(Another) DIY LED Controller - Simple Arduino Style

katchupoy said:
Why convert if you can supply the 10V yourself. I believe this is the case even before arduino, since you are adjusting your driver via a pot and a 10v supply?

Ooops. pls ignore... I understand now the question... if it can convert pwm to analog...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have the meanwell D drivers. I have 10v regulated power supply, but want to control it with the arduino.

Although, your thoughts have given me a new idea. I wonder if there's a separate device like the POT that can be controlled via the arduino....
 
katchupoy,

If we follow your parts list and wiring diagram for the 10v power supply spliced in after the ardiuno, are we still getting a pwm signal to the driver?

If not, do you know which other parts are needed for the 10v pwm signal to the driver. I won't be starting my project until next month or so, but this is the part that I keep getting confused with.
 
King_Richard said:
katchupoy,

If we follow your parts list and wiring diagram for the 10v power supply spliced in after the ardiuno, are we still getting a pwm signal to the driver?

If not, do you know which other parts are needed for the 10v pwm signal to the driver. I won't be starting my project until next month or so, but this is the part that I keep getting confused with.
Click to expand...

Like i mentioned before, that I wish I have the P driver... But its not end of the world. I have two D and one P, all connected at the same arduino. Also, although they said its bad for the D, it does not mean it wont work. It works pretty well, just need to change the code.

And yes, we are "giving" the "D" driver pwm signal and it works. But I cannot guarantee it to last since they said its bad. But for now, it works really well with both "D" and "P" drivers.

And just to make it clear. Arduino is not giving the 10V signal... you already have the 10V signal from the adaptor. What arduino is doing is just cutting it on and off really fast (PWM) or turning it on and off.... Transistor is just a switch...

The power from arduino if fully isolated from the power of the 10v adaptor that is giving the signal to the driver.... (well not fully) because they share the same "ground"

Hope this makes sense.
 
King_Richard said:
katchupoy,

If we follow your parts list and wiring diagram for the 10v power supply spliced in after the ardiuno, are we still getting a pwm signal to the driver?

If not, do you know which other parts are needed for the 10v pwm signal to the driver. I won't be starting my project until next month or so, but this is the part that I keep getting confused with.
Click to expand...

I think i did not answer you correctly...

Let me try again. Yes, the arduino works on both "D" and "P" driver. If you have a choice, go with "P" driver.

Difference... is the steps. "D" driver is not linear, so I have to divide it into 10 steps between off and on.

The "P" driver since its PWM native can do 255 steps from off to on and vice versa. Thats a very smooth transition.

Do i like the 10 steps process? I actually dont notice it, unless ofcourse you are waiting for your light to dim instead appreciating your tank, then yes it will be noticeable.

But you have full control of how long that 10 steps will go for... In my case, I have at 60 minutes or 1 hour. It also means every 6 minutes it will dim 10%. Barely noticeable.

And for those people who want to buy "P" driver now but will not do arduino now? Then go ahead but the "P" since it will also work with the 10v (non PWM) and pot configuration. You can still dim it via a POT. So its a win win situation.
 
davidpesce said:
Tagging along, would love to have a solution to the 5v PWM signal converted to 10vdc analog for the meanwell D drivers.
Click to expand...

David, see post above. On my circuit, the arduino does not need to be converted to 10v analog since you have it already via a 10v adaptor.

But if you want to remove the 10v adaptor and use arduino to give off the 10v signal to the driver then I believe its possible, but not this DIY thread. I believe its beyond me, and I believe you are looking for the typhon project.

Im not sure though if typhon is analog or pwm boosted to 10v. You need to check.
 
Here is another stab on the diagram.... trying to make it as simple as possible for everybody can understand...

This time no "POT", just a simple straight forward connection.


arduino%2Btransistor_simple.jpg
 
TheFishMan65 said:
OK, I will believe you, but what it is called it if is 25/75? A rectangular wave?
Click to expand...

I have heard it called that :) A square is just a special case of a rectangle, and the term square may be just referring to the 'square' leading and falling edges of each pulse anyway - in the way that a carpenter will say a joint is square, meaning it is right angles, or 90 degrees. Which makes you right. :) I guess the thing is, it can all happen at one constant frequency.
 
Thanks for this write up Katchup. Just started reading it tonight and it's talked me into getting the P drivers with my LEDs to attempt this. I enjoy the DIY stuff even though I'm not very good at it, so hopefully I can figure this out from your tutorial.

Just bought a Arduino Duemilanove ATmega 328 kit off ebay for $30, looks to come with everything but the RTC.

So the goal here is just to have a timed ramp up/down such as a sun up/sunset timer? And the benefit of the Arduino over other light controllers such as the $80 one from rapid led (besides being slightly cheaper) would be later on when adding more features, is this correct?
 
katchupoy,

Yes that all makes sense, forgot to mention that I have the P versions which is why I was interested in whether or not it was pwm signal going to the drivers.
 
katchupoy said:
David, see post above. On my circuit, the arduino does not need to be converted to 10v analog since you have it already via a 10v adaptor.

But if you want to remove the 10v adaptor and use arduino to give off the 10v signal to the driver then I believe its possible, but not this DIY thread. I believe its beyond me, and I believe you are looking for the typhon project.

Im not sure though if typhon is analog or pwm boosted to 10v. You need to check.
Click to expand...

Forgive my ignorance, still new to this whole thing. How would I go about controlling how much voltage gets through to the dimming control via the arduino?
 
For those interested I don't know if they make it, but what is needed for the Meanwell D series is a Digital to Analog Converter that has a 10 volts scale and an I2C interface. Oh, english:) The I2C is a 2 wire bus that is supported by the Arduino (libraries are already written). You use this bus to write a digital value (0-255) to the converter it then converts from 0 to the max voltage (hopefully 10 volts). Don't know why it took me so long to think of such a device. The only problem is is one made for 10 volts and in a pack you can use.

I'll be back (of course in Arnold's voice)
 
Search digikey for DAC
Then select Data Acquisition - Digital to Analog Converters (10,506 items)
Then you probably want 8 bit, through hole and I2C

That gives you a page full from $5 to $20. From 2 channels to 8.

I know in theory what they do, but don't know all the specifics so I can't say it would work. I would probably go with the 4 channel for $7. PS Maxim is usually good with samples.
 
I think the second step is an op amp. Little rusty on those, but I am pretty sure that they can be set up to supply a gain of 2 on the voltage.

Maybe this one TLV2371
 
TheFishMan65 said:
Search digikey for DAC
Then select Data Acquisition - Digital to Analog Converters (10,506 items)
Then you probably want 8 bit, through hole and I2C

That gives you a page full from $5 to $20. From 2 channels to 8.

I know in theory what they do, but don't know all the specifics so I can't say it would work. I would probably go with the 4 channel for $7. PS Maxim is usually good with samples.
Click to expand...

I think this is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you! I wonder why no one has posted a similar solution before? Seems like there are a good deal of meanwell D driver users out there.
 
I do embedded software so I have pretty good idea on theory. Just not so good when it comes to glueing all the parts together. Maybe someone with more experience will chime in.
 
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