kduin, Thanks for the info. What you say makes sense to me. Given, I am a long way from understanding this stuff.
So is it important to leave the heater on for a period of time to make it effective? Like a 1/2 a second or something? Since I don't have a zero-cross detection shouldn't I be leaving it on for several cycles. Have like a minimum on time?
What if I changed my power to a percent and then took 10 secs and divided it by that percentage. So if it was 50% I would leave the heater on for 5 secs and off for 5 secs? 70% would be on 7 secs off 3 secs.
I keep thinking in the back of my head that I can take a heavy duty 1000w dimmer and hack it to be an effective arduino controlled dimmer somehow.
Thanks for the help everyone!!!
kduin:
So how does a PWM output work with a SSR? Is it chopping up the AC like per cycle or just turning it on and off so many times per second?
I get a little confused when it comes to AC cycles.PWM is useless with 60Hz mains voltage if you don't know where the zero-volt-point in your cycle is.
You have to pulse exactly after this point, or you would just end up with a flickering light (or uneffective heater).