swtmike
Newbie level 4
I'm the village idiot in the electronics world but have ran out of ideas and am in need of some new ones.
I need to put a dimmer switch on a 12 volt spot light that plugs into a vehicle cig lighter plug. The light is 3 million candle power and I think draws around 8 amps (has a 10 amp fuse in the plug).
I figured a rheostat or potentiometer would work, but it is virtually impossible to find one large enough to handle the watts while keeping the ohms low (if that even matters), and the ones I've found have been pretty expensive. Have looked at several schematics on the internet which show a potentiometer and/or a rheostat to hook into a triac. However, I can't find who carries a triacs and don't know if that would even work since that was on an electronic motor.
It's funny how something sounds so easy to do but it ends up being extremely time consuming and complicated to produce! If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would really appreciate them.
Thanks
Mike
I need to put a dimmer switch on a 12 volt spot light that plugs into a vehicle cig lighter plug. The light is 3 million candle power and I think draws around 8 amps (has a 10 amp fuse in the plug).
I figured a rheostat or potentiometer would work, but it is virtually impossible to find one large enough to handle the watts while keeping the ohms low (if that even matters), and the ones I've found have been pretty expensive. Have looked at several schematics on the internet which show a potentiometer and/or a rheostat to hook into a triac. However, I can't find who carries a triacs and don't know if that would even work since that was on an electronic motor.
It's funny how something sounds so easy to do but it ends up being extremely time consuming and complicated to produce! If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would really appreciate them.
Thanks
Mike