Meanwell LDD driver: for those who want to dim to 0 using Arduino

Quick Question for all, i have the following DIY Setup:

CREE XP-E Amber LED (2) 2.3V @ 500mA
CREE XP-G2 5W Cool White LED (8) 3.0V@1000mA
CREE XP-E Green 3W LED (4) @700mA
CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED (8) @1000mA
CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED (8) @1000mA
Philips Rebel ES 660nm (4) @700mA
Total Spectrum Violet UV LED (2) 13.5V@700mA (24w)

o2Suprlus 8up-
Channel 1 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XP-G2 5W Cool White LED (8) 24V
Channel 2 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED (8) 28V
Channel 3 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED (8) 25.5V
Channel 4 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XP-G R5 7up PCB (2) (14 total) 42V
Channel 5 (700mA LDD) - Philips Rebel ES 660nm (4) 9.6V & CREE XP-E Green 3W LED (4) 15.2V 24.8V
Channel 6 (700mA LDD) - Total Spectrum Violet UV LED (2) 27V
Channel 7 (500mA LDD) - CREE XP-E Amber LED (2) 4.6V

Mean Well SE-350-48 Power Supply

My question is can I have two of the 8up's powered off this one power supply? The second 8up will not have channel 4 w/ the 7ups at all.
 
TriNewbie24 said:
Quick Question for all, i have the following DIY Setup:

CREE XP-E Amber LED (2) 2.3V @ 500mA
CREE XP-G2 5W Cool White LED (8) 3.0V@1000mA
CREE XP-E Green 3W LED (4) @700mA
CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED (8) @1000mA
CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED (8) @1000mA
Philips Rebel ES 660nm (4) @700mA
Total Spectrum Violet UV LED (2) 13.5V@700mA (24w)

o2Suprlus 8up-
Channel 1 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XP-G2 5W Cool White LED (8) 24V
Channel 2 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED (8) 28V
Channel 3 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED (8) 25.5V
Channel 4 (1000mA LDD) - CREE XP-G R5 7up PCB (2) (14 total) 42V
Channel 5 (700mA LDD) - Philips Rebel ES 660nm (4) 9.6V & CREE XP-E Green 3W LED (4) 15.2V 24.8V
Channel 6 (700mA LDD) - Total Spectrum Violet UV LED (2) 27V
Channel 7 (500mA LDD) - CREE XP-E Amber LED (2) 4.6V

Mean Well SE-350-48 Power Supply

My question is can I have two of the 8up's powered off this one power supply? The second 8up will not have channel 4 w/ the 7ups at all.
Click to expand...


Based on some rough calculations, I figure you'll be consuming around 300 watts from that 350 watt supply. It should work.
 
I haven't hooked anything up yet. I contacted the seller, and even though they were located in US,...they seemed to have lost their grasped of the English language. lol.
It looks like if I buy the shield I linked it will take 40 and 32 pin screens, and it will work on a mega. I'm first going to take rott up on his offer to stop by his place and check out what I already have, before I buy anything else.---Rick
 
I'm looking for some guidance please. My questions are basic so I apologize for my ignorance. This stuff is all very new to me.

I ordered the Arduino Mega w/LCD touchscreen, 5 LDD H1000, and all of my LEDs. I went with 1w LEDs for a 10 gallon tank. I probably should have asked these questions prior to ordering because I'm now wondering if I got the correct drivers. My understanding when bought the drivers was that because I'm using the Adruino to dim than the 1000 would be fine. Now that I'm doing a bit more research I'm wondering if I'll blow the LEDs?

The second question I have is do I need a power source besides the power coming through the Arduino? If yes, what do I need to order?
 
Pokahpolice said:
I'm looking for some guidance please. My questions are basic so I apologize for my ignorance. This stuff is all very new to me.

I ordered the Arduino Mega w/LCD touchscreen, 5 LDD H1000, and all of my LEDs. I went with 1w LEDs for a 10 gallon tank. I probably should have asked these questions prior to ordering because I'm now wondering if I got the correct drivers. My understanding when bought the drivers was that because I'm using the Adruino to dim than the 1000 would be fine. Now that I'm doing a bit more research I'm wondering if I'll blow the LEDs?

The second question I have is do I need a power source besides the power coming through the Arduino? If yes, what do I need to order?
Click to expand...
The LDD need their own power supply. 48v input gives you the most flexibility, lets you use up to ~14x 'good' LEDs per LDD ('good' LEDs meaning those that are on good tech with Vf in the 2.8-3.1 range at 1000mA, not the crappy chinese stuff that's still stuck at 3.6-3.9v at 700mA). The wattage of the power supply should be determined by how much LED you're powering. If you're powering, add it all up and add ~20%.

If the LEDs you bought are 1w chips, more than likely they've got a low Vf or they're limited to about 200-300mA, so the 1000mA LDD will kill them probably immediately, or close to it. What are the specs on them?
 
I bought the 'crappy chinese' stuff. Here are specs..
Forward voltage: 3.2-3.8V
Forward current: 350mA
Wave Length: 460-470nm
View degree: 120 degree
Luminous: 20-30LM

So I can't use the Arduino to limit the voltage going thru the drivers? I'm still confused how the math work when determining what drivers to use and the power supply? Thanks for the help!
 
Pokahpolice said:
I bought the 'crappy chinese' stuff. Here are specs..
Forward voltage: 3.2-3.8V
Forward current: 350mA
Wave Length: 460-470nm
View degree: 120 degree
Luminous: 20-30LM

So I can't use the Arduino to limit the voltage going thru the drivers? I'm still confused how the math work when determining what drivers to use and the power supply? Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
LDD do not do anything with voltage, except output the exact voltage required by the LEDs. The LDD is a constant current driver, not a constant voltage. They take a DC constant voltage source (from a typical AC/DC power supply) and convert to constant current, and their voltage output range is 2-45v when on a 48v power supply.

You can run up to 11x of your LEDs from a single LDD on a 48v power supply. I would very highly suggest that you return the LDD-1000 and purchase LDD-300 or LDD-350 to avoid any issues with burning those LEDs up, Chinese LEDs do not tolerate more current than they're rated for (and for most I would recommend to run lower than their maximum).

Also, the Cree XP-E2 blue emits ~82lm at 1000mA in the most commonly available bin. If you want to keep your LDD-1000, I would recommend switching to those, you can run 13x per LDD, and they're the equivalent of 3-4x of the LEDs you have, so unless your chips were ~$1 each or less, then you paid more :)
 
Jedimasterben.. If I didn't bite off more than I can chew :) I plan on using an Arduino Due to control my lights but instead of using the onboard pwm signal I plan on using the Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM - I2C interface - PCA9685. It has 12 bits of resolution. With a 7ft tank I am hoping to have some smooth dimming.
 
dre7606 said:
Jedimasterben.. If I didn't bite off more than I can chew :) I plan on using an Arduino Due to control my lights but instead of using the onboard pwm signal I plan on using the Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM - I2C interface - PCA9685. It has 12 bits of resolution. With a 7ft tank I am hoping to have some smooth dimming.
Click to expand...

I use that pwm chip and things are super smooth.
 
Thanks this is definitely helping me understand...I'm going to order the 350mA drivers. Can you please suggest a power supply?

If you have a supplier that would be helpful.
 
Pokahpolice said:
Thanks this is definitely helping me understand...I'm going to order the 350mA drivers. Can you please suggest a power supply?

If you have a supplier that would be helpful.
Click to expand...
I'm steering clear of the generic power supplies after having used a few with less than stellar results. My initial testing with the Meanwell HLG series has been awesome so far. I could kill someone by slapping them with one, they're built like tanks. How many total LEDs are you powering?
 
On the first page of this thread there are two quotes that I have questions on...

pwreef said:
In this particular example its a 48V 1.25A Meanwell power supply. The biggest reason for using is is that that array needs 36V minimum. If you are building a smaller unit, you can use a old laptop power supply for example that outputs 16-18V. With that you will be good to probably 5 LEDs per driver. Looks like AI is built similar to that. For my larger build I am using a Switching Power Supply 200w, 25V @ 8.3A from Stevesleds. With that one I am using 7 XT-E LEDs per string just fine. You can find many like it on ebay as well. This is pretty much what Ecotech uses. The beauty of these drivers is that they dim to 0 and cost under $5 each.
Click to expand...

I have a few old laptop power supplies, 1. can I use one and 2. how do I do the math to figure out how many LEDs I can run off of the power supply?

pwreef said:
The drivers just hook up in parallel to the power supply. The more you connect, the higher current PS you will need. How high exactly, depends on what current your LEDs are consuming. In theory 84 *3W = 240, so you should be well under that PS limit.
You can mix and match. If you are going to dim them, there is no reason to get anything but the 1000mA version. The only danger is that if you loose your Arduino or other dimming input connection, the driver will go full current. If you have some LEDs that cannot handle that, they will probably fry.
Arduino Mega 2560 that I am using has 14 PWM outputs. That should cover all possible colors you want and more. The controller I am using is linked in the video. He tried to post on here, but got removed because he is collecting donations. Parts cost about $50 including the touchscreen, clock shield and the Mega board from e-bay.
Click to expand...

This quotes states there is no reason to ever get anything but the 1000H if you dimming...he goes into the danger but are there other reasons that are not mentioned? Thanks!!
 
Pokahpolice said:
I have a few old laptop power supplies, 1. can I use one and 2. how do I do the math to figure out how many LEDs I can run off of the power supply?
Click to expand...
Your LEDs need 3.8v each. The LDD have an input range of 9-56v. The output maximum will be 3-4v less than the input - so if the laptop PSU is 24v (more than likely is), the LDD will output 21v, and you can run, at most, 5x of your LEDs (21 divided by 3.8 gives ~5.5, round down).

Then, to calculate the wattage needed, add up the wattage of all of your LEDs (3.8v at 350mA gives 1.33 watts per LED) then add 20% to that number, and that is the minimum wattage needed.

Pokahpolice said:
This quotes states there is no reason to ever get anything but the 1000H if you dimming...he goes into the danger but are there other reasons that are not mentioned? Thanks!!
Click to expand...
The big reason to not use the 1000H is because your LEDs are 350mA maximum, no sense in limiting your dimming range and using drivers that could potentially kill all your LEDs, then you'd be back to square one :)
 
jedimasterben said:
Your LEDs need 3.8v each. The LDD have an input range of 9-56v. The output maximum will be 3-4v less than the input - so if the laptop PSU is 24v (more than likely is), the LDD will output 21v, and you can run, at most, 5x of your LEDs (21 divided by 3.8 gives ~5.5, round down).

Then, to calculate the wattage needed, add up the wattage of all of your LEDs (3.8v at 350mA gives 1.33 watts per LED) then add 20% to that number, and that is the minimum wattage needed.


The big reason to not use the 1000H is because your LEDs are 350mA maximum, no sense in limiting your dimming range and using drivers that could potentially kill all your LEDs, then you'd be back to square one :)
Click to expand...

This a good point> saying you might only be able to use lets say 1/4 of your controllers(arduino) potential by using LDD1000's before burring out your led's
 
makes sense guys, thanks for the help. I ordered the 5x LDD 350H...should be here in a few days.

Ok so the laptop power supply isn't going to work. What would you suggest to power 25 LEDs...the one I bought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
DIY 100g+ LED Reef Light - Arduino build
Replies
16
Views
13K
saf1
S
B
180g DIY LED Build with LDD Drivers..Questions & Future Build thread
Replies
3
Views
2K
Brien H
B
chrishet
Full Spectrum LED Build-MakersLED-Meanwell LDD-Apex Control
2 3
Replies
46
Views
13K
DrewPalmer04
DrewPalmer04
Back
Top