DIY LED driver for reef lighting

DWZM,

I am going through some possible options. Is it better to link the source inputs of the drivers in series or parallel?

For example, if I use a 48v PS, can I hook up a 30v and 15v string in series? It seems that this would help the overall circuit. However, being switched and not linear, is this a circuit configuration to avoid?

Another example I can think of is to use a 12,15 or 24v PS and split the 30v string into smaller strings with multiple drivers.

I guess my question is, what connection would work best for the multi-voltage string's drivers source connections, series, parallel or maybe a combination of the two?

Phillip
 
TeslaReef said:
I guess my question is, what connection would work best for the multi-voltage string's drivers source connections, series, parallel or maybe a combination of the two?
Click to expand...

You pretty much can't put the drivers in series. If you have a 48v power supply and several LED drivers, you would put them all in parallel on the 48v supply.

The opportunity for "paralleling" comes downstream of the driver, via putting multiple series strings of LEDs in parallel on a single driver.
 
Hey everyone, firstly thanks for the work you've done on this. der_wille_zur_macht, I would have just PM'd you my question as I'm sure you could easily answer, but as I don't have enough posts yet I'll post here. I've only read about 10 pages of this thread, so sorry if it's been answered.

Are there currently any driver boards available, say using the CD1401, that can interface directly with the Typhon controller? I saw a CD1401 board from an ebay seller, but at $55+shipping for such a simple board, I figured I may be better off just using two of the PWM Meanwell drivers for my white and blue strings. Also, I understand that the Typhon can't take the Meanwell PWM's down below 10%. Could I use the drivers on an AC outlet timer along with the Typhon so that once a day they still shut off completely, then use the Typhon to control the ramp up and ramp down each day?

Basically I'd like my blue string to be used very dimly as moonlighting at night, then ramp up, and have the white string turn on during the day for daylight.

Thanks everyone,
Austin
 
eagle help needed

eagle help needed

I was wondering if someone would be willing to take a look at the CAT driver that I am trying to adjust a bit. Basically I am trying to fit 9 CATs total into a 50x100mm area. So far I have done one set of three. Any problems to be seen? Also, does anyone know how I can get rid of all of the ground traces? I have the ground polygons, but eagle is showing that I need to connect all the grounds. If everything looks good one the first I plan to place the other 2 sets of three in the same pattern.

Thanks for the help.
 

Attachments

neonstingray said:
Hey everyone, firstly thanks for the work you've done on this. der_wille_zur_macht, I would have just PM'd you my question as I'm sure you could easily answer, but as I don't have enough posts yet I'll post here. I've only read about 10 pages of this thread, so sorry if it's been answered.

Are there currently any driver boards available, say using the CD1401, that can interface directly with the Typhon controller? I saw a CD1401 board from an ebay seller, but at $55+shipping for such a simple board, I figured I may be better off just using two of the PWM Meanwell drivers for my white and blue strings. Also, I understand that the Typhon can't take the Meanwell PWM's down below 10%. Could I use the drivers on an AC outlet timer along with the Typhon so that once a day they still shut off completely, then use the Typhon to control the ramp up and ramp down each day?

Basically I'd like my blue string to be used very dimly as moonlighting at night, then ramp up, and have the white string turn on during the day for daylight.

Thanks everyone,
Austin
Click to expand...

Any of the pcbs posted in this thread would allow an Typhon to control a CAT4101 driver. That chip can take the 5vkids PWM generated by the Typhon directly with no special design considerations. I agree with you that a CAT4101 driver selling for $5 is pretty silly, considering the components to build one should be more like $5.

The 10%drivers restriction with the ELN drivers iis a propert of the driver, and is NOT specific to the Typhon. You get that behavior with the ELNs regardless of where the dimming signal comes from and there is NO way to fix it.

Even with a driver like the CAT4101 that can dim linearly right down to zero you might have trouble using your "main" LEDs as moonights. HPLEDs are just incredibly bright.

rye_84 said:
I was wondering if someone would be willing to take a look at the CAT driver that I am trying to adjust a bit. Basically I am trying to fit 9 CATs total into a 50x100mm area. So far I have done one set of three. Any problems to be seen? Also, does anyone know how I can get rid of all of the ground traces? I have the ground polygons, but eagle is showing that I need to connect all the grounds. If everything looks good one the first I plan to place the other 2 sets of three in the same pattern.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I am on my phone so I can't look at your files but regarding the ground pours, you have to use the name tool on the board widow to change the name of the polygon to GND or whatever name you used for your ground net on the schematic.
 
Howdy,

Apologies in advance for asking a question that no doubt has been answered already, but I'm at work and don't have a lot of "research" time today. I have designed a few PCBs in my time, but they were mainly just breakout boards and simple adapters. I am far from an electronics designer. I know enough to be dangerous, but I know Altium instead of that infernal Eagle.


After ordering a couple test chips and being impressed with the results, I would like to drive strings of the 10W or 20W arrays. The 10W chips are Vf 10-12v and max current of 1A. The 20W chips have a max current of 2A. I would be driving them (eventually) with the 0-10V output from an Apex.

I've been looking over the CAT4101 documentation since DWZM mentioned it in another thread. Wow! That's a danged neat chip for cheap and it looks like it would drive two of the 10W chips just perfectly. Would that be the way to go (driving two) or would the ZXLD1366 be better (driving four or five per channel)? (From the hpled Googlecode site.)


Also, I've tried looking through the thread to find a PWM conversion circuit. Can anyone point me to it?

Thanks in advance!
Jason
 
Thanks, kcress. Now my head is about to explode.

So, to sum up:

TeraHz's latest design, using the LM3409 would drive them with the appropriate power transistor.
It uses a DAC to monitor the 0-10V input and drive the dimming via I2C.

Unfortunately, I don't think think that there is a Schmartboard adapter for that package and it's a $300 NRE fee and $10 per board to have one made. :-(

Is the DIP version of the LM3409 just not available yet?
 
There will probably never be a DIP version of the LM3409. I'd use it anyways. No need to mock up with a protoboard, just go for it. The designs posted here are well enough tested that you shouldn't have problems. The biggest challenge is component choice, but the spreadsheet linked a few pages ago makes that fairly straightforward and foolproof.

Unless you want some unique design, you could just get the gerbers from one of our Eagle-produced designs and send them to a board house.

Also - regarding the prices you quoted - check out places like iteadstudio and seeedstudio. You'll be paying ~$10 for 10 boards, no setup fee. You could make your own DIP breakout board for the LM3409
 
There will probably never be a DIP version of the LM3409. I'd use it anyways. No need to mock up with a protoboard, just go for it. The designs posted here are well enough tested that you shouldn't have problems. The biggest challenge is component choice, but the spreadsheet linked a few pages ago makes that fairly straightforward and foolproof.

Unless you want some unique design, you could just get the gerbers from one of our Eagle-produced designs and send them to a board house.

Also - regarding the prices you quoted - check out places like iteadstudio and seeedstudio. You'll be paying ~$10 for 10 boards, no setup fee. You could make your own DIP breakout board for the LM3409
 
The "N" is the DIP version. I couldn't find stock anywhere, but I ordered some samples through work. I wonder if it's an actual part or if they're virtual "Hey, we may make that one day" parts. If it A) exists and B) works, a thru-hole board would make this much more accessible to the masses.

The cool thing about Schmartboard EZ boards is that anyone can solder them. They slap the soldermask on extra thick (simplified), so all you have to do is drop the component into the grooves, flux it, and "push" the solder up to the pin. http://www.schmartboard.com/

I showed TeraHz's board to a friend who does SMT stuff. He no like me any more. :)
 
Woah. That must be a new revision to the datasheet. I've never seen the "N" version referenced or mentioned before, and the copy of the datasheet I have cached locally clearly only shows the single version. If it does start to show up in stock somewhere I'll take a stab at revising the PCB. I like SMT soldering more than through hole, EXCEPT for insanely small parts like the MSOP package this chip currently comes in.
 
I wonder if it's a case of the DIP version being delayed during the TI purchase of National. That could explain why there are samples available, but no stock yet.
 
Yeah the data sheet was updated a month ago. I wonder if they have a 'change log' :)

According to findchips, Arrow takes preorders for the DIP version at $1.78 a pop
http://www.findchips.com/avail?part=LM3409N That's not bad at all. If these show up in most suppliers, I'll make a through hole version of the driver. However it really isn't that bad to hand solder!
 
Cool, Neal!

Unfortunately, these chips have a thermal pad on the bottom that complicates things. http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/snvs602i/snvs602i.pdf is the datasheet

I bet if you got permission from TeraHz or DWZM to make the board, you'd probably sell quite a few of 'em. I just can't afford the NRE fee (although it's very reasonable). I would happily pay $5-$8 for each board if it was available as an EZ because I've used quite a few of them in the past and I would happily pay the difference to be able to just drop the chips right into the slots!

(I need TeraHz's board for the analog dimming input.)
 
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