DIY LED driver for reef lighting

terahz said:
jerpa, and anyone else who's interesed, I highly recommend this FREE MIT class:
https://www.edx.org/courses/MITx/6.002x/2012_Fall/about

Don't let the prerequisites scare you.
Click to expand...

I am such a nerd. I just signed up for 3 of the classes on the page you provided. The electronics class looks alot like the one I took while I was an engineering student for the few semisters I was before I moved to networking but it will be nice to have a refresher.
 
Hell, I may even sign up for that class. As long as I have been fiddling with electronics, a well put together refresher or course is always welcome. The chem course looks interesting, I always like chem for the first week (until the math and balacing, etc start).


See you guys in school :)
 
Last edited:
moncapitane, just want to say that these are real classes with real homework and reading. 3 classes is almost like being fulltime student. Just saying :)

The electronics class is neat, it has been online for a while now, I've "attended" it but didn't really do the work (see above). I will try to this time.

Bean, that chem class does sound interesting, especially when you read the description.

Time for Edu forum? :D
 
Hi,

I am going to order some parts from Mouser for the CAT4101 chip.

The Mouser part #(80-C1206C105M5R) Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) - SMD/SMT 50volts 1uF X7R 20% is $.48 each.

I wanted to find out if the chip #(810-CGA5L3X7R1H105MS) Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) - SMD/SMT 1206 1.0uF 50volts X7R 20% Soft Term @ $0.16 is interchangable.

Thanks
 
davebar said:
Hi,

I am going to order some parts from Mouser for the CAT4101 chip.

The Mouser part #(80-C1206C105M5R) Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) - SMD/SMT 50volts 1uF X7R 20% is $.48 each.

I wanted to find out if the chip #(810-CGA5L3X7R1H105MS) Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) - SMD/SMT 1206 1.0uF 50volts X7R 20% Soft Term @ $0.16 is interchangable.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Davebar-

Go with the cheaper cap. $.48 is silly money. The cap is only there for smoothing out any voltage "ripple" that may be coming from the power supply. I've built tons of cat4101 drivers and it's never been much of an issue to worry about.
 
I have not looked at the caps in question...

But when choosing a filter cap, you should be mindful about its voltage rating, not oversizing it too far. That is, a 300V cap filter a 24V circuit is going to live a shorter life than a 36V cap on that same 24V circuit due to the ESR increasing (oxidization and electrolyte drying out) due to under voltage conditions. You should also (esp with electrolytic) pay attention to the mean lifetime ratings. In most cases, the longer lived caps cost more.

I have a few good PDFs on the subject somewhere and will see If I can dig them up.
 
Last edited:
I apreciate the input (O2Surplus and BeanAnimal)

The cheeper cap say it is the Product: for Automotive MLCCs. The more
expencive cap says it is the Product: for MLCCs Tin/Lead Termination.

The rest of the specs are the same.

That is what I wanted to know about interchangeable.
So the replies make me feel safe ordering the parts.
 
I have been having trouble getting the flux off of the cool white XP-G R5 stars I got from RapidLED. I have scraped and used 90% methanol but I still get the polluting flux in the puddles that makes it verry difficult to soder the wire to the pads.

Is their a better way to clean up these stars?
 
DIY LED driver for reef lighting

terahz said:
moncapitane, just want to say that these are real classes with real homework and reading. 3 classes is almost like being fulltime student. Just saying :)

The electronics class is neat, it has been online for a while now, I've "attended" it but didn't really do the work (see above). I will try to this time.

Bean, that chem class does sound interesting, especially when you read the description.

Time for Edu forum? :D
Click to expand...

The two programming classes shouldn't be too bad as I have a computer background and do some minor programming. Most of that information will not be new to be. An edu forum might be a good idea. I am for sure looking forward to the electronics class. I took one in college when I was an Engineering student so some of it isn't going to be new, just a refresher as well.
 
I ordered some boards for the 3 channel CAT4101 drivers with separate dimming channels. I have since decided to use LM3409 drivers so I have a few of the CAT4101 boards if anyone wants some. Shoot me a PM.
 
Triple cat4104 Components

Triple cat4104 Components

Does anyone have extra components for the Cat4104 drivers they would sell me?
I'm having trouble locating all the peices for a couple triple drivers from a single source.
Even parts for a single triple would work for now.
I tried Mouser and Digi-key but they are out of something on the list.
Please LMK,
shark boy
 
I'm hoping someone can help me out with this problem. Here's a summary of my system:

I'm running 3 CAT4101 driver boards, 8 chips total, 900ma ea, 56 Cree LED's.

I'm driving 2 PWM channels for blue/white control with an arduino mega.

All of this worked great for 6 months or so, until I added a couple "opto-isolated" relay boards this last week... Now, every time a relay contact makes or breaks, and my LED's are supposed to be off (the first 4 hours of my workday), i get a momentary flicker of both blue and white channels.

I thought the relays would be optically isolated from the arduino, but it seems I'm picking up some noise from somewhere. Should decoupling caps be installed somewhere? The only commonality between the relay board and the CAT4101 drivers are the 5V supply and GND (sourced from the Arduino), and the outputs both sourcing from the Arduino itself.

Also, should I run pulldown resistors on the PWM signal outputs from the arduino to the drivers? I say that, because if I physically touch the PWM wires when the channels are set to 0, I get a dim lighting of the LED's.

Thanks,
Kendall
 
Opps!!! Triple cat4101 Components

Opps!!! Triple cat4101 Components

Does anyone have extra components for the Cat4101 drivers? I'm having problems finding the cat4101 chips.

Shurly someone out here has some extras
shark boy
 
Cat4101 part

Cat4101 part

Got all my parts and put together my first cat4101 x3 pwm driver.
Soldering was easy.
Thank you shirley386 for the boards and thanks to O2Surplus for the rest of the parts.

shark boy
 
NCP3066 in Buck mode

NCP3066 in Buck mode

Hi,

i got hold of NCP3066 IC's as LED driver's for my DIY LED, i was looking into buck mode just to get more PWM resolution,

have any of you have used it in buck mode ?? let me know the BOM if you have..

i see a lot of guys have successfully used it in Boost mode..


Regards
Zoaracer
 
cat4101 to apex

cat4101 to apex

Correct me if I am wrong on this, but the cat4101 accepts a 5v pwm signal in order to determine the brightness of the LED. While the apex outputs a 10v signal. If I remember right there was a circuit that someone had created in order to fix this change. Does anyone know where that is? Also, with the apex being able to output 4 signals/module can I connect multiple drivers to each output or would I need 1 channel for every driver? Is there anyone who is using the apex to control a cat4101?

Thanks
 
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