The electrical structure of a digital dimmer is basically identical to that of an analogue dimmer, with additional elements in the driver circuit - a microprocessor and communication Circuitry. The computerized driver preserves the information sent from the control board, and converts the digital signals to switching instructions which are sent to the power cube and determine the opening and closing time of the switching circuit and thereby the intensity of the light. This integrated microprocessor driver enables precise yet flexible control of the light intensity.
The digital dimmer receives information from the
control board
through the microprocessor, which may also be able to transmit data back to the board. This characteristic is extremely useful in very large lighting systems where dimmers and luminaries are located at a distance from the control board. The information sent from the dimmers includes warnings of possible faults such as overheating, and data such as the
voltage
reaching the control circuit, the state of dimmers and lamps, power consumption,
load
distribution and other information pertaining to technical supervision of the lighting system during a performance.
Digital dimmers enable selection of dimming curves. A number of the commonly used dimming curves are user-selectable, as well as tailored-to-measure curves.
The
voltage
emitted by digital dimmer is continuously adjusted to changes in the mains supply, so that the
voltage
output from the dimmer is stable, without the fluctuations which would result from changes in mains
voltage
in an analogue dimmer.
