Connecting a relay to a dimmer and Raspberry Pi - is it safe?

Question

Welcome,

i recently bought a raspberry pi. One of my ideas is to additionally (remotely) switch off the lights in the room.

For the moment the lights are controlled by a dimmer.

I was wondering if I can simply connect a relay controlled by the raspberry pi in parallel to the dimmer?
Will I not damage the dimmer?

Thank you in advance for your help.

radex324 · Accepted Answer

Not in parallel just break one circuit and relay to it.

strikexp · Accepted Answer

A dimmer is a pittance, you can burn the Raspberry Pi. If you want to use an electronics-controlled relay, then protection must necessarily be added. If you've bought a relay module for your Raspberry Pi, then the safety features are already there. But if it occurs to you to simply connect the relay, then absolutely do not do this!

kendoka · Answer

Yes, the relays are already with protection (at least the Chinese advertised them as such:) ) Added after 2 [minutes]: My mistake - a mental abbreviation - there will be 2 relays - one in series with the dimmer (I'm quiet about that one) and one in parallel to the rest - this one had me a little worried:)

strikexp · Answer

If you break the circuit with this in series then nothing should happen to the dimmer. Unless it's some bizarre Chinese design, but that's unlikely.

WALDERAMA 7! · Answer

And why? Similar arrangements are used in e.g. the so-called Eternal Relay After all, when the parallel relay is tripped it will take over the current flow from the triac, and will simply drive/switch on a full voltage controlled circuit, after the relay is switched off the circuit will again trip the triac e.g. dimming the bulb.

radex324 · Answer

@Walderama 7! Because you will not be able to switch off via the raspberry. 2 relays and with 1 in series dimmer as someone above stated. It would make no sense not to be able to switch the lights off via the raspberry. Added after 23 [minutes]: Ew relay with nc contact connected in series with the dimmer then in the absence of relay control you have control on the wall and by applying voltage to the relay the light will go out but then you have no possibility of switching on the light on the wall until you switch off the relay via respberry.

WALDERAMA 7! · Answer

And yes, but technically you can connect a relay to a triac in parallel and nothing will happen to such a circuit, I have such a situation that I am upgrading the lighting of the property area, which will be switched off by a timer between 23-5, but I want the bulbs (dimmable Kanlux LEDs) to shine slightly during these night hours. I am simply going to connect the relay output of the timer in parallel to the dimmer, when the timer is on, the bulbs will be controlled by the timer relay with full voltage, when the timer is off, the bulbs will be powered by the Triac, which I will set using a potentiometer The whole circuit will be switched on by a twilight switch. The idea came to me when I did not have anything to do with a carton of light bulbs which I got for free and which have a colour of 4000K, which does not suit us in our flat kind regards

radex324 · Answer

@Walderama 7! You say well but the author is all about switching off so it won't work for him. You have a different situation.

WALDERAMA 7! · Answer

And by the way, I would like to inform you that these bulbs work fairly well with the regulator on the U2008, ie they do not dim to zero but the min value is acceptable and there is minimal flickering at the minimum, but after reading what problems are caused by regulating even these dimmable LEDs I am satisfied I am still looking, somewhere in the junk I had an ordinary regulator on a triac, I am curious what the effect will be, regards

Connecting a relay to a dimmer and Raspberry Pi - is it safe?

Post #1

Post #2

Post #3

Post #4

Post #5

Post #6

Post #7

Post #8

Post #9

Post #10

Didn't find an answer? Ask Artificial Intelligence