Diode dimmer & Open door reminder

38 MINI CIRCUITS PENCE TO SAVE POUNDS diode dimmer A relatively expensive "luxury" dimmer is not really required to reduce the brightness of the house lights. In many cases it would probably be a lot easier and certainly cheaper to connect a diode in series with the light in question. SI k r/o Figure 1 gives a clear indication of what is meant. The negative half-cycles of the mains voltage are "blocked" by the diode so that the voltage across the lamp is reduced to half that of the mains supply. This means that the lamp will not only consume less electricity and therefore give less light, but also the lifespan of the bulb will be considerably increased. This will be a particularly useful addition in situations where bulbs are rather difficult to replace. Due to the half-wave rectification of the mains voltage, the bulb will tend to "flicker". However, the flicker effect is reduced once the bulb has warmed up a open door reminder little and will probably not be notice- able. The be...