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Christmas lights

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PG1995

Active Member
Hi

I think the blinking of Christmas light could be controlled by several different mechanisms. Such as using magnetic relay switch, an oscillator, or bimetallic strip. The on and off effect of the lights can be achieved using relay switch, bimetallic strip, or square wave oscillator. But if one wants the lights to dim slowly, then go back to full brightness and so on, then one needs to use sine wave oscillator. Do I make sense? Please let me know. Please remember that I don't have that much knowledge about this stuff therefore please keep your reply simple. Thank you.
 
In modern Christmas light control circuits gradual dimming/brightening is achieved by pulse width modulation (PWM). With PWM the lights are turned on an off very rapidly (too fast for the eye to notice), the ratio of 'on' time to 'off' time being varied slowly to control the apparent (average) brightness.
 
PG1995, you've asked on several threads recently to keep responses simple. It is impossible to do so your lack of knowledge of electronics and the terminology require YOU to look up the definition of all the words you do not understand, there is no 'simple' way to explain this kind of stuff. There's a lot to learn there is no simple or easy way to go about it except by using Wikipedia and Google to look up EVERY term you do not understand in every post that you want to understand something about.
 
If you're looking for some general reading material on basic electronics, I can definitely recommend "Electronic Principles" by Malvino. It has lots of information in it that will allow you to teach yourself and gain a good understanding of the topics that you are asking about.
 
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