Arduino controlled christmas lights

[jchar96]

Hi there,

I've bought an Arduino and wired up a few simple circuits and messed around with some code. I had an idea to somehow harness some christmas lights up to it. I'm thinking of getting some 12 volt christmas lights (with step down transformer from 240v to 12v).

My plan at the moment is to butcher the cable running between the wall plug transformer and the actual lights and running them through a solid state relay (which I can turn on and off with the Arduino at programmed intervals).

Is this a reasonable plan and do you have any tips or ideas that could make my life easier with this project?

Also, is there some way to control the brightness of the lights (without too much grief) so I can fade them in and out?

Possible parts list:

• Lights

**broken link removed**​

• Relay

**broken link removed**​

Cheers,

James

P.S. I'm a bit of a newbie to electronics (briefly covered basic circuits in highschool physics) and apologies if I've referred to anything in the wrong manner
(Sorry if this is in the wrong section!)

 

[MikeMl]

Welcome,

Your chosen relay is wrong for two reasons.

First, the input side is designed for 12V; not 5V that the Arduino puts out.

Second, the relay is not designed to switch 12Vac on the load side. It is rated to switch 80 to 400Vac on the load side.

 

[alec_t]

Welcome to the forum.
This could be a fun, educational project; but if cost is a primary concern you can buy light sets with 100 or so multi-coloured LEDs that have an integral power supply and can flash/fade in several button-selectable patterns ..... all for under £10.