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

O2Surplus said:
Hugh? What do you mean by "only one driver works when it's connected to the controller"?
Click to expand...

Well I started a thread on it but it very rapidly sunk in the DIY forum so rather than self-bumping I let it die.

Basically "something" happened, where I lightly whacked my heatsink when I didn't have any of them hooked up to the Typhon (didn't have it yet), and one channel went away. I checked all the LEDs and it wasn't a matter of them blowing, and all the connections were fine. I swapped one driver for another, and sure enough it was the driver that didn't work. I couldn't figure out why it did this, my conclusion was the PWM wire touched the power supply and not sure if me whacking the heatsink did something to jiggle the wires all the way back to the drivers & heatsink and broke it...

Well fast forward to yesterday, for whatever reason I hooked up the Typhon PWM to the PWM input of the LDD, and now the driver works (when that channel is told to be on of course). I hooked up an ammeter and sure enough it was pulling the proper amount of current, I seriously doubt it's somehow pulling current through the PWM to power the driver, but for whatever reason I somehow turned the LDD into something like a ELN driver, where it will only work if there's a PWM signal attached. If I disconnect the controller, the driver won't send current to the LED strand.

So that's what I mean by "one driver only works when attached to the controller" :)
 
I managed to get the magic smoke out of an LDD. It was tough, but I managed to reverse the polarity of my supply and it opened up like a baked potato.
 
Is it possible to mix between LDD 1000 and LDD 700 to the same 5up board with the same PSU?


Off topic.
Where do you guys get your LED from? I can't decided between Philips Luxeon ES with Steve's LED or Cree from RapidLED.
 
letoan said:
Is it possible to mix between LDD 1000 and LDD 700 to the same 5up board with the same PSU?
Click to expand...
Yup, you don't even need the same string sizes the drivers will do all the magic to balance voltage and current. Electrically speaking putting drivers on a board is no different than using wires directly to the power supply


Off topic.
Where do you guys get your LED from? I can't decided between Philips Luxeon ES with Steve's LED or Cree from RapidLED.
Click to expand...
I went with two vendors, Rapid and LED GB, based on a number of reasons, one Rapid is a local company so I can swing by and pick up what I need and have it instantly, I was only going to do solderless LEDs and for the layout of some Rapid's are too bulky, so went with LED GB on those ones, plus they have XTE whites as opposed to XPG whites.
 
letoan said:
Where do you guys get your LED from? I can't decided between Philips Luxeon ES with Steve's LED or Cree from RapidLED.
Click to expand...

My fixture uses both Luxeon ES and XT-E royal blues. At the time I bought them, Steve's carried both and I figured that the mix of 440-450nm (447nm peak) Luxeons and 450-465nm (455nm peak, IIRC) XT-Es would give me broader spectrum. I have 2 channels of RB, each has a LDD-1000H running 5 of each LED, the LEDs are in clusters with each cluster having a Cree and a Philips. Obviously, these LEDs run exactly the same current since they are on the same driver, and they are mounted on the same heatsink so they should be able to disipate the same amount of heat. That said, at the current they are run at, the Luxeons appear brighter than the XT-Es to my uncalibrated eye and when I touch the back of the extrusion that I've used for a heatsink, the XT-Es feel slightly warmer than the Luxeons to my uncalibrated finger. The Luxeons have a slightly lower Vf than the XT-Es at every current level I have tested, around 0.5-1% so they are using slightly less power to put out a little more light and a little less heat.
Since building my fixture, I've learned a little more about photosynthesis and spectrum. It turns out that the wavelengths below 450nm are used by a number of pigments that are commonly found in our coral. Wavelengths in the 450-460nm range are claimed to be useful to chlorophyll B, this is not often found in corals, but it is the predominant pigment in macroalgae.
Based on my experience with both emitters, and on what I've learned since I built my fixture, I would do things differently if I were to build my fixture over again. I would spend the extra money (I got the Crees on clearance for less than the Philips) and use all Luxeons. They are simply better in every way, even the stars seem to be of higher quality. More light, better spectrum, less heat, less power, just plain better.
There are 2 places I'd still be inclined to use the XT-Es. Because their output is a peak for chlorophyll b, they'd be a good choice for a refugium or ATS. Coupled with a few reds and warm whites you'd be able to grow cheato out the wazoo. The Crees also make decent moonlights. I used them on my fixture for this as well and at first I thought they were too deep a shade of blue. the deeper Luxeons would have been even worse. Being as I had decided that I'd used too many Luxeon Cool Blues in my build, I decided to swap a few out for other colors and use the CBs for my moonlight instead. Bad idea! The cool blue (470-480nm) are too "light blue" and much brighter than the XT-Es had been. I'm tempted to switch them back but I keep thinking I should look for something better. Anyone know of a LED that peaks in the 460-465nm range?
 
Was anyone else surprised how little these things are?
2013-03-09124343_zpsa527fcbf.jpg
 
Dave Thebrewguy said:
if I were to build my fixture over again. I would spend the extra money (I got the Crees on clearance for less than the Philips) and use all Luxeons. They are simply better in every way, even the stars seem to be of higher quality. More light, better spectrum, less heat, less power, just plain better.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave, I'm leaning toward the Luxeon ES as well.
 
I need to start a build thread but in the mean time figured I would post a picture of my completed driver box. I am setting up two x 9' Makers LED rails for my 600g tank. Using 7 different colors split across 22 LDD-H's powered by two Meanwell HLG-240H-54A power supplies. I am also using two ebay voltage adjustable voltage regulators, one for each Makers LED to power the fans and two of Steve's Aquarium Interface drivers to go from two Neptune Apex VDMs. While it's more expensive then setting up a Arduino I wanted to keep everything on my Apex. I ended up going with Molex connectors for everything. A little time consuming but not to bad to do. Thanks

p1471972638.jpg
 
Last edited:
Finally ordered everything except for the LED and the power supply. I prefer 1 big power supply but I can't find anything big enough, what do you guys recommended?

All LED will be Luxeon ES, except for the UV and Cree red-orange:

45 Cool White (3x LDD-1000H)
45 Royal Blue (3x LDD-1000H)
45 Blue (3x LDD-1000H)
12 Cyan (1x LDD-1000H)
12 Green (1x LDD-1000H)
6 Deep Red (1x LDD-700H)
6 Red-Orange (1x LDD-700H)
12 UV (1x LDD-700H)

Will this enough to cover 72x30x30? Or I need more?
 
letoan said:
Finally ordered everything except for the LED and the power supply. I prefer 1 big power supply but I can't find anything big enough, what do you guys recommended?

All LED will be Luxeon ES, except for the UV and Cree red-orange:

45 Cool White (3x LDD-1000H)
45 Royal Blue (3x LDD-1000H)
45 Blue (3x LDD-1000H)
12 Cyan (1x LDD-1000H)
12 Green (1x LDD-1000H)
6 Deep Red (1x LDD-700H)
6 Red-Orange (1x LDD-700H)
12 UV (1x LDD-700H)

Will this enough to cover 72x30x30? Or I need more?
Click to expand...

The common thinking is that you need one 2w LED for every 15 sq in. of tank surfacemaybe a couple extras considering the depth of your tank. m144-160 should be plenty. I wouldn't count the greens, they don't do anything for photosynthesis. and keep in mind that you will end up with a VERY blue tank if you run allthose blues and cyans at over 20-25% (they put out a LOT of blue). This will be a very blur tank, your blue/white ratio is over 5/1.
I hope UV is not really UV, that does not belong on a reef tank, but rather violet, in which case you may want to double or triple the number of them.
 
letoan said:
Finally ordered everything except for the LED and the power supply. I prefer 1 big power supply but I can't find anything big enough, what do you guys recommended?

All LED will be Luxeon ES, except for the UV and Cree red-orange:

45 Cool White (3x LDD-1000H)
45 Royal Blue (3x LDD-1000H)
45 Blue (3x LDD-1000H)
12 Cyan (1x LDD-1000H)
12 Green (1x LDD-1000H)
6 Deep Red (1x LDD-700H)
6 Red-Orange (1x LDD-700H)
12 UV (1x LDD-700H)

Will this enough to cover 72x30x30? Or I need more?
Click to expand...

480W 48V one? http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_301402_-1

I would have dropped the red-orange and green, lowered the number of blue, upped the violet, and made the royal blue/white ratio more like 2:1 instead of 1:1. Also, you sure you want to run the cyan, blue, green at 1000mA?
 
chicken said:
I need to start a build thread but in the mean time figured I would post a picture of my completed driver box. I am setting up two x 9' Makers LED rails for my 600g tank. Using 7 different colors split across 22 LDD-H's powered by two Meanwell HLG-240H-54A power supplies. I am also using two ebay voltage adjustable voltage regulators, one for each Makers LED to power the fans and two of Steve's Aquarium Interface drivers to go from two Neptune Apex VDMs. While it's more expensive then setting up a Arduino I wanted to keep everything on my Apex. I ended up going with Molex connectors for everything. A little time consuming but not to bad to do. Thanks

p1471972638.jpg
Click to expand...

Chicken, first pic looks great! Please post your build link when you start it.
Thanks--- Rick
 
letoan said:
Finally ordered everything except for the LED and the power supply. I prefer 1 big power supply but I can't find anything big enough, what do you guys recommended?


Good idea is to use at least two PS's. If one fails, you still have light until you can replace the bad one.
Click to expand...
 
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