Apparatus, systems, and methods for remotely dimming lights

A lighting system, comprising:

• a light socket configured to couple to a lighting load;
• a light-dimming apparatus coupled to the light socket, wherein the light-dimming apparatus comprises:
• a plurality of alternating current (AC) input terminals and AC output terminals coupled to at least one of a power source and a lighting load;
• a microcontroller unit comprising a plurality of wireless communication modules, one or more processor cores, and a memory;
• a dimmer module configured to detect zero-crossing signals and modulate power supplied to the lighting load, wherein the dimmer module comprises:
• a full bridge rectifier electrically coupled to some of the AC input terminals,
• a bidirectional triode thyristor coupled to at least one of the AC output terminals,
• a plurality of optocouplers coupled to at least the microcontroller unit, the full bridge rectifier, and the bidirectional triode thyristor;
• and
• wherein the one or more processor cores of the microcontroller unit are programmed to execute instructions stored in the memory of the microcontroller unit to:
• receive a dimming value via at least one of the plurality of wireless communication modules to dim a brightness of the lighting load, and
• receive zero-crossing signals from the dimmer module and transmit a plurality of switching signals to at least one of the optocouplers to work with the bidirectional triode thyristor to dim the brightness of the lighting load according to the dimming value.

A method of dimming an alternating current (AC)-powered light, the method comprising:

• executing instructions stored in a memory of a microcontroller unit of a light-dimming apparatus using one or more processor cores of the microcontroller unit to receive a dimming command comprising a dimming value via at least one of a wireless-fidelity (WiFi) module and a Bluetooth™ module of the microcontroller unit from another device to dim a brightness of a lighting load,
• wherein the light-dimming apparatus further comprises:
• a plurality of AC input terminals and AC output terminals coupled to at least one of a power source and a lighting load,
• a dimmer module configured to detect zero-crossing signals and modulate power supplied to the lighting load, wherein the dimmer module comprises:
• a full bridge rectifier electrically coupled to some of the AC input terminals,
• a bidirectional triode thyristor coupled to at least one of the AC output terminals,
• a plurality of optocouplers coupled to at least the microcontroller unit, the full bridge rectifier, and the bidirectional triode thyristor;
• and
• executing further instructions stored in the memory of the microcontroller unit using the one or more processor cores to receive zero-crossing signals from the dimmer module and transmit a plurality of switching signals to at least one of the optocouplers to work with the bidirectional triode thyristor to dim the brightness of the lighting load according to the dimming value.