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Analog electronic circuits are those in which signals may vary continuously with time to correspond to the information being represented. Electronic equipment like voltage amplifiers, power amplifiers, tuning circuits, radios, and televisions are largely analog (with the exception of their control sections, which may be digital, especially in modern units).

In digital electronic circuits, electric signals take on discrete values, which are not dependent upon time, to represent logical and numeric values. These values represent the information that is being processed. The transistor is one of the primary components used in discrete circuits, and combinations of these can be used to create logic gates. These logic gates may then be used in combination to create a desired output from an input.

Dimmers are devices used to vary the brightness of a light. By decreasing or increasing the RMS voltage and hence the mean power to the lamp it is possible to vary the intensity of the light output. Although variable-voltage devices are used for various purposes, the term dimmer is generally reserved for those intended to control lighting.

Dimmers range in size from small units the size of a normal light switch used for domestic lighting to high power units used in large theatre or architectural lighting installations. Small domestic dimmers are generally directly controlled, although remote control systems (such as X10) are available. Modern professional dimmers are generally controlled by a digital control system like DMX or ethernet.

In the professional lighting industry changes in intensity are called “fades” and can be “fades up” or “fades down”. Dimmers with direct manual control had a limit on the speed they could be varied at but this issue has been largely eliminated with modern digital units (although very fast changes in brightness may still be avoided for other reasons like lamp life).

Modern dimmers are built from silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR) instead of potentiometers or variable resistors because they have higher efficiency. A variable resistor would dissipate power by heat (efficiency as low as 0.5). By switching on and off, theoretically a silicon-controlled rectifier dimmer does not heat up (efficiency close to 1.0).

 In this page you can find one of the circuit.

Lamp Dimmer Circuit

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