Has anyone made an LED driver based on LM3463 6 channel driver IC?

[O2Surplus]

Hey O2,...Threads been quiet for a while now, any updates? :bounce3:

Unfortunately my job has been keeping me quite busy as of late, and it's been 100 degrees + at my home for the last few weeks. I'm relegated to doing my experiments out in the NON Air conditioned garage, so at these temperatures, my motivation wanes quickly. I'm working on a few different versions of the A6211 driver PcB and still attempting to find a way to adequately cool my little LDD-H replacement driver, as time permits. I'm going to order another batch of PcB's that will include a 14mm x 12mm solder pad on the underside of the PcB. The solder pad will allow me to attach a heat sink directly to the thermal tab of the A6211. Hopefully this modification will provide the additional cooling that's needed. Here's a photo (the blue square is the heat sink mounting tab)

 

[007Bond]

I seen the weather maps, 100 degree humid temps are rough! :eek1:
The solder pad sounds like a good idea/solution!---Rick

 

[summoner12]

I'm still waiting for some copper heat sinks to arrive, before I can continue testing in earnest. My hope is that they'll allow the driver to push at least 2000ma without going into thermal "protection" mode, so dialing them in for a more modest 1400ma will make for a long service life. If I can get that, Ive got enough parts on hand to build 40 of them, so if you'd like to be a Beta tester, let me know and I'll send you a few to play with. Lol

I'm also working on a 5up driver PcB for "007Bond", but it's on hold until I can get the little LDD-H compatible Pcb sorted out. I'm going to apply "lessons learned" from the little driver to help perfect "007's" PcB design.

Here's another version that I'm working on too. I call it "the kitchen sink driver" Lol. It's not completed yet, I'm still trying to figure out what else I can cram in LOL, and then finalize placement of the components.(don't laugh-I'll get it all to fit eventually)

Here's a list of what it's got so far- Let me know what you think?

1.) 5 independent A6211 drivers. Each driver with jumper selectable current settings. ( Don't worry 007, I'm gonna add this to yours too!)

2.) 1 MeanWell SCW05-12 Dc/Dc convertor for powering cooling fans, arduinos, ect.. (how cool is that? This alone makes everything else on the list possible )

3.) 1 5V regulator (a must have for the Atmega chip)

4.) 1 AtMega 328-au micro-controller.

5.) 1 DS1307 Real Time Clock

6.) 1 I2C connection w/ 5V and 1.8k Pull Up resistors already installed. ( for future expansion )

7.) 1 FTDI connection for programming access.

I want one!!! :bounce2::bounce3::bounce1::inlove::fun4::inlove::bounce1::bounce3::bounce2:

 

[mrjimmypit]

Unfortunately my job has been keeping me quite busy as of late, and it's been 100 degrees + at my home for the last few weeks. I'm relegated to doing my experiments out in the NON Air conditioned garage, so at these temperatures, my motivation wanes quickly. I'm working on a few different versions of the A6211 driver PcB and still attempting to find a way to adequately cool my little LDD-H replacement driver, as time permits. I'm going to order another batch of PcB's that will include a 14mm x 12mm solder pad on the underside of the PcB. The solder pad will allow me to attach a heat sink directly to the thermal tab of the A6211. Hopefully this modification will provide the additional cooling that's needed. Here's a photo (the blue square is the heat sink mounting tab)

this is awesome, can we get the design files?

 

[007Bond]

Hi O2,... Hey did your new pcb's with the solder pads show up yet? Your idea of heat reduction with the added pads sounded like a good solution.---Rick

 

[sasalone]

Yeah- I just threw that PcB up for a few laughs, but the longer I stare at it, the more I want to make a working example of it. I'll definitely add the fan control circuit and a couple of connections for the Dallas One Wire stuff.

Try to squeeze in a PCA9685 12-bit 16-channel PWM controller, the one Adafruit is using on their 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver. The 12-bit PWM really smooths the dimming.

 

[O2Surplus]

Hi O2,... Hey did your new pcb's with the solder pads show up yet? Your idea of heat reduction with the added pads sounded like a good solution.---Rick

Hey Rick!

I got the new PcB's, but haven't had any time to play with them yet.... Unfortunately my job has me working 5 nights a week now, (6pm - 7am) and I'm feeling like a Zombie because of it. I'll be working these hours until about the end of the year, so I won't be able to contribute much to the Forum/thread until then. What's that old saying about "Money & Time"? I'm not complaining, since these days I'm lucky to still have a job in the first place.LOL

 

[007Bond]

Ok buddy, I'll watch for future updates.---Rick

 

[O2Surplus]

this is awesome, can we get the design files?

I'll release the design files just as soon as I've had a chance to build a few, and verify that the new driver will perform reliably.

 

[tomservo]

Well, I have an update. I finally got around to configuring my PCB based on the one 007 was going to use.. Basically I just switched the connector for my favored 12 pin val-u-lok and added a terminal block for the volts in, and did some +12v shenanigans for the fans. I also switched things so there are still two RJ45 connectors but they are both for PWM, for easy piggybacking of the boards.

 

[007Bond]

Hey Tom,... haven't heard from you in a while. Are you doing the A6211? Can you put up a pic of your board. Also did you see on the posting on the other thread, that meanwell is putting out a new LDD-L series, up to 1500ma. Now they need to put out the H series, and we would really be in business for Dream Chips.---Rick
http://www.powergatellc.com/mean-well-ldd-l-dc-dc-converter.html
.

 

[O2Surplus]

Hey Rick

I'm back to working normal hours and 3 day weekends, so I'll be soldering up a couple of the newest A6211 driver designs in the next few days. I'm going to put together a 5up and one of my LDD-H compatible drivers to see how they perform. LOL Hopefully- there won't be any sparks, flames or other surprises!

 

[tomservo]

Nice to hear things are starting back up for everyone... O2, I sure hope the boards work, as I already ordered up 10 of them...

 

[O2Surplus]

Nice to hear things are starting back up for everyone... O2, I sure hope the boards work, as I already ordered up 10 of them...

Oh.....They're gonna work. Just slap a VGA cooler on the back and "let 'er rip" LOL. Thermal management is the only stumbling block that remains to be addressed with these new driver chips.

 

[007Bond]

Hey Rick

I'm back to working normal hours and 3 day weekends, so I'll be soldering up a couple of the newest A6211 driver designs in the next few days. I'm going to put together a 5up and one of my LDD-H compatible drivers to see how they perform. LOL Hopefully- there won't be any sparks, flames or other surprises!

Hey O2,...That's good news.:bounce3: I'm anxious to see if the larger pad for the A6211 that you added on the new board works for cooling the chip.---Rick

 

[O2Surplus]

I'm still in the game! Check this out- 5 channels, 1600ma per channel, 12V SCW DC/DC convertor and Arduino PWM control for 3 fans! I've run it for a couple of hours so far, and as long as some airflow over the PcB is maintained, it performs admirably.( Each channel will have user programmable current settings, just as soon as I can locate the proper resistors,LOL)
I've also built v2.0 of my A6211 "LDD-H" replacement. A copper heat sink added to the bottom of the tiny PcB and some airflow is all that was needed to make it push 1600ma from a 48V supply. here's some photos-

 

[007Bond]

Hey O2,...looks like your real close to what I was looking for in a 5 up board. Sounds like the heat sink is cooling the 6211 now, and if I could get it top out at 1400ma that would be ideal. I'm going to use a Jarduino for control, so even if the board is putting out 1600ma I should be able to set the controller to the right percentage of the 1600ma to stay at 1400ma or below. If meanwell would now just put out a new LDD-H in the 1500ma, that would really be the solution to my needs. Thanks,---Rick

 

[O2Surplus]

Hey O2,...looks like your real close to what I was looking for in a 5 up board. Sounds like the heat sink is cooling the 6211 now, and if I could get it top out at 1400ma that would be ideal. I'm going to use a Jarduino for control, so even if the board is putting out 1600ma I should be able to set the controller to the right percentage of the 1600ma to stay at 1400ma or below. If meanwell would now just put out a new LDD-H in the 1500ma, that would really be the solution to my needs. Thanks,---Rick

Hey Rick-

I've located and ordered the 1% resistors needed to finish off this design. I'll take some more current measurements after they've been installed, and hopefully there will be a certain jumper configuration that will hit your 1400ma target. In theory, if all the resistors have their jumper installed, this driver will hit 3000ma per channel. LOL That would be fun to watch, as the solder holding the components would melt from the enormous amount of heat generated from all that current.
I know it will take further experimentation, but I'd like to eventually have a driver that will have jumper settings for 300, 700, 1000, &1400ma per channel. We'll get there eventually.LOL

 

[007Bond]

Your the Man!! Thanks O2,...I have my solder paste at the ready(been reading up on SMD soldering),...oh I suppose I'll need to order the boards first.lol---Rick

 

[O2Surplus]

Update-

Last night I received the batch of inductors that I've been waiting on for the last couple of weeks. I swapped out the 10uH inductors, that I had been using, for some new inductors measuring 47uH. This change has made all the difference. The drivers run much cooler than before and max out at 1400ma on the nose! I tested the current output for each jumper setting and got 1400ma, 970ma, 690ma, & 300ma. That's a pretty flexible driver in my book. I'm still in the process of testing the smaller LDD-H replacement version. I built a few to output 1400ma and 1600ma. So far the 1400ma version looks promising with the added copper heat sink, but I may have been pushing too far when going for 1600.
I'm going to continue testing tonight and see what happens.LOL