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

Wish I'd seen that cable before hand - looks good, would have been perfect. All my looms have already been made up now - for the next build maybe :)

Those connector are just like the atx molex connectors - except the molex ones have more pins.
I just bought one of these - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160467063600

i figure at least I'll know the pins will be connected properly. I'll just cut it in half and solder the leads to the end of my loom, and then do the same e other side.
 
You can buy empty 24 pin male and female kits - I just chose to go with a ready made lead for ease. I'm sure I have a pin removal tool somewhere, so if needs be I can pop them out and drop some solder on there.
 
Hmm. Since I have them around I was just going to use solid conductor Cat-6 and RJ45 jacks for mine. 8 wires in each cable with nice plastic separation between the pairs and 23AWG, which has a very conservative limit of 0.7A for power transmission according to

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

but I'd think 1A would be fine in the short lengths we're using. Not sure if it's good to put an amp through an RJ-45 socket or connector, but it seems like it should be. I know the 48V is fine because we use it for Power over Ethernet from our Cisco routers and that delivers 48V to the endpoints up to 300 feet away.
 
I considering that but I figured with multiple conductors bundled together being overdriven would cause heat issues with the cable and possibly safety concerns.
 
fickle1 said:
Awesome read. I definitely think I am going this route for my 90g LED build. Does anyone have 2 spare 5 up boards they would be willing to part with? PM please. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Still looking. I would obviously pay you for them. Just hate to order 10 when I am sure there are some left overs floating around here.
 
I know there has been a lot of talk about gauge of wire. What gauge are you using to a 5up board with 5 LDD-1000Hs? From the board to the multichip (aka Dream chip)? The supplied wires on the Dream chip seem awfully small.

Also, what kind of enclosures are you guys using?
 
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I use 22 gauge wire on my 250w dream chip build, it works OK. Find a voltage drop calculator to figure out what wire size you want.

The product I am using is mcmaster part # 71335K54 12 conductor 22 gauge stranded audio wire, in grey. Importantly, the insulation is rated to 300v.. Watch out for data cabling, as the voltage rating is often only 30v!

I use Val-U-Lok series connectors, they are very similar to ATX power connectors, maybe even the same. They're inexpensive at digikey.. The crimpers run about $30 on ebay. You need the crimpers, soldering leaves the wires prone to breaking at the connector.
 
I got bored at work again....... so I drew this up. It's an Arduino shield that features 4 LDD-H drivers that get their PWM signals directly from Digital pins 5,6,9,&10. The shield shares a common ground with the Arduino main board, so there's not much in the way of connections LOL. If anybody wants the build files, just let me know and I'll post them up.

LDDShieldversion1_zpsddf1f0f6.png
 
Excellent work O2. In case you are bored at work again, and want to make this Arduino shield perfect you need to make the following modifications:
1. start PWM pins from 7. If anyone is building a controller that is like Jarduino, pins 5 & 6 are used for the display shield. Re-mapping them is hard because that's how the screen shields are already designed. So Jarduino uses pins 7-13 for the 7 channels.
2. physically its not possible to use such shield in a 'sandwich' because you need to have the 36-pin connector go through to the display shield. Is it possible to re-design the board so that in and out terminals are on the left side and there is a pass-through for 36-pin connector on the right? The board may be a little shifted physically to the left, which is probably okay in most cases. I also got to check if the height of the LDDs would allow the boards to connect. I think they should.
Basically it looks like this:
http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Mega2560-Display-Adjustable-Duemilanove/dp/B008FWSH3C
The driver board would be exactly on top of the Mega board, then the lcd shield, then the LCD itself. All the power terminals would be on top of the USB/Power connectors on the Mega board.
Good luck!
P.S. Extra credit: design a board with 6 (or 8?) LDD-Ls. That should be enough for most nano tanks to cover all possible colors.
 
Extra Credit? I feel like I'm back in school LOL. The shield that I threw together is for the Duemilanove or UNO, not the MEGA. If I have some more "free time" at work, I'll draw one up for the MEGA using the layout that you've described. That should kill a few hours of my work day LOL.






pwreef said:
Excellent work O2. In case you are bored at work again, and want to make this Arduino shield perfect you need to make the following modifications:
1. start PWM pins from 7. If anyone is building a controller that is like Jarduino, pins 5 & 6 are used for the display shield. Re-mapping them is hard because that's how the screen shields are already designed. So Jarduino uses pins 7-13 for the 7 channels.
2. physically its not possible to use such shield in a 'sandwich' because you need to have the 36-pin connector go through to the display shield. Is it possible to re-design the board so that in and out terminals are on the left side and there is a pass-through for 36-pin connector on the right? The board may be a little shifted physically to the left, which is probably okay in most cases. I also got to check if the height of the LDDs would allow the boards to connect. I think they should.
Basically it looks like this:
http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Mega2560-Display-Adjustable-Duemilanove/dp/B008FWSH3C
The driver board would be exactly on top of the Mega board, then the lcd shield, then the LCD itself. All the power terminals would be on top of the USB/Power connectors on the Mega board.
Good luck!
P.S. Extra credit: design a board with 6 (or 8?) LDD-Ls. That should be enough for most nano tanks to cover all possible colors.
Click to expand...
 
What Ardunio platform is everyone using to drive their drivers? I have never used Ardunio before, but it looks very interesting. The Typhon is almost perfect, but I want 6 channels of control. The Jardunio is awesome, but too much for what I need. Any suggestions on something in between?

I am tempted to just buy a Mega 2560 board and start playing around.
 
That's the best way to do it. Just dive into it. You don't need a mega for 6 channels of control. Uno has 6 PWM pins. Not sure what else you want the controller to do though. I have not used any of the other controllers, I just use the Uno, and more recently started designing my own circuits based on the atmega328. Basically a home brew arduino, which is all the typhon and jarduino are, just well thought out to be universal.
 
pwreef said:
Excellent work O2. P.S. Extra credit: design a board with 6 (or 8?) LDD-Ls. That should be enough for most nano tanks to cover all possible colors.
Click to expand...

8 LDD-Ls would be absolutely perfect! :) I was just thinking that when I saw O2's board last night!!!
 
rrasco said:
That's the best way to do it. Just dive into it. You don't need a mega for 6 channels of control. Uno has 6 PWM pins. Not sure what else you want the controller to do though. I have not used any of the other controllers, I just use the Uno, and more recently started designing my own circuits based on the atmega328. Basically a home brew arduino, which is all the typhon and jarduino are, just well thought out to be universal.
Click to expand...

I have an Apex to control the rest of my reef. This is just going to be running my LEDs. A temperature probe or 2 on the heatsinks would be a nice touch as well, but that's all I really want.

The UNO looks like it would fit the bill. I guess the only reason I was looking at the Mega, is because it is only like $10 more. The starter kits look interesting. Any recommendation on a kit to get my feet wet? Thanks.
 
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