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

I got my 10 O2Surplus 5-up boards yesterday. I wasn't expecting them until the beginning of March. Sunny said I did not get my order in to be shipped before the New Year. I didn't get any freebies. :(
 
hifters1 said:
I got my 10 O2Surplus 5-up boards yesterday. I wasn't expecting them until the beginning of March. Sunny said I did not get my order in to be shipped before the New Year. I didn't get any freebies. :(
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The freebies are probably near worthless, but still fun to get. They sell that arduino board and the shield board already stuffed with components for like $20 which is cheaper than you could get the parts to build yourself, probably.

Kawi9_cf said:
Did you select the open source option when you ordered them?
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Yep, you have to do that to get them.

O2Surplus said:
Soldering the resistors is easier than you think. I should tell you that I did find one small defect with that Pcb. The pulldown resistor in the very middle is not connected to ground. You'll need to scratch the coating next to the ground pad and connect it with a small bit of solder. Other than that the Pcb works perfectly.
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After looking closely at the boards I can see how the one resistor pad is not connected. Should be easy to do.

 
If anyone has a spare 5x LDD-H board and doesn't mind arranging postage to the UK, please let me know a price...

Peter
 
Skinnysloth said:
Is there an alternative to using the screw headers besides soldering the wires straight to the board? I can't seem to find anyone selling the screw headers in quantities less than 50.
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Guys,

I ordered these boards from China, but when they have arrived the pins for the power/PWN/output etc are only 0.5mm wide - is this a fault with the design, or manufacture?

The power header ordered from mouser doesn't fit - the pins are in the correct location, but simply too big to fit through the holes.

This is the part I ordered from mouser - http://uk.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...GAEpiMZZMvZTcaMAxB2ABBNmx7J9ErWGGBt/%2b1nzHU=

Any help welcome, but seems to be looking like i'll have to solder wires straight to the board - not ideal

Thanks
James
 
O2Surplus said:
Silly question? What are you using to generate your PWM dimming signal?
An Arduino? Apex? What?
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Actually, looking at the specs of the Steve's Aquarium Interface I'd bet 10 bucks that it's actually an Arduino considering the chip he uses and the fact that he says it's software is upgradable. Maybe I could indeed just get a little wall wart for a USB hub, which is 5v, which most Arduino boards run at since they are often powered from a USB port, and run the PWM from that and simply tie the commons together with a little piece of wire.
 
Eud said:
Actually, looking at the specs of the Steve's Aquarium Interface I'd bet 10 bucks that it's actually an Arduino considering the chip he uses and the fact that he says it's software is upgradable. Maybe I could indeed just get a little wall wart for a USB hub, which is 5v, which most Arduino boards run at since they are often powered from a USB port, and run the PWM from that and simply tie the commons together with a little piece of wire.
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Steve's interface is nothing more than a stripped down Arduino, as you suspected, so using a 5V wallwart to power it will work just fine. Tie all your grounds together and you'll be good to go.
 
O2Surplus said:
Steve's interface is nothing more than a stripped down Arduino, as you suspected, so using a 5V wallwart to power it will work just fine. Tie all your grounds together and you'll be good to go.
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Thanks! Soldering up three of your boards this morning. If they turn out well I'll post pics to brag. If you never hear from me again it's because I messed them up. 8)
 
*sigh* That other LED place that shall not be mentioned on RC finally got in LDD units (HW version)... unfortunately they had exactly 2 left of the 1000HW in stock.
 
Soldered up three boards this morning. The certified soldering guy showed me how to do the surface mount and pins correctly, and I think they came out pretty well. You can see where I scratched out a ground path from the right side of the center pull-down resistor. It all tested OK, so we'll see.



 
rrasco said:
On a side note, I never expected this thread to get this crazy long.
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Give it a few years to challenge BeanAnimal's Silent Overflow thread. Too bad we miss out on: "My tank only has 2 holes drilled, why do I need three, can't I just put in a Tee and have three drains coming out of 2 holes?"

I'm really enjoying this thread and only occasionally wish I'd just bought a Maxspect Razor instead of doing this stuff.
 
Too bad we miss out on: "My tank only has 2 holes drilled, why do I need three, can't I just put in a Tee and have three drains coming out of 2 holes?"
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Wait a second I only want to buy one or two drivers. Can I run 400 LEDs off it? I am only going to run them at half power.

bahahaha!
 
sfsuphysics said:
*sigh* That other LED place that shall not be mentioned on RC finally got in LDD units (HW version)... unfortunately they had exactly 2 left of the 1000HW in stock.
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Yeah, I think Milad is going to have trouble keeping them in stock. He should get a bunch of Rrasco or O2Surplus boards printed up and sell them along with the H versions too if he could get them in. Also, I don't think he has power supplies yet, but he's working on it.
 
Eud said:
Yeah, I think Milad is going to have trouble keeping them in stock. He should get a bunch of Rrasco or O2Surplus boards printed up and sell them along with the H versions too if he could get them in. Also, I don't think he has power supplies yet, but he's working on it.
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Yup, when I asked when he'd get more in, he said it'd be a couple weeks. Personally I want to know who his supplier is that he can get 2 week turn around yet PowerGate said mid April sometime earlier in the month!
 
Eud said:
I'm really enjoying this thread and only occasionally wish I'd just bought a Maxspect Razor instead of doing this stuff.
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Yeah this thread is the reason I didn't go for the Razor myself, when adding in the cost of a ~$40 driver for each channel of LEDs the Razor wasn't too much more than a DIY build. Now with $8 per channel + $50-60 for a PS strong enough to do multiple fixtures, it made going DIY more desirable... although we'll see if my fixture turns out to be crap I might still go the Razor route.
 
I got my new meanwell power supply in today. I was going to order it from power gate but I scored a brand new one on eBay for $19.99 that was only a couple towns over from me so I got it in one day. It has been working flawlessly for the last 3 hours.

Thanks for the recommendation guys!
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