# DIY Dimmer Switch



## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

Have you ever wanted to controle the flow of your power heads, or even dim the lights in your tank so the fish are less Skittish (scared) and still be viewable?

Then this article is for you. Simple, yet effective, you will have full controle of your current and lighting.

(Background: Piranhas, and other fish as well, preffer a high current flow and lighting durring the day (when they are most active) then a low current and lighting during the night (when they are at rest).)

Tools:

1. Wire Cutters/Strippers
2. Wire Ties

(Simple Huh)

Equipment:

1. Dimmer Switch (Bought mine at Sears Hardware Part# 6683-W)
(Info: This Dimmer is also a Push Button Switch that will shut power off as well)
2. 2-Wire Extention Cord (Length doesn't matter, neither does how manay output-sockets it has.) Part# 09417 16/2 White Slender Plug, 2 Wire.

How to set this up:

1. Take the extention cord and *cut one of the two wires* from about 6-8" away from the output sockets. Closer to the outlets is better because it will make adjusting the dimmer switch easier. Which wire you cut doesn't matter, as long as you cut only one.

2. Attach one side of the cut wires to the black wire (green wire side) on the back of the switch.

3. Attach the other side of the sever cord to the red wire. (Opposite side of the green wire).

4. Use the included wire caps to cap off the attached wires. Use the 2 extra wire caps to cap off the unused wires (1-Green, 1-Black).

5. Bow the wiring is complete, use wire ties to secure the loose wires to the back of the switch. Security reason.

(Notes: The wiring diagram for the switch/dimmer was wrong, thus I had to use a DMM (digital multimeter) to find out how to wire the switch.

Once I finished the setup on the switch, I found that some equipment doesn't work well with the switch very well:

Bad

1. Power heads. My power heads stopped working when I reduced the power. They started to stutter and vibrate very bad. When they vibrated, they didn't spin at all.

I'm guessing that if I cleaned them thouroughly, they might work whith less power.

2. Florecent Lights. Once the power was dimmed, the lights started to flicker, then eventualy shut off altogether. Florencent light need a minum power input to work effectivly, and thus, will have problems.

Solution is to use non-florecent lighting that will work from 0-120 Volts AC.

Good

1. Air Pumps. These work very well with the power dimmed. Matter of fact, they got very very quite will push out a health sum of air.


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## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

Pic 2


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## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

Pic 3


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## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

Pic 4


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## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

Pic 5


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## Mr.P (Jul 14, 2003)

That works with flourescent lights just fine? Very thorough article by the way


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## qwuintus (Feb 3, 2003)

Make sure you get the highest wattage you can find.
I used 600w for 150w halogens in the garage.


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

i was just thinkin about that today, about making a light dimmer... im not good with electronic sh*t, so maybe ill leave it for now... good idea tho, glad you brought it up


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## Drewzie (Jun 29, 2004)

great right up man, im going to do this this afternoon.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

You can buy a dimmer switch with an electrical outlet at Homedepot for $10.


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## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

This dimmer is about $8. And it is basicly for DIY type of people.

Total cost for everything was less than $15.

Thanks for the complement guys, and glad I could help.


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## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

you cant dim flourescant lights and it can do damage to other things if adequite power isnt supplied


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Check here to see this DIY instructions as an article in the PFury info section.
Thanks a lot for your contribution, David









If anyone else wants to share an article or essay, wheter it's DIY instructions, a tutorial, an article about certain aspects of piranha keeping, or something useful we haven't even thought of, post in up in the appropriate forum and shoot me a pm. Of course we will have to make a selection, and we cannot publish everything we receive, so please only high-quality submissions: every entry will be judged based on the same requirements, though!

So remember, PFury is for the members, but also by the members


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## chiefkyle (May 3, 2004)

Thank you Judazzz.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

illnino said:


> you cant dim flourescant lights and it can do damage to other things if adequite power isnt supplied


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## tryhard (Jun 13, 2006)

The balist on the lights will burn out if you do that, just get darker bulbs i would say. and on the cord just a thing of safety would be if you would look at the male end the smaller of the two tabs is the hot, cut that wire when not plugged in and then that way when you want to use that turn off button the put will not be going any farther, if you cut the other on then the power is still going to be able to zap you so you can mess around the water with no fear of gettign zapped. but thats just what i would do, since eletricity is my thing


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## matc (Jul 31, 2004)

wow this is your fisrt post in a thread that is 2 YEARS OLD


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## BoOCh_nse (Feb 17, 2007)

The reason that florescent lighting and powerheads wont work with this method, is due to the fact that the ac voltage is converted to dc voltage output to operate the component. Both of the items are controlled by transistors which require a minimum dc voltage and operate at a specific "duty cylce" "%time on, %time off" if you lower the amount of voltage available at the converter input, you also lower the output of the dc voltage created by it. Thus it leads to incorrect funtion of the component. The only way to make the powerehead spin slower is to modify the controller inside it to get a lower duty cycle rate. as for the florescent lighting the same, anything below 60hz duty will result in humans being able to see this "duty cycle". Anything over 60hz appears as constantly on to us. so if you want to be able to dim your lights you will need to use a light that is based on resistance, ex. halogen or incandescent. the brightness of these bulbs is determined on the amount of dc/ac voltage fed to them. as for powerheads, if you want less flow you will have to buy one with lower flow. unless of course you are very knowledgeable in electronics, and like playing with circut boards!

hope this helps clear things up a little.

BoOCh


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