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

So my one channel that wasn't coming on was because of a connector I did wrong. Everything seems to work except turning off when being given 0V or close to 0V.

I made a super exciting little video showing me using my Apex to turn them on at 10%, then off, then on at 1% then off, then on and off a few times at 10%.

Some of the colors stay on when I turn off the VDM outlets. Any suggestions? Grounding problem causing my voltages or PWM to be incorrect?

http://youtu.be/fT-0c56H0ac
 
One more thing: I am having trouble opening up the parts list file. What software should I use to open it up?
 
Eud said:
Notepad should work. It just doesn't have an extension for Windows to pick the program automatically.
Click to expand...

Thank you, EUD! BTW where in MD are you?
also can you post how did you wire Steve's controllers to the LDDs, please.
 
kriv4o said:
Thank you, EUD! BTW where in MD are you?
also can you post how did you wire Steve's controllers to the LDDs, please.
Click to expand...

I tied the ground to the negative inputs of the 4-way O2Surplus LDD boards. He even gives an extra negative terminal which works great for this.

48V power which the LDD boards like is too much for the STeves boards, so I have a 48V to 12V converter that I use to feed power into Steves boards, again with the negative fixed to the others. I put the +12V into his Vin+ pin.

Then I put the 4 channels of Apex output into his analog input terminals and the PWM output are the purple wires I posted pictures of a few posts above. I put those into the PWM pins of the LDDs. It sorta works, but I'm having trouble at low levels.

Oh, and I'm in Gaithersburg, MD.
 
Eud said:
I tied the ground to the negative inputs of the 4-way O2Surplus LDD boards. He even gives an extra negative terminal which works great for this.

48V power which the LDD boards like is too much for the STeves boards, so I have a 48V to 12V converter that I use to feed power into Steves boards, again with the negative fixed to the others. I put the +12V into his Vin+ pin.

Then I put the 4 channels of Apex output into his analog input terminals and the PWM output are the purple wires I posted pictures of a few posts above. I put those into the PWM pins of the LDDs. It sorta works, but I'm having trouble at low levels.

Oh, and I'm in Gaithersburg, MD.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. I have the LDD drivers but they are the wired ones, and the power supply for them I guess I will order one of steve's interfaces and play with it a bit....
 
So the wired ones, you should basically tie all of the negatives together except for the LED output wires.

That's very important. Do not tie the LED negative outputs to your grounds. Also don't tie in the AC power neutral or AC power ground. Tie together the ground for the supply of the Steves interface and for the 48V+/- input to the LDD. Probably also doesn't hurt to tie in the negative wires of the Apex 10V output too so there's a common reference across it all.

Tomservo, earlier in the thread, said that the positives need to be tied together, not the negatives. I can't get my head around why, but I guess it doesn't make a difference either way because you just care about the difference from some common reference.

These MeanWell LDD's hold the current constant by matching the voltage drop needed to push that many amps across your LED string which can be any voltages between like 2 and 52V. The way they accomplish it seems to be by raising the negative to an amount so that the voltage difference between positive and negative is the needed voltage. This is why you definitely don't tie that negative in. You'll be in for a surprise.
 
^I guess I will gather whatever else I need and wire everything up. Then I will post a pic double check and then I will hit the switch. Hopefully I won't burn the house down lol.
Thanks for all the help Eud. I am sure I will have more questions eventually.
 
By the way, if anyone is interested in the LDD-L boards I ordered by mistake, let me know. I'll let them go cheap as I have no use for them.

4y2y6eje.jpg
 
O2Surplus said:
For anyone who's interested in building a 10V Analog to 5V PWM Convertor, here's the build files and software for the unit that "Frogg21" & I created. It's compatible with an APEX and probably other 10V analog lighting controllers. Enjoy!

IMG_2187_zpsfb273ad8.jpg
Click to expand...

HI O2Surplus: would that convertor work with a Profilux (0-10 V analog) and LDDs so as to regulate the LDDs with the Profilux channels?
 
chema said:
HI O2Surplus: would that convertor work with a Profilux (0-10 V analog) and LDDs so as to regulate the LDDs with the Profilux channels?
Click to expand...

I don't have a Profilux controller to verify if it works or not, but the Profiux uses 0 - 10V analog signals that are very similar to what an APEX outputs, so it should be compatible.
 
Where is everybody ordering their components from I am itching to get a O2 board and assemble it my self but I couldn't figure where to get all the parts needed from the parts list.
 
LDD-L pcb

LDD-L pcb

Confuse said:
By the way, if anyone is interested in the LDD-L boards I ordered by mistake, let me know. I'll let them go cheap as I have no use for them.

4y2y6eje.jpg
Click to expand...

I am interested in 1 of those boards. I did the same thing except backwards. I ordered 3 LDD-700Ls instead of 3 LDD-700Hs.

shark boy
 
kriv4o said:
Where is everybody ordering their components from I am itching to get a O2 board and assemble it my self but I couldn't figure where to get all the parts needed from the parts list.
Click to expand...

if you have the parts list, just google them, they are several places you can order from depending on price, digikey, mouser, etc or ebay (china)
 
O2Surplus said:
For anyone who's interested in building a 10V Analog to 5V PWM Convertor, here's the build files and software for the unit that "Frogg21" & I created. It's compatible with an APEX and probably other 10V analog lighting controllers. Enjoy!
Click to expand...

O2Surplus,
Nice work.
I do not see an on-board ICSP header.
How are you burning a boot loader to the ATmega?

Thanks,
-BB
 
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