Patent ID: 7928663

Claim:
A lighting dimmer ( 52 ) adaptable to four predefined wiring configurations, said dimmer comprising: (a) an AC line hot (H) connection functionally adapted for operation when said dimmer is wired in any of said four predefined wiring configurations; (b) an AC line neutral (N) connection functionally adapted for operation when said dimmer is wired in either a first ( 71 ) or a second ( 72 ) one of said four predefined wiring configurations; (c) a first dimmer hot (DH 1 ) connection functionally adapted for operation when said dimmer is wired in any of said four predefined wiring configurations; (d) a second dimmer hot (DH 2 ) connection functionally adapted for operation when said dimmer is wired in either the second ( 72 ) or a third ( 73 ) one of said four predefined wiring configurations; (e) an internal power supply ( 84 ); (f) an energy storage device (C 1 ) associated with, and providing power to said internal power supply; (g) a first control circuit ( 85 ) powered by said internal power supply being switchably operable to provide either a conductive or a nonconductive electrical path between the AC line hot connection and the first dimmer hot connection; (h) a second control circuit ( 86 ) powered by said internal power supply being switchably operable to provide either a conductive or a nonconductive electrical path between the AC line hot connection and the second dimmer hot connection; (i) a first full-wave rectifier (D 1 , D 2 , D 3 , D 4 ) adapted to rectify an alternating current input voltage present between the AC line hot connection and AC line neutral connection when (i) said dimmer is wired in either the first ( 71 ) or the second ( 72 ) one of said four predefined wiring configurations; (j) a second full wave rectifier (D 1 , D 2 , D 5 , D 6 ) adapted to rectify an alternating current input voltage present between the AC line hot connection and the first dimmer hot connection when (i) said dimmer is wired in either the third ( 73 ) or a fourth ( 74 ) one of said four predefined wiring configurations, (ii) the first control circuit is providing a nonconductive electrical path between the AC line hot connection and the first dimmer hot connection, and (iii) an external load is connected between the first dimmer hot connection and AC line neutral return; (k) a third full-wave rectifier (D 1 , D 2 , D 7 , D 8 ) adapted to rectify an alternating current input voltage present between the AC line hot connection and the second dimmer hot connection when (i) said dimmer is wired in the third ( 73 ) one of said four predefined wiring configurations, (ii) the second control circuit is providing a nonconductive electrical path between the AC line hot connection and the second dimmer hot connection, and (iii) an external load is connected between the second dimmer hot connection and AC line neutral return; and (l) wherein each of said first, second, and third full-wave rectifiers are connectively configured to provide a direct current output voltage across the energy storage device (C 1 ).