Device Function: Chamber light

I’m curious what the function of the chamber light is. Is this for those who use a light bulb as a heating element? Or does it have a different function? If it is for heating, is the algorithm significantly different than the chamber heater algorithm? If it isn’t a heating function, and I should use the chamber heater selection, should I change the PID when using a 40 watt bulb vs a different type of chamber heater? Many thanks!

It was used with the Arduino, which also had an input to detect whether the door was open. The light could be turned on when heating or when the door was open.

Because in my tests it turned out that a fridge light is a bit too limited in power to be used as a heater, the functionality was removed for the Spark.

Thanks, Elco. What I’ve also noticed, when using the lightbulb as a heater, is that the PID seems to cause the SSR to turn on and off rapidly. Would you suggest any modifications to make the bulb turn on solid for period of time rather than cycling on and off? or might my SSR be faulty?

This cycling is exactly what PWM is, it stands for pulse width modulation. It is a repeating pulse, and the width of that pulse is called the duty cycle. The actuator value is the percentage that it is on. This will let the controller heat with smaller intensity than fully ON.

The cycle time is configurable in advanced settings and the default is 4 seconds. You can change it to be longer. Look for heater 1 PWM period.