xmas light driver, not sure what i did wrong

Well I designed and built a triac light driver, right now I am just interfacing it with a led effects controller. Outputs are 5v, optos moc3021, triac bta06-600, resistors 200 ohms. I am getting no effects on the lights (but no smoke either)http://www.pcboard.ca/kits/ledfx/

triac.bmp (145 KB)

triac2.bmp (385 KB)

Have you tested the TRIAC driver alone? i.e. Connect 5V to an input to see if the light comes on?

What kind of christmas lights are you using? (Regular 'ol incandescent or LED?) LEDs might have some sort of power supply that doesn't "like" being switched on & off rapidly.

Are the lights stuck-on or stuck-off?

I havent tried the driver alone, i'll try that tonight.

The leds on the Led effects controller work.

I tried it with 2 sets of led strings, no driver on the strings only a drop down resistor.

They are stuck off, one was on but I think it was a piece of copper cladding left unetched.

Tried 5v direct on the inputs and also tried reversing it, nothing happens. I do have 110v on the hv side. Not sure where to go from here.

Would it matter if T1 and T2 were reversed. Or line and neutral. My question mark wont work either.

I tried to reverse line and neutral but still no go.

BTA06 is a sensitive-gate type TRIAC, but the MOC302x circuit doesn't conform to the sensitive-gate example provided in the MOC302x datasheet.

[This doesn't seem to be Arduino-related.]

Hi mrgizmo
Seems that you need to ground the inputs. As your anodes are connected to +5v.
if you are going to use an Arduino you could try the blinkie sketch on one input to see if it works.
But remember you have to sink the inputs, or ground.

Hope this helps.
Sparkie

A triac needs a minimum current to getting to work. Try putting a 50W lamp in the circuit and put your led driver circuit that you normally connect to the mains in parallel with it.