Silencing the K8064 Dimmer

Velleman IO Kits
1

Hi there,

I’m using the K8024 Dimmer for my DIY “Wake-Up-Light”. The setup actually wakes me up quite reliably, but rather with it’s buzzing noise instead of the light that I’ve attached to it :confused:

I understand that this is normal. Could you help me to find another inductor to make the dimmer silent? I’ve already done a lot of research about it, and potted inductors are available from some manufacturers.

Because all this is “EMC-land”, I don’t want to just drop another inductor in and use that setup all-day (don’t want to get a visit from the authorities :D).

So my questions are:

  • What’s the requirements for this inductor? (as far as I understand from my search it needs to be the linear/storage type? Correct?)
  • Would a higher inductivity be fine for this inductor?
  • How can I check (by measuring the circuit) that a replacement inductor properly does what it’s supposed to do? (I’m well aware that all the signals are at AC line levels in there)

Maybe we can find an appropriate replacement part together, and post the result here if it works. I’ve seen this question asked a couple times in this forum, with the answer beeing (more or less) “cant do nothing about it”. Would be cool if we can find a solution for that.

Thanks for your input :sunny:
mister_kanister

2

Dear sir,

As you already know, the humming noise is due to the vibration of the coil on the mains frequency. You can’t change that, we can not recommend a different coil because the kit no longer meets the requirement that the configuration has been tested and approved in an EMC lab. The inductance must be at least 1mH. If you a using a resistive load, the coil can be bridged, but the circuit no longer meets the EMC standard.
Normally “potting” the coil can help.