been brewing at home for almost 2 years now and I have a 3 kW Chinese heating element, which in reality produces almost 3.5 kW and not every home electrical network can cope with such power, and you don’t always need such a large power, but to reduce the power of the heating element you need Dimmer.
I used to have one, but it can’t handle such a powerful heating element, it overheats and starts to “stink,” so I started looking for something more powerful and found it on eachbuyer.com.
The dimmer arrived quite quickly in 20 days in an unusually silver package:


Appearance of the dimmer and comparison of sizes with a memory card:


I immediately decided to disassemble the dimmer. The fuse is very good, but the jumper on the board confused me at first, and then confused me even more when I saw that it was parallel to the fuse, I wonder if offset is needed then? In general, I removed this jumper... The soldering is not bad enough, the flux has been washed off. The BTA80800V triac is mounted on the radiator through thermal paste, I did not find a clear description on the Internet, for some reason only BTA80-800 (800V at 80 W) is found:


The height of the radiator is 8 cm, which I think is not bad, but the fact that the dimmer does not have a closed housing is of course a huge minus, although with straight hands all this can be solved:


Between the board and the base of the case is approximately 5 mm:


Dimmer weight 177 grams:

Connection

At first there were problems with the connection, because... It’s not clear where to supply power and where to connect the heating element, but a smartphone + Google translator helped a lot, which translated the hieroglyphs using a camera and this is what happened:


I connected the power and the heating element to the dimmer with terminals, I also had to put on the heat shrink, but as they say - “a good thought comes later”...


This is the design I came up with:


It's time to start testing))

I will take readings with a network wattmeter:


I set the regulator knob (variable resistor) to the extreme left position, place the heating element in the water, turn it on... The wattmeter showed 4.6 W, most likely this is consumption by the thermostat:


I turn the knob slightly and the power changes smoothly:


As you can see in the photo above, the maximum power of the heating element is 3.2 kW, and the power up to this limit can be set to any value...
To make sure that the heating element is working, I provide a photo, it shows how the heating element began to become covered with bubbles, the maximum power is set there:


When I returned the control knob back to the extreme left position, the power remained at 100 W:


During testing (about 10 minutes) at full power, the radiator heated up to only 40 degrees:


I tested the dimmer later within an hour, the temperature of the triac did not rise above 60-70 degrees, the radiator warmed up to a maximum of 50 degrees, which I think is not bad at all, and most importantly there was no burning smell.

Let me summarize:
+ I doubt that the dimmer is 9.5 kW, but for my purposes (3.5 kW) it will do
+ doesn’t get very hot
+ you can set the desired power from 0 to the maximum limit of the heating element
+ good soldering
- it is not clear why the jumper is connected in parallel to the fuse
- the terminals could be written in English
- a fairly high price, although when I bought the dollar exchange rate was almost 15 rubles cheaper, so the price was quite suitable for me.

Conclusions: Although the dimmer has its drawbacks, I still liked it; it will be very useful for brewing.

I like the store eachbuyer.com, there are a lot of interesting products, there are good discounts, Russian-speaking customer support, fast dispatch and delivery, but their prices are not always low. And most importantly, the dollar exchange rate in the store is a little more than 41 rubles, so I recommend buying in rubles.

Thank you for your attention! I will answer questions whenever possible.

I'm planning to buy +33 Add to favorites I liked the review +26 +53

Such a simple, but at the same time very effective regulator can be assembled by almost anyone who can hold a soldering iron in their hands and even slightly read the diagrams. Well, this site will help you fulfill your desire. The presented regulator regulates power very smoothly without surges or dips.

Circuit of a simple triac regulator

Such a regulator can be used to regulate lighting with incandescent lamps, but also with LED lamps if you buy dimmable ones. It is easy to regulate the temperature of the soldering iron. You can continuously adjust the heating, change the rotation speed of electric motors with a wound rotor, and much more where there is a place for such a useful thing. If you have an old electric drill that does not have speed control, then by using this regulator you will improve such a useful thing.
The article, with the help of photographs, descriptions and the attached video, describes in great detail the entire manufacturing process, from collecting parts to testing the finished product.

I’ll say right away that if you are not friends with your neighbors, then you don’t have to collect the C3 - R4 chain. (Joke) It serves to protect against radio interference.
All parts can be bought in China on Aliexpress. Prices are two to ten times less than in our stores.
To make this device you will need:

• R1 – resistor approximately 20 Kom, power 0.25 W;
• R2 – potentiometer approximately 500 Kom, 300 Kom to 1 Mohm is possible, but 470 Kom is better;
• R3 - resistor approximately 3 Kom, 0.25 W;
• R4 - resistor 200-300 Ohm, 0.5 W;
• C1 and C2 – capacitors 0.05 μF, 400 V;
• C3 – 0.1 μF, 400 V;
• DB3 – dinistor, found in every energy-saving lamp;
• BT139-600, regulates a current of 18 A or BT138-800, regulates a current of 12 A - triacs, but you can take any others, depending on what kind of load you need to regulate. A dinistor is also called a diac, a triac is a triac.
• The cooling radiator is selected based on the planned regulation power, but the more, the better. Without a radiator, you can regulate no more than 300 watts.
• Any terminal blocks can be installed;
• Use the breadboard as you wish, as long as everything fits in.
• Well, without a device it’s like without hands. But it’s better to use our solder. Although it is more expensive, it is much better. I haven't seen any good Chinese solder.

Let's start assembling the regulator

First, you need to think about the arrangement of parts so as to install as few jumpers as possible and do less soldering, then we very carefully check the compliance with the diagram, and then solder all the connections.

After making sure that there are no errors and placing the product in a plastic case, you can test it by connecting it to the network.