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

NiRa said:
I've just read a lot about the Ldd drivers, but i've a question about it.
I have a home made led fixture with 6 led strings, whith a different number of leds. How do you guys handle that, i think you need a different volt at the input of the Meanwell driver.
So i need a main power supply like a 32v and Stepdown converter for any driver, like the http://www.ebay.nl/itm/140920210756?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.nl%3A80%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_trksid%3Dp3907.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D140920210756%26_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1?
Click to expand...

the LDD does all the work balancing output voltage. just size your powersupply's voltage to handle the longest string with highest voltage requirment and the LDDs will do the rest for any smaller strings. you can even run just a single LED off of a 48 volt power supply using the LDD-H and it is still someting like 80% efficient and does not over heat as they can convert the extra voltage into current on the output. so running just one LED from a 1000mA LDD it will not be drawing a full 1000mA from a 48volt powersupply.........

the LDDs really rock!
 
Yes they do, where did these things come from... and more importantly why were those Meanwell ELN and then HLG drivers/power supplies pushed on us :D


CrazyEyes said:
So the only different between the H and HW is the HW are pre wired wheres the HW are already wired?
Click to expand...
Yup, the H are basically like chips, in that they have 5 pins (Vin +/-, dim, Vout +/-) and the W have wires, I believe they're both encapsulated so no worries about all the magical stuff inside of them getting rusted out.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yes they do, where did these things come from... and more importantly why were those Meanwell ELN and then HLG drivers/power supplies pushed on us :D
Click to expand...

Speaking of the good ol ELN...... I alwyas felt like I was wasting their potential by turning them down to run just one string.......and now I have a couple of those lying around that I may never get around to using....... :lolspin:
 
Any recommendations on what power supply to use? I will be using 3 of these drivers 24 LEDs. 8 CREE XP-G nw, 6 Luxeon true blues and 10 CREE XT-E Rb's. Planned on running the XP-G's on one driver then splitting the remaining blue between the other two drivers. If that's a newb question I apologize I just don't know what to look for.
 
CrazyEyes said:
Any recommendations on what power supply to use? I will be using 3 of these drivers 24 LEDs. 8 CREE XP-G nw, 6 Luxeon true blues and 10 CREE XT-E Rb's. Planned on running the XP-G's on one driver then splitting the remaining blue between the other two drivers. If that's a newb question I apologize I just don't know what to look for.
Click to expand...

8 LEDs per driver you'll need a power supply capable of at least ~28 volts. 36 volt is very common so go with that. for three drivers look for a 36 volt 4amp power supply. look for one that is adjustable that way you can bump it up or down a couple of volts to accomodate your setups needs.

with a 36 volt supply you could just put your 8 NW on one driver, your 6 true blues on one driver, and your 10 Royal Blues on the third driver since the XTE should be coming in below 3.5(generally lower than this) volts each at 1amp it should work. you may have to bump up the supplies voltage a little but that is why to get an adjustable supply. this would give you better color control via dimming each color separately
 
Quick question. What's the minimum amount of LED you can run on these LDD driver? On my old Mean Well driver, they just flick when not enough LED to draw the power.
 
letoan said:
Quick question. What's the minimum amount of LED you can run on these LDD driver? On my old Mean Well driver, they just flick when not enough LED to draw the power.
Click to expand...
One.
Depending on the Vf of the LED you might need 2, but in most cases just 1. Putting a 1 ohm resistor in the string should be enough to allow you to run a single LED in most cases and serves as a handy test point.
 
O2Surplus said:
Ok- I reworked the connections to use 2 position screw terminals that can be purchased dirt cheap on FleaBay. You'll need 10 per board but they can be had for less than 25 cents each. Just look for 2 position screw terminals w/3.5mm spacing. Here' the PCB and the files needed for production at ITead are attached.

Revised5upLDD-HDriver_zps666a881e.png
Click to expand...

O2 great work, and planning on pulling the trigger on this design. Was wondering could you update this design to incorporate 10k SMD?
 
letoan said:
Quick question. What's the minimum amount of LED you can run on these LDD driver? On my old Mean Well driver, they just flick when not enough LED to draw the power.
Click to expand...

As Dave said, you can run one on these of the voltage drop is high enough. Probably not just one red one, for instance. They handle the current by raising the negative voltage high enough to just drop the rated current across the led. It is lossy at one led, but it should work.

Here is the spec sheet with minimum voltage out listed.

http://www.meanwell.com/search/LDD-H/LDD-H-spec.pdf
 
they are not that lousy, with one red LED at 700mA from a 48 volt power supply they are still about 77% efficient! I'd like to see a CAT driver do that! I only know of one other driver aside from the LDD-L that can come close and it can only handle up to 36 volt imput, where as the LDD-H can take up to 56 volts!!!
 
CrazyEyes said:
So, I could use something like this for all three drivers then?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AGT-High-Pe...A%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=21&pmod=160960264084&ps=54
Click to expand...

that would work. it would be overkill but would do the job. I am always cautious of no name brand stuff on ebay though. I'd rather spend and extra 10 or 20 bucks and order from powergate and get a known good quality powersupply. plenty of cheaopos out there that have caused people problems. I seem to recollect the PFO solars fixture (wich was a very expensive commersion unit) used a very crappy cheap power supply that nearly every owner ended up replacing...........
 
zachts said:
they are not that lousy, with one red LED at 700mA from a 48 volt power supply they are still about 77% efficient! I'd like to see a CAT driver do that! I only know of one other driver aside from the LDD-L that can come close and it can only handle up to 36 volt imput, where as the LDD-H can take up to 56 volts!!!
Click to expand...

Yep. But 2V is right at the bottom of their output spec, from the sheet, which makes running one red close to the edge regardless of the efficiency.
 
LDD PCBs

LDD PCBs

Has anyone got any extra 3 up pcbs?
I'm looking to add 6 LDDs to my tank and would like a couple boards.
Of course I could use any ones that would give me room for at least 6 LDDs.
 
shark boy said:
Has anyone got any extra 3 up pcbs?
I'm looking to add 6 LDDs to my tank and would like a couple boards.
Of course I could use any ones that would give me room for at least 6 LDDs.
Click to expand...


Send me a PM. I've got some with the chip sockets and pull down resistors already installed.
 
007Bond said:
Hey O2, did you ever delve into pairing up a couple LDD's any further? Like two 700's to get 1400ma.
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I tested them enough to determine that it will work, but not long enough to tell if one or both of the LDD's would fail prematurely. It seemed to me that the output current was indeed being doubled, but only one LDD was actually carrying the load. I personally don't have the need to overdrive my LDD's, so I don't think I'll be doing anymore testing.
 
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