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

[O2Surplus]

Is there a way to efficiently run a varied length string lights efficiently. For example, I am trying to run two sets of LED for two tanks, with one controller and one power supply. The main tank might have 12 royal blue 6 white and 4 blue 2 moonlight and a string of four with UV red and green. I would like to be able to control each of these colors or strings separately but do not want to put a burden on the LDDs leading to potential meltdown.

Is there a way to put resistors in place to help ease the burden on the LDDs so they don't have to do all the work? Otherwise it seams to diminish the perceived advantages of this control method.

After another review of the MeanWell data sheets, I wouldn't be worried about lowered efficiency causing a heat or reliability issue. The worst that could happen would be thermal shutdown of the affected LDD, until more leds are added to the string LOL. Here's the part of the data sheet that covers Input Voltage/ Led load and efficiency. It looks like like even a light load of 3 leds @ 48V IN still yields 85% efficiency.

 

[Promazine]

After another review of the MeanWell data sheets, I wouldn't be worried about lowered efficiency causing a heat or reliability issue. The worst that could happen would be thermal shutdown of the affected LDD, until more leds are added to the string LOL. Here's the part of the data sheet that covers Input Voltage/ Led load and efficiency. It looks like like even a light load of 3 leds @ 48V IN still yields 85% efficiency.

This had been playing on my mind also - on one driver I may have to run just 4 LEDs, and was worried about the load this would put on the driver. Looks like these LDDs are getting better and better!

 

[ef8crxman]

Hoping there is someone that can help me figure out my problem on these ldd's.

I have 3 1000Mah ldd's running Royal blue and cool white leds.
1 600mah running all of my reds, greens and uv.

I have the apex vdm running into steve's led aquarium controller interface. The controller is suppose to convert the 0-10 volt that the vdm puts out into a pwm.

Once I plug in the power supply the leds turn on to full strength and there is no change once I try and change anything through the vdm.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[dread240]

did you hook up a ground to the steve's controller from the Vin - of the driver?

 

[ef8crxman]

did you hook up a ground to the steve's controller from the Vin - of the driver?

I have a 5 volt wallwort hooked up to supply power to the aquarium controller. So should i disconnect the ground from the wallwort going to the controller and run a negative from the Vin- of the driver to the negative on the controller?

Thanks!

 

[zachts]

I'd bet that's it, they need to share a common ground with the drivers.

 

[dread240]

I'm not 100% sure on the controller, I did pull up a picture of one but the documentation I saw wasn't clear (if you want to find a better writeup for it and link it to me I can verify 100%)

What I see in the picture though is your pwm coming out of that 6 pin terminal strip. 2 right pins are 5v and ground. You will still need the ground going to the dc power supply (your wallwart) and then the other 4 pins are your seperate pwm + outputs. You will need to run a wire from the Vin- pins of the LDD and tie it to the same ground point that your wallwart is running in. I'm going to assume all of your Vin- are going to a larger power supply so all those Vin- should be common to each other, which means you'll only need to run a single wire from one of the drivers back to the control board from any of the LDD's

 

[zachts]

I think you just need to have the Vin of both the driver and the Steave's controller tied together. I believe this is already done for you when you use one of Steave's LED drivers to power the interface board but since your using two separate power supplies for the two diveces the current isn't flowing.

 

[ef8crxman]

I'm not 100% sure on the controller, I did pull up a picture of one but the documentation I saw wasn't clear (if you want to find a better writeup for it and link it to me I can verify 100%)

What I see in the picture though is your pwm coming out of that 6 pin terminal strip. 2 right pins are 5v and ground. You will still need the ground going to the dc power supply (your wallwart) and then the other 4 pins are your seperate pwm + outputs. You will need to run a wire from the Vin- pins of the LDD and tie it to the same ground point that your wallwart is running in. I'm going to assume all of your Vin- are going to a larger power supply so all those Vin- should be common to each other, which means you'll only need to run a single wire from one of the drivers back to the control board from any of the LDD's

I will give that a try!

Thanks again!

 

[dread240]

I will give that a try!

Thanks again!

only helping because a small part of me still misses my first gen crx :dance: :rollface:

j/k

 

[tony73]

It's very interested, Is it possible to buy these PCB?

 

[iced98lx]

tony73- because the creators have been so nice as to release them open source, you can order them to be made at imall or another board making shop.

which I just did, and choose UPS shipping so hopefully they'll be here quickly.

Cheers!

 

[O2Surplus]

tony73- because the creators have been so nice as to release them open source, you can order them to be made at imall or another board making shop.

which I just did, and choose UPS shipping so hopefully they'll be here quickly.

Cheers!

LOL- ITeadStudios works fast, coupled with UPS delivery, my last two PCB orders took less than 8 days to land in my hands. It still surprises me that something that starts out as an idea in my head, can be produced and delivered in such a short amount of time.

 

[rrasco]

It kind of makes you want to build even more stuff O2, doesn't it?

 

[tony73]

LOL- ITeadStudios works fast, coupled with UPS delivery, my last two PCB orders took less than 8 days to land in my hands. It still surprises me that something that starts out as an idea in my head, can be produced and delivered in such a short amount of time.

I will contact it

Thanks a lot
?

 

[tony73]

LOL- ITeadStudios works fast, coupled with UPS delivery, my last two PCB orders took less than 8 days to land in my hands. It still surprises me that something that starts out as an idea in my head, can be produced and delivered in such a short amount of time.

I will contact it

Thanks a lot

 

[bhazard451]

It kind of makes you want to build even more stuff O2, doesn't it?

We won't mind, not one bit. You guys have already been a huge help, and we're all very thankful.

 

[rrasco]

There is a $20~ controller I am currently developing on the atmega328. It's not done yet, but it could be coupled with an RJ-45 jack to control these boards. I'm not ready to say anymore about it yet though. :thumbsup:

 

[Skinnysloth]

There is a $20~ controller I am currently developing on the atmega328. It's not done yet, but it could be coupled with an RJ-45 jack to control these boards. I'm not ready to say anymore about it yet though. :thumbsup:

You big tease! :bounce1:

 

[O2Surplus]

There is a $20~ controller I am currently developing on the atmega328. It's not done yet, but it could be coupled with an RJ-45 jack to control these boards. I'm not ready to say anymore about it yet though. :thumbsup:

A Ha! I took a short cut and just married an LDD-H Pcb directly to the underside of a Typhon Led Controller. Check this out-

Modified "Typhon" ( I ditched all the 10V stuff and went with mainly SMD components)

Meanwell LDD-H sub Pcb- (plugs in directly to the Typhon)

I've already built 5 of the controllers, but I'm stuck waiting for the LDD's to ship LOL:lolspin: