This article describes a method to control AC power that will allow you to control the power to heaters, brightness of AC bulbs, etc. There are other articles on this site that address the same subject but the method described here uses a simpler sketch that was easier for me to understand.
http://arduino.cc/playground/Code/ACPhaseControl
// AC Control V1.1
//
// This arduino sketch is for use with the heater
// control circuit board which includes a zero
// crossing detect fucntion and an opto-isolated triac.
//
// AC Phase control is accomplished using the internal
// hardware timer1 in the arduino
//
// Timing Sequence
// * timer is set up but disabled
// * zero crossing detected on pin 2
// * timer starts counting from zero
// * comparator set to "delay to on" value
// * counter reaches comparator value
// * comparator ISR turns on triac gate
// * counter set to overflow - pulse width
// * counter reaches overflow
// * overflow ISR truns off triac gate
// * triac stops conducting at next zero cross
// The hardware timer runs at 16MHz. Using a
// divide by 256 on the counter each count is
// 16 microseconds. 1/2 wave of a 60Hz AC signal
// is about 520 counts (8,333 microseconds).
#include <avr/io.h>
#include <avr/interrupt.h>
#define DETECT 2 //zero cross detect
#define GATE 9 //triac gate
#define PULSE 4 //trigger pulse width (counts)
int i=483;
void setup(){
// set up pins
pinMode(DETECT, INPUT); //zero cross detect
digitalWrite(DETECT, HIGH); //enable pull-up resistor
pinMode(GATE, OUTPUT); //triac gate control
// set up Timer1
//(see ATMEGA 328 data sheet pg 134 for more details)
OCR1A = 100; //initialize the comparator
TIMSK1 = 0x03; //enable comparator A and overflow interrupts
TCCR1A = 0x00; //timer control registers set for
TCCR1B = 0x00; //normal operation, timer disabled
// set up zero crossing interrupt
attachInterrupt(0,zeroCrossingInterrupt, RISING);
//IRQ0 is pin 2. Call zeroCrossingInterrupt
//on rising signal
}
//Interrupt Service Routines
void zeroCrossingInterrupt(){ //zero cross detect
TCCR1B=0x04; //start timer with divide by 256 input
TCNT1 = 0; //reset timer - count from zero
}
ISR(TIMER1_COMPA_vect){ //comparator match
digitalWrite(GATE,HIGH); //set triac gate to high
TCNT1 = 65536-PULSE; //trigger pulse width
}
ISR(TIMER1_OVF_vect){ //timer1 overflow
digitalWrite(GATE,LOW); //turn off triac gate
TCCR1B = 0x00; //disable timer stopd unintended triggers
}
void loop(){ // sample code to exercise the circuit
i--;
OCR1A = i; //set the compare register brightness desired.
if (i<65){i=483;}
delay(15);
}