Jameco LED Dimmers


Kit no longer available from Jameco. Apparently Jameco killed Club Jameco (but I was never informed). This page is for historic purposes.
Jameco Dimmer boards
Constant Voltage version connected to white LED Strip
Before Sparkfun and Adafruit, before their CEOs were even born, there was Jameco, supplying electronic parts to hobbyists. I spent many youthful dollars on Jameco products and knew that I wanted to participate in Club Jameco when they announced it in 2012. It was my way to honor an old pioneer finding their way into the maker market.

The Club Jameco focus is on kits and people building their own circuits so I designed a pair of LED dimmers that had a large amount of common circuitry. One dimmer is designed to control constant voltage LEDs (such as LED strips) and the other constant current LEDs (such as 1 Watt High Brightness LEDs).
A kit used to be available from Jameco. You could build either dimmer with it. Sadly, Jameco declined to make a PCB and you had to hand wire it (as one might imagine, this limited sales...). I created very detailed instructions that were on the Jameco site and can be downloaded below if you want to build one yourself.

The constant current circuit uses a voltage reference and current mirror to make a simple, analog current source.

Both systems use a Microchip PIC 12F675 to generate the 1000:1 PWM dimming and provide fault shutdown detection.
Fault LED lit
The on-board micro and circuitry handles fault conditions like short circuits.

Downloads

Instructions, schematic, parts layout and wiring diagram and PIC hex file (may be programmed using a Microchip ICSP like the Pickit 3, etc) for the constant current dimmer. This circuit can drive 1-3 350 mA (1W) high brightness LEDs.
Instructions, schematic, parts layout and wiring diagram and PIC hex file (may be programmed using a Microchip ICSP like the Pickit 3, etc) for the constant voltage dimmer. This circuit can drive up to 9-10 Amps of 12VDC LED strips with the appropriate wiring and power supply.