AC Dimmer - Asking for advise or review

Hello everyone, I’m working on a dimmer for AC motor with additional option to switch for the full speed.

I think, I’m done with schematics, but would like to get a review prior to starting actuallly routing the PCB.

Please advise if:

  • it will work
  • there are any errors not not up to good practice

As a starting point I took a schematics from Application Note 1003 from LittleFuse / Teccor Electronics (please, see attachments), but:

  • added on-off-on rocket-switch to select between regulated output and full-power
  • added fuse / EC14 power inlet
  • added snubber
  • swapped values to some that are notices on market-available devices (as per review here)

Thanks for input.

2001JUN14_AMD_AN5PDF.pdf (503.6 KB)
AN1003-Littelfuse_9p.pdf (275.8 KB)

Schematics look OK, could be straightened out a bit by shifting/rotating a couple of parts, but generally nice and readable. You should use a “protective earth” (PE) symbol instead of the earth symbols used. It’s bascially the same, but has a circle around it.

The electrical uestions belong on another forum, sorry.

I’m in doubt of whether to lock this thread.
We sometimes do reviews on this forum, even though this it is “off topic”, the goal here is to help people use KiCad, not to design circuits.

But the combination of mains voltage and a question of whether the circuit would work at all is not a good combination. Mains voltage related PCB’s also need special attention to details such as extra wide clearances. I suggest you start with projects that stay below 48V.

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I don’t see any questions relating to the use of Kicad in this thread.

Locking this as it has liability consequences. If you are not confident with this sort of design, you are not ready to work with mains voltages - mains can kill

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My class on AC motors was quite some time ago. That said, you normally can’t just use a dimmer on an AC motor. I think you can alter the input frequency some but…
Make sure you have a thorough understanding of AC motors before you embark on this project. You might just be killing motors. DC is far more suitable for applications requiring speed regulation as I recall. Again, class was a few decades ago at this point. Only adding this in case this thread shows up in searches.