DIY LED driver for reef lighting

Thanks guys.

For anyone who would rather have less steps here are a couple of drop in replacement DACs:
MCP4706 - 8bit (30c cheaper than 12bit)
MCP4716 - 10bit (16c cheaper than 12bit)
same restrictions apply as the MCP4726

And here is a very nice way to get up to 7 more i2c busses from a single i2c master:
http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/an/AN955.pdf
 
terahz said:
Thanks guys.

For anyone who would rather have less steps here are a couple of drop in replacement DACs:
MCP4706 - 8bit (30c cheaper than 12bit)
MCP4716 - 10bit (16c cheaper than 12bit)
same restrictions apply as the MCP4726

And here is a very nice way to get up to 7 more i2c busses from a single i2c master:
http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/an/AN955.pdf
Click to expand...

There you go! That 10bit is the ticket. Nice build. What are you I2Cing with?
 
Yep, the 10bit is more than adequate, however you can only have 4 on a i2c bus due to addressing without playing the analog switch trick.

I will probably hook it up to my hydra while I work on the beaglebone upgrade :)
 
common ground

common ground

Hi all,

I have built my lightning with 10 CAT4101 boards (4 for 72 XP-E RB and 6 for 36 XM-L CW and NW, it is 80% done, still need to put cabling for 18 NW leds and optics.

I will use two 185W Meanwell HLG-185-20A drivers and Arduino. Should I connect ground of both drivers and Arduino ground? Any caps between? Is it problems if ground is connected to heatsink? When I mounted CAT4101 board accidentaly I connected CAT4101 grounds via mounting screws to heatsinks.

Thanks
 

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The danger of having the drivers grounded to the heatsink is that if anything else accidentally shorts to the heatsink (which is a common fault in these builds) you're gonna have major problems.

I don't understand when you say you're using CAT4101 drivers AND Meanwell HLG drivers?

Connecting the Arduino ground and driver grounds would depend on the design of the system - can you tell us which driver design you used?
 
I bought Meanwell HLG driver to be able to precisely set voltage to set led to 700 (XP-E) or 1500mA(XM-L) + 0.5 voltage drop on CAT4101. They are very efficient and I want to put them under aquarium.

I know about the risk of shortcut with heatsink but I have checked all with the multimeter.

I use CAT4101 triple driver design from this thread and Hydra (not Arduino, my mistake) for PWM and 5V.

I can isolate the CAT4101 from heatsink if needed, but I am more intersted If I can just simply connect grounds of both drivers and Hydra and do I need to use some scheme/caps.
 
Are the HLG's dimmable? If so, you can toss the CAT4101 drivers!

In your scenario connecting grounds sounds OK. I don't think you'll need any additional components as the various components you're talking about are all essentially designed to run in much more poorly regulated environments.
 
hi... I've been lurking before and learning about making a LED driver from this thread..... btw thx for all the given explanations :beer:

since I'm not an electric guy, may I ask a question here :)

I've found interesting N-CH MOSFETs made by Infineon (low RDS, low QD, high voltage and current rate)...

BSZ160N10NS3 G
BSC160N10NS3 G
BSC190N12NS3 G
BSC190N15NS3 G

does a 150V 50A MOSFET (BSC190N15NS3 G) is okay if I'm going to use it in a 60V 4A boost driver (LM3429) circuit?
 
martin_hawk said:
hi... I've been lurking before and learning about making a LED driver from this thread..... btw thx for all the given explanations :beer:

since I'm not an electric guy, may I ask a question here :)

I've found interesting N-CH MOSFETs made by Infineon (low RDS, low QD, high voltage and current rate)...

BSZ160N10NS3 G
BSC160N10NS3 G
BSC190N12NS3 G
BSC190N15NS3 G

does a 150V 50A MOSFET (BSC190N15NS3 G) is okay if I'm going to use it in a 60V 4A boost driver (LM3429) circuit?
Click to expand...

You need a P channel MOSFET and not the N channel models that you linked.
I use this one http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/ZXMP10A18KTC/ZXMP10A18KTCCT-ND/1636292 It's rated for 100 volts and seems to work just fine on my LM3409 driver boards.
 
Last edited:
O2Surplus said:
You need a P channel MOSFET and not the N channel models that you linked.
I use this one http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/ZXMP10A18KTC/ZXMP10A18KTCCT-ND/1636292 It's rated for 100 volts and seems to work just fine on my LM3409 driver boards.
Click to expand...

sorry, I was asking about MOSFET for LM3429 ... not LM3409...

as stated by the datasheet:

N-CHANNEL MosFET (NFET)
The LM3429 requires an external NFET (Q1) as the main power MosFET for the switching regulator. Q1 is recommended to have a voltage rating at least 15% higher than the maximum transistor voltage to ensure safe operation during the ringing of the switch node. In practice, all switching regulators have some ringing at the switch node due to the diode parasitic capacitance and the lead inductance. The current rating is recommended to be at least 10% higher than the average transistor current. The power rating is then verified by calculating the power loss given the RMS transistor current and the NFET on-resistance (RDS-ON).

In general, the NFET should be chosen to minimize total gate charge (Qg) whenever switching frequencies are high and minimize RDS-ON otherwise. This will minimize the dominant power losses in the system. Frequently, higher current NFETs in larger packages are chosen for better thermal performance.
Click to expand...

.......
 
anyone could help me checking the schematic I made with LM3429?

I'm not good at Eagle.. so hopefully someone who is familiar with it could help me with it :o
 

Attachments

Cat PCB

Cat PCB

I'm looking for a Cat4104 3 driver pcb. If anyone has an extra I would appreciate it. If they had the components to populate the board I would buy the package .:celeb2:


shark boy
 
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martin_hawk said:
anyone could help me checking the schematic I made with LM3429?

I'm not good at Eagle.. so hopefully someone who is familiar with it could help me with it :o
Click to expand...

Well the board isn't routed and some of the packages look really weird (Cin and L1). But otherwise it looks OK as far as matching the references in the datasheet.

Are you looking for help routing? Or with component selection? Or anything else specific?
 
Hi all, i am looking for a diy driver to do as a learning experiment, which is the best one to go for as i am looking at adding 12 led to my nano and have a boostled typhoon controller. Here in South Africa the MW drivers are expensive and would like to diy and learn
Thanks
 
sorrry guys i have skipped through this thread but i dont have a year to read it all i work 10 to 12 hours a day so my job limits my play time is any one offering boards for this build or can they be etched i do know how to do single sided etching i am just starting to set my tank back up and would like to do it with leds and as all of us know funds are limited so i want to get the most bang for my buck thanks for any info and help you can provide
 
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