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

[ef8crxman]

I went with the LDD-h4 boards. I also went with snail mail as I need to order the drivers etc.

I got a great deal on the drivers at Powergate. The LDD-1000h don"t come in untill December 18th. Plenty of time to get more boards sent!

Sure thing! Which boards did you go with?

They usually only take a few days to manufacture them. It will depend on your shipping method on how quick you get them though.

 

[O2Surplus]

I went with the LDD-h4 boards. I also went with snail mail as I need to order the drivers etc.

I got a great deal on the drivers at Powergate. The LDD-1000h don"t come in untill December 18th. Plenty of time to get more boards sent!

OMG- Thanks for the heads up! I just ordered (20) LDD-1000H for $4.93 each! I can't believe they're soooooo cheap!:dance:

 

[dread240]

powergate got me my drivers for like 4.60 something and got them here fast

 

[lomo]

@dread240 I saw on powergate's webpage that they don't sell stuff to individual costumers, only to OEM and other large costumers. How did you buy drivers from there?

 

[bhazard451]

@dread240 I saw on powergate's webpage that they don't sell stuff to individual costumers, only to OEM and other large costumers. How did you buy drivers from there?

Powergate express. Make up a company name, like "lomo" if you need to.

 

[dread240]

I did nothing special at all... I saw they were the cheapest at the time on octo part... went to their website and ordered them...

Now I did have them shipped to my work... and I can probably assure you that at some point and time my company has gotten components for our proprietary stuff through them... maybe that's why it went through? But I paid with a normal credit card and nobody at any time questioned anything on it.

just a note: I ordered from powergate LLC... not sure if that makes a difference... if it requires an account thing I'm certain I just lucked out because of who I work for

 

[rrasco]

interesting you should say that, I have been using cat5 from the drivers to the strings for about three years now... just because I didnt see anyone post that not safe. I guess I will ask at work monday..

Did you find anything out about this? What current are you drawing over them?

I am installing a new timeclock system at work. They are PoE and the documentations says they use 12VDC at 700mA. So I am thinking maybe that is not too much current.

Come to really think about it, the 6 pair cable I used for my LED strings is not all that different from Cat5 pairs. I really would like to use Cat5 for everything as it's cheap, easy, and the cables are readily available almost anywhere now.

 

[one clownfish]

@dread240 I saw on powergate's webpage that they don't sell stuff to individual costumers, only to OEM and other large costumers. How did you buy drivers from there?

I tried putting in my credit card info and "company name" in the check out 3x yesterday to buy my drivers from a place that only sells to other business's, it wouldn't take it. Then, I tried PP. PP filled out all the info for me including my "company name" and it worked first try. All of my drivers will be here Friday.

 

[O2Surplus]

I didn't have any trouble ordering mine. I used the name of the company that I work for and used my home address for shipping. Even got a discount using my PayPal debit card LOL.

 

[zachts]

I've ordered from Powergate several times and they don't ask for any company info or buisness liscence. But I do have them ship to my office so maybe they only look for commercial addresses as I recal you have to select residential or commercial address during the checkout process? any way we are a landscape architecture firm and do only design work so we would have no reason to be ordering from them........ Sshhhh don't tell anyone some one they might catch on probably doesn't hurt if your ordering more than a few at at a time as i have...

this works with lots of online wholesalers if you can have stuff shipped to your work address just use thier info and your credit card!

 

[Chalu]

Did you find anything out about this? What current are you drawing over them?

I am installing a new timeclock system at work. They are PoE and the documentations says they use 12VDC at 700mA. So I am thinking maybe that is not too much current.

Come to really think about it, the 6 pair cable I used for my LED strings is not all that different from Cat5 pairs. I really would like to use Cat5 for everything as it's cheap, easy, and the cables are readily available almost anywhere now.

Good reminder, almost forgot about it... I will try to talk to the engineers in the next day or two.

FWIW the max load in my setup is 1400ma @ 48V, running xml's... has been running for the last one year.. havent noticed any heating or anything different even in 90F weather

 

[zachts]

I have a question to those who have been running these for a while now. How hot do they get? most similar drivers can get rather hot and as these are encased they really can't be heat sinked. Mostly I'm wondering what happens to the extra heat if your voltage differs from imput to output by more than a few volts if you run a few drivers with less leds than the rest for different colors or what not.

Putting them somewhere with air flow from a fan probably solves any possible issues but just wondering.

these really seem Ideal esspecially if you get the wired ones. You could use waterproof wire nuts for connections and never worry about mosture damageing them, ever!

 

[Chalu]

I have a question to those who have been running these for a while now. How hot do they get? most similar drivers can get rather hot and as these are encased they really can't be heat sinked. Mostly I'm wondering what happens to the extra heat if your voltage differs from imput to output by more than a few volts if you run a few drivers with less leds than the rest for different colors or what not.

Putting them somewhere with air flow from a fan probably solves any possible issues but just wondering.

these really seem Ideal esspecially if you get the wired ones. You could use waterproof wire nuts for connections and never worry about mosture damageing them, ever!

Air circulation is always a good idea to keep things cool. its cheap insurance against a fire hazard, no spark to start a fire :lmao:

 

[one clownfish]

Sorry to side track the thread but I don't think he accepts PM's. @ bhazard451, did you buy the pre assembled controller or did you build it yourself? It looks like it would be a perfect addition to my build. I have six channels I'd like to control or I can combine NW & CW and have five. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[PeteStewardson]

Hi rrasco. Sorry this is my first post on RC but you've been doing what I've been trying to draw up for a while with LDD-H drivers. Do you mind if I have some made up from your files? I'm in the UK so not sure I can use Itead, would another company understand the copper flood part of the drawings enough to make the correct boards?

Pete

 

[rrasco]

Absolutely. Use them as you please.

I can't say if these will work for other board houses. I do believe they *should*, but I did use itead's rule check and CAM processor to generate the files so they might not. However, if you find a board house you want to use they should have guidelines for producing gerber files, which can be completed using the BRD and SCH files I posted on Google Code. It's actually a really simple process. Having said that, itead is in China and they ship to the US. I don't see why being in the UK would be a problem for you.

The copper pour is a standard process so they shouldn't have any problem with that either.

 

[bhazard451]

Sorry to side track the thread but I don't think he accepts PM's. @ bhazard451, did you buy the pre assembled controller or did you build it yourself? It looks like it would be a perfect addition to my build. I have six channels I'd like to control or I can combine NW & CW and have five. Any help would be appreciated.

It is the controller that is used in the first post of the thread. It is called the Jarduino, and the guy included a manual on what parts you need, and how to build it. Parts come out to around $50.

 

[one clownfish]

It is the controller that is used in the first post of the thread. It is called the Jarduino, and the guy included a manual on what parts you need, and how to build it. Parts come out to around $50.

Thanks. I'll order from his parts list instead of ordering it already assembled on ebay.

 

[O2Surplus]

Well it looks like these little drivers are a very popular item. I just got a call from PowerGate LLC informing me that the drivers I had ordered won't be available until the end of January. The caller wanted to know if I'd like to cancel my order because of this news. I told them to let my order stand because "My companies R&D department has plenty of other projects to work on right now. We can afford to wait." LOL

 

[pwreef]

You can no longer order what I have in the video because itead stopped manufacturing their v1.1 ITDB02 shield with RTC. The new v2.0 does not have RTC. You need a shield between the Arduino mainboard and the LCD screen that has the proper resistors + RTC shield. What you see on e-bay as what you assume as 'assembled' controller, is not a controller. Its just a sandwich consisting of 3 boards: LCD screen, ITDB02 shield and the Mega 2560 board. You still need to add a RTC clock to it somehow + take off the proper pins to connect to the drivers + all other things that Jarduino can do such as controlling outlets and attaching temperature sensors. Then of course you will have to add the code to it and make sure that you specify the correct pins for the hardware. Then it will be a 'controller'.