Two-wire dimmer operation

A dimmer for controlling conduction of a supply of power to a lighting load, the dimmer comprising:

• a line input terminal and a load output terminal, the line input terminal configured to be electrically coupled to the supply of power, and the load output terminal configured to be electrically coupled to the lighting load;
• a switching circuit electrically coupled in series between the line input terminal and the load output terminal, the switching circuit configured to be selectively controlled between an ON state, in which the switching circuit conducts the supply of power to the lighting load, and an OFF state;
• a controller;
• and
• a dimming level adjustment circuit electrically coupled between a dimmer power supply voltage and the controller of the dimmer, wherein the dimming level adjustment circuit is configured to provide a dimming level signal to the controller, the dimming level signal indicating a desired dimming level for the dimmer, wherein a maximum value of the dimming level signal, and therefore a maximum configurable desired dimming level for the dimmer, is based on the dimmer power supply voltage, wherein the controller is configured to perform:
• receiving the dimming level signal from the dimming level adjustment circuit;
• and
• setting a dimming level for the dimmer based on the received dimming level signal.

A dimmer for controlling conduction of a supply of power to a lighting load, the dimmer comprising:

• a line input terminal and a load output terminal, the line input terminal configured to be electrically coupled to the supply of power, and the load output terminal configured to be electrically coupled to the lighting load;
• a switching circuit electrically coupled in series between the line input terminal and the load output terminal, the switching circuit configured to be selectively controlled between an ON state, in which the switching circuit conducts the supply of power to the lighting load, and an OFF state;
• and
• a controller, the controller configured to perform:
• selectively controlling the switching circuit between the ON state and the OFF state to control dimming operation of the dimmer according to a conduction angle corresponding to a conduction time for the switching circuit to conduct the supply of power to the load during each half-phase of a plurality of half-phases of the supply of power, the conduction angle defined by a conduction start angle and a conduction stop angle, the conduction start angle being an angle of the half-phase at which the switching circuit is switched to the ON state to conduct the supply of power to the lighting load, and the conduction end angle being an angle of the half-phase at which the switching circuit is switched to the OFF state to cease conducting the supply of power to the lighting load;
• based on detecting an adjustment to increase the conduction angle, adjusting the selective control of the switching circuit, the adjusting comprising:
• increasing the conduction end angle from a first conduction end angle to a second conduction end angle greater than the first conduction end angle;
• and
• increasing the conduction start angle from a first conduction start angle to a second conduction end angle greater than the first conduction start angle, wherein the increasing the conduction end angle and the conduction start angle results in a net increase in the conduction angle;
• and
• controlling operation of the dimmer based on the adjusting.