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Does a dimmer switch turn power off and on 120 times per second?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Yes. An electronic dimmer switch reduces the amount of power the light fixture can get. It does this by controlling the amount of time that the power is actually "on" in the circuit to the light. It's electronically controlled. To do this, the dimmer uses a triac, which is a solid state switch that can control AC. Picture a sine wave. By "gating" the triac, it can be turned "on" throughout the entire sine wave (full brightness), or it can be gated on for only a portion of the sine wave (dimmer). An interesting thing about a triac is that you can turn it on, but not off. The voltage across the terminals must fall below a threshold for it to turn off, which happens 120 times a second for U.S. 60 Hertz (60 cycle per second) AC. That's why the electronic dimmer turns the power off and on 120 times a second.
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Some electronic dimmers work according the the description above, but not all. Some dimmers reduce the amplitude of the sine wave without chopping it. Some modern electronic dimmers produce a true sine wave output. Some dimmers switch or fade the voltage off part way through each cycle using transistors, others turn it on part way through the cycle using a triac or a pair of SCRs.
The old-fashioned triac dimmers are widely used because they are cheap, but they create a lot of electrical interference.
Technically, even in an "undimmed" AC, the power drops to zero 120 times each second when the sine wave crosses 0 volts.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
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6x5
Interior lights staying on at all times. on a 1997 ford f150?
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What is 12 to the second power?
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What number has the prime factorization of 2 to the third power times three to the second power times five to the second power?
1800
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loose connection to the dimmer switch. Check the dimmer switch by dialing off low - hi and back a few times while you have the parking lights on. Also check for a lose fuse.
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What is an example of Ohms Law?
The simplest example of Ohm's Law is an old fashioned dimmer switch in your house. As you turn the dimmer switch up, the light gradually brightens until it reaches full intensity. Conversely, you can turn the dimmer switch down, and the light gradually darkens.The dimmer switch is a variable resistor. That is, the electrical resistance of the dimmer switch changes as you rotate the knob. Ohm's Law tells us that the flow of current is directly proportional to the voltage, and inversely proportional to the resistance. Since the voltage across the switch doesn't change, the only thing that changes is the resistance when you turn the dimmer switch knob.As you turn the dimmer switch down, you are actually increasing the resistance of the dimmer switch. The current is inversely proportional to the resistance, so as the resistance goes up, the current (flow of electricity) goes down, and the light gets darker. This is an example of Ohm's Law.NOTE: This example applies to rheostat switches, and does not apply to modern current-clipping dimmer switches. Rheostat switches are seldom used now because they can overheat, but the illustration is still a useful example of Ohm's Law.
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Five times ten to the third power is 5000 and three times ten to the second power is 300; 5000 + 300 = 5300.
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8 x 9 x 5 and 4 x 3 x 25 360 and 300 The GCF is 60.
What is the answer to 6xy to the second power times 3x to the seventh power y to the second power?
18x^8y^4
