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

[rrasco]

When in doubt, check the data sheet.

http://www.meanwell.com/search/ldd-h/default.htm

And just for reference:

RED and BLACK are Vin.
BLUE and YELLOW are Vout.
WHITE is PWM DIM.

 

[Eud]

Rrasco got the 1000th post on this thread! I figured it would split at 40 pages too, but apparently not.

 

[letoan]

Is there a limit of how many drivers can be control with one single channel? I'm planning to do 84 royal blue on 6 LDD-1000h.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Is there a limit of how many drivers can be control with one single channel? I'm planning to do 84 royal blue on 6 LDD-1000h.

Yes, there is some current flow from your controller to the drivers. Now how much that is, seems to be of debate in this thread.

 

[zachts]

Thx all for posting your thoughts and results "“ this is a huge knowledge transfer thread! I finally have a crap load of parts to put together, including my LED's, a bunch of LDD's/boards, Mean Well SP-320-48 48v 6.7 Amp Power Supply, and a MakersLED 36 in Fix I do have a question on how many LED's I can run per string"¦what do you guys think about this?"¦is pushing to 15 LED's per string ok or should I spread it out a bit...I have some spare LDD's so that is not a prob....
"¢ 30 Cree XT-E Royal Blue's "“ 2 LDD-1000H's
"¢ 15 Cree XT-E Neutral White's "“ 1 LDD-700H
"¢ 12 Exotic Hyper Violet's "“ 1 LDD-600H
"¢ 6 Exotic Turquoise "“ 1 LDD-700H
"¢ 6 Cree Blue's - Shared (Turquoise) LDD-700H
"¢ 6 Exotic Deep Red's "“ 1 LDD-700H
"¢ 2 - ? Moon Lights "“ 1 LDD-300H

15 RB @1000mA is really pusing it! remember the LDD needs 2-3 volts of head room, 14 would likely work, but I'd wire up 13 first and test with your power supply voltage cranked all the way up. better to err on the side of caution. the 15 NW should be fine as they'll be running lower voltage at that current, but again verify with fewer LEDs at first since you could get some with higer voltage, typical spec is just an average........

Does anyone have an Arduino taking a 1-10v analog dimming signal and converting it to a 5v PWM ? One can buy a knock off Mega 2560 that will give at least 10 pins of pwm for under $20. It should be a simple analog read then a map function to write to a pwm pin.. I just made about 12 CATS fry, so time to switch gears to the LDD I really want to have an APEX control some LDD's.

Steve's LED interface, cheaper than I could build one and as already pointed out you'd have to learn/know how to program the chip to make it work.

 

[proietti]

I will give that a try!

Thanks again!

Did it work? I have the same problem

 

[fickle1]

Okay I need helping the right power supply. Here is what I plan on running:

• 36 RB Luxeon - 3 LDD-1000H
• 18 NW Luxeon - 2 LDD-1000H
• 18 HV - 2 LDD-700H
• 6 OCW - 1 LDD-500H
• 4 Moonlights - 1 LDD-350H

Based on these drivers, it comes out to 7.25A. This would mean that I would need a minimum of a 350 watt power supply @48V. That seems rather excessive to me as I am only running 82 3w LEDs. 82*3=246. What am I missing here?

Since I am not running the drivers at full capacity, can I use a smaller power supply? I also wanted to run 3 92mm fans off the same supply with a step down converter. I figure I will need at least anger 500ma for those. Thanks.

 

[frogg21]

Hi,
I havn't actually done it yet, but it looks like it will be very easy to put an arduino between an APEX and the LDD to convert the 1-10V from Apex to a 5v pwm for the LDD. The advantages are that you get the nice interface provided by apex, and you get their seasonal adjustments for sun and lunar adjustments for moon, something that seems to have eluded arduino programs so far. You also get the ability tweak your lights based on everything the Apex is aware of (pumps, probes, etc.) if you want to.

It would be REALLY interesting if someone figured out how to adjust lighting intensity real time through the Apex's internet controllability. At that point one could override the dimming in progress and play with the LED channel intensity through a droid or iphone.
I just don't have an apex or LDD yet!
There must be patent issues with these controller companies not offering 5v PWM controls. I don't get it.
The code for the conversion is here: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/AnalogInOutSerial

 

[Dave Thebrewguy]

Reef Angel offers both PWM and Analog dimming, I'm a little surprised that Apex hasn't caught up yet, it should be pretty simple for them to build a PWM add-on module. RK hasn't released a functional new product in ages and I have a feeling that they are unlikely to come up with anything new in the future.

 

[Eud]

Okay I need helping the right power supply. Here is what I plan on running:

• 36 RB Luxeon - 3 LDD-1000H
• 18 NW Luxeon - 2 LDD-1000H
• 18 HV - 2 LDD-700H
• 6 OCW - 1 LDD-500H
• 4 Moonlights - 1 LDD-350H

Based on these drivers, it comes out to 7.25A. This would mean that I would need a minimum of a 350 watt power supply @48V. That seems rather excessive to me as I am only running 82 3w LEDs. 82*3=246. What am I missing here?

Since I am not running the drivers at full capacity, can I use a smaller power supply? I also wanted to run 3 92mm fans off the same supply with a step down converter. I figure I will need at least anger 500ma for those. Thanks.

36*3*1 + 18*3*1 + 18*3.5*0.7 + 6*9*0.5 + 4*3*0.350 =
108 + 54 + 44.1 + 27 + 4.2 =
239 Watts with everything on at full power.

Not sure how you got 350W, but 246 is pretty close.

 

[gandalfdgrey]

Hi,

great thread. Has anyone posted the eagle files for a board housing 8 LDD-H? Would appreciate your help.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Based on these drivers, it comes out to 7.25A. This would mean that I would need a minimum of a 350 watt power supply @48V. That seems rather excessive to me as I am only running 82 3w LEDs. 82*3=246. What am I missing here?

Note, you don't need to have a PS that'll give you the combined current of your drivers, the LDD drivers will change voltage into current.

 

[fickle1]

36*3*1 + 18*3*1 + 18*3.5*0.7 + 6*9*0.5 + 4*3*0.350 =
108 + 54 + 44.1 + 27 + 4.2 =
239 Watts with everything on at full power.

Not sure how you got 350W, but 246 is pretty close.

Sorry, I was referring to the 7.2A required. That requirement would require a 350 watt driver.

http://www.powergatellc.com/mean-well-se-350-48-power-supply.html

Note, you don't need to have a PS that'll give you the combined current of your drivers, the LDD drivers will change voltage into current.

So how to I chose the right power supply then? Would I just base it on the above math for watts and ignore the Amp rating then? Thanks.

 

[one clownfish]

http://www.powergatellc.com/mean-well-se-350-48-power-supply.html



So how to I chose the right power supply then? Would I just base it on the above math for watts and ignore the Amp rating then? Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Thats the same PS I"m using for my build, It will be cranked up to 56volts. Mean Well said there should be a 20% safety load rating for the PS. I'm using it to power (6) LDD-1000H's, (1) LDD-700H for the violet leds and (1) LDD-350for the moon lights. (14) leds per string for everything except the moon lights. Its a little less than a 20% safety but I've never been able to crank it to 100% without killing everything

 

[proietti]

Hi great thread. Has resolved a number of issues for me. I have a question though but before hand let me give a brief run down of my set up. I am making 4 light units comprising of 33 leds of various colours. Each unit will be driven by 6 ldd's therefore a total of 24 drivers. Upon doing my calculations I will be using 2 PSU each feeding 2 units. I plan to dim via PWM using Steve's Aquarium interface module. I understand from previous postings that in order for the dimming to work the driver and PWM supply module must share the ground. My question is this am I right in saying that since the PWM interface is connected to the drivers and therefore using a single PSU I need 2 sets of PWM interfaces? Is it possible to make my one interface control both sets of units considering 2 PSU?

 

[sfsuphysics]

So how to I chose the right power supply then? Would I just base it on the above math for watts and ignore the Amp rating then? Thanks.

In a nut shell... yes.

Maybe leave a little more headroom for the power usage by the driver, efficiency, etc. Also note if you get a 350 watt power supply, it's not going to always put out 350 watts when it's on, only as much as you use. Usually there won't be a huge discrepancy in price between say 350watts and 240watts

 

[fickle1]

In a nut shell... yes.

Maybe leave a little more headroom for the power usage by the driver, efficiency, etc. Also note if you get a 350 watt power supply, it's not going to always put out 350 watts when it's on, only as much as you use. Usually there won't be a huge discrepancy in price between say 350watts and 240watts

Thanks for the info. I think I have narrowed it down to 2 supplies that will foot the bill. One has Active PFC and the other doesn't. For our purposes, is the PFC needed?

http://www.powergatellc.com/mean-well-sp-320-48-power-supply.html
or
http://www.powergatellc.com/mean-well-se-350-48-power-supply.html

 

[Eud]

Active PFC can reduce noise on the line and over the air. It can also make the power supply a bit more efficient and it makes the power company happy. Not sure if the new smart meters that the utilities seem to be installing everywhere can report on your power factor, but if so, then they can charge you for the wasted electricity if it is way less than 1.

 

[risk1994]

I'm a little confused. I'm using 6 xt-e and 4 xp-g on my nano. Can the 1000 ldd run these or should I bee waiting for the 2000 to come out? Seems like running them in series could be iffy and earlier in this thread someone. Mentioned the 1000 couldn't run them to full brightness.

 

[Dave Thebrewguy]

I haven't seen any guarantee that there will be a 2000 anytime soon. I wouldn't drive XT-Es much above 1000ma anyway, it just shortens the lifespan and the benefits are minimal once you get past a certain point anyway.
I drive my XT-Es with a 1000 right now and if I were to change something it wouldn't be the drivers, it would be swapping out the XT-Es for Luxeons. I've never used XP-Gs but I'd assume one answer probably covers both series. LEDs last longer when not driven at 100% and once you get past 50-75% of so, the gains in output are minimal. I'd go with the 1000s. If you want more light, use a couple more LEDs. This might be a good chance to upgrade your spectrum.