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

[jedimasterben]

This is exactly what I've been scouring these forum pages for! Thanks Jedimasterben!!

When I got the email notification I was like wait, what? I didn't even remember posting that, it was like a year and a half ago :spin1:

Is there anyone out there selling these boards assembled? O2's board, that is. I know there are some assembled on ebay, but I'm sure they are nowhere near the quality of O2s boards. (I'm not the greatest at all those little pins, but I can solder LED's together with no problem). :hmm3:

He is selling his latest and greatest:

Here's my latest project. It's a 6 LDD-H/dual SCW Pcb designed for use with the new BlueFish "Mini" Wifi led controller. " Comes with more features and flexibility than you can shake a stick at".

Here's a little run down about all the jumpers-

I designed this PcB as a Master/Slave combination. Only one BF Mini is needed to control multiple boards. The “Master”PcB houses the Mini controller. From the Master, the Mini’s 6 channels of PWM signals are passed directly and unaltered to the 2 onboard Ethernet connections. Ethernet cables can then be used to connect multiple driver Pcbs in a daisy chained fashion. This design makes it possible to control multiple driver PcBs, each configured to operate independently from the first, as diodes are employed on all 6 PWM channels to prevent cross signaling between multiple boards.

Since “a picture is worth a thousand words” Here’s some photos that show the PcB wiring of the jumpers, followed by various end user selectable jumper pin configurations-

I've got a pair of them sitting here waiting for the rest of my light to get assembled. I hate the waiting game!

 

[perkint]

This is exactly what I've been scouring these forum pages for! Thanks Jedimasterben!!

They do a 12W version now, as well - might have to pick a few up to replace the 5 & 8W ones I have as it gives a bit more freedom on choice of fans...

Tim

 

[blitz49]

I wanna thank everyone contributing to this thread, I have learned a lot. I was wondering anyone having any issue housing 4up board and Arduino in the same project box? I am using jarduino, and am having lcd issue when 5 channel comes on. But I don't have that issue when the sump channel are on and the 5 channels are off. Could I fix this issue with a decoupling capacitor?

Thanks

 

[jedimasterben]

They do a 12W version now, as well - might have to pick a few up to replace the 5 & 8W ones I have as it gives a bit more freedom on choice of fans...

Tim

Just be aware that the SCW12 series has an extra pin in the first position - for remote control, no less! Datasheet says that that pin is 'on' with at least 4vDC or open and off if less than 1vDC. What I'm wondering is if it can take PWM input directly or if it wants a constant voltage. Hmmmm.

 

[O2Surplus]

What I'm wondering is if it can take PWM input directly or if it wants a constant voltage. Hmmmm.

I'd hazard a guess that a PWM signal on the control pin would wreak havoc on the circuitry inside the SCW. I'm betting a simple 5V "high" or 0V "low"signal would be preferred.

 

[Kaiserman1967]

When I got the email notification I was like wait, what? I didn't even remember posting that, it was like a year and a half ago :spin1:

I am starting to build my second light (the right way this time :lmao My first was with 1w generic LEDs and a couple generic drivers. Light barely does the job and I've had trouble with the generic LEDs going bad. I am hoping my second light will be much better. 5W Cree bulbs running at 1A. Still trying to decide how many drivers I will need and how many channels I'll want. Was trying to decide between the Storm and Storm X. Figure I'll also want to run a couple fans.

I have a couple questions.

Do people usually run fans on the Driver board?
I'm still unsure if I should run 13 or 14 LED's off the LDD 1000H. The LED's have a max vf of 3.3V for the Blue and 3.6V for the whites
Is it better to be as close as possible to the max voltage of the driver?
How important are the addon optics since the bulbs have a 120 degree viewing angle built in?

I love this thread and want to thank all you brilliant DIYers for all the information I've accumulated and I'm hungry for more!

 

[Kaiserman1967]

I guess I haven't hit my 10 messages yet for PM, so I thought I would just throw out a general question for all you guys.
What are your recommendations on watt per gallon? I know this is a loaded question, but maybe you could shed some light on what your are running on your tanks and their size.
Maybe you could also tell me what you are using for colors?

O2,
It was you I was trying to PM about that new 6 up board with all the bells and whistles you have. :spin1:

 

[jedimasterben]

I am starting to build my second light (the right way this time :lmao My first was with 1w generic LEDs and a couple generic drivers. Light barely does the job and I've had trouble with the generic LEDs going bad. I am hoping my second light will be much better. 5W Cree bulbs running at 1A. Still trying to decide how many drivers I will need and how many channels I'll want. Was trying to decide between the Storm and Storm X. Figure I'll also want to run a couple fans.

I have a couple questions.

Do people usually run fans on the Driver board?
I'm still unsure if I should run 13 or 14 LED's off the LDD 1000H. The LED's have a max vf of 3.3V for the Blue and 3.6V for the whites
Is it better to be as close as possible to the max voltage of the driver?
How important are the addon optics since the bulbs have a 120 degree viewing angle built in?

I love this thread and want to thank all you brilliant DIYers for all the information I've accumulated and I'm hungry for more!

3.6v for a Cree XT-E? You might be getting had. BTW, they're not 5w LEDs, they are 1w that can handle 1.5A that would give about 5w. At 1A they're about 3w each.

LDD are more efficient at higher load. If you are getting knockoffs that run with that high voltage, you're limited to 12-13x of them on 48v input.

I guess I haven't hit my 10 messages yet for PM, so I thought I would just throw out a general question for all you guys.
What are your recommendations on watt per gallon? I know this is a loaded question, but maybe you could shed some light on what your are running on your tanks and their size.
Maybe you could also tell me what you are using for colors?

O2,
It was you I was trying to PM about that new 6 up board with all the bells and whistles you have. :spin1:

There is no such thing as watts per gallon.

 

[Kaiserman1967]

3.6v for a Cree XT-E? You might be getting had. BTW, they're not 5w LEDs, they are 1w that can handle 1.5A that would give about 5w. At 1A they're about 3w each.

They say the rating is from 3.3 to 3.6 vf. I thought you always took the max number to use in your figures. I know that running them at 1A would give me 3.3 -3.6 Watts per.

There is no such thing as watts per gallon.

So people don't use that as a "Rule of Thumb"? If you don't have access to a PAR meter, how do you know how much light you should start with? I know there is a lot of difference in quality in LEDs, I'm trying to find the best I can (for the best price, of course).

 

[jedimasterben]

They say the rating is from 3.3 to 3.6 vf. I thought you always took the max number to use in your figures. I know that running them at 1A would give me 3.3 -3.6 Watts per.

So people don't use that as a "Rule of Thumb"? If you don't have access to a PAR meter, how do you know how much light you should start with? I know there is a lot of difference in quality in LEDs, I'm trying to find the best I can (for the best price, of course).

3.3-3.6 is still high. XT-E should be 3.1-3.2v at 1A unless they're DIRT cheap bottom barrel lol. I would still expect them to be 3.1-3.2 as long as you're getting them from a US source.

The differences in LEDs are so radically different among brands and models and layouts and with/without optics that there could never be a rule of thumb. The best you can do is look at builds from people that have measured and go from there.

 

[perkint]

You say 5W Crees running at 1A but don't say what they are. 3.3 to 3.6V does sound high for the modern Crees (eg XTE, XPG, XPG2, XML, XML2 or XPL) so do you know what models you are looking at?

As jedimasterben said, the LDDs are most efficient when fed something near their Max input voltage and running a string of LEDs that need that fV!

Bit more info is needed to give you good advice!

Tim

 

[Kaiserman1967]

You say 5W Crees running at 1A but don't say what they are. 3.3 to 3.6V does sound high for the modern Crees (eg XTE, XPG, XPG2, XML, XML2 or XPL) so do you know what models you are looking at?

As jedimasterben said, the LDDs are most efficient when fed something near their Max input voltage and running a string of LEDs that need that fV!

Bit more info is needed to give you good advice!

Tim

Royal Blue 450nm-452nm XT-E are the blues I have and am going to use. I have the bin codes somewhere, but I'll have to find it. They are the only ones I've bought so far. Trying to find good bin codes for 6500k XT-E and also some warmer bulbs. I'm also thinking about adding a few other colors, but not sure what else I should add.

 

[jedimasterben]

Royal Blue 450nm-452nm XT-E are the blues I have and am going to use. I have the bin codes somewhere, but I'll have to find it. They are the only ones I've bought so far. Trying to find good bin codes for 6500k XT-E and also some warmer bulbs. I'm also thinking about adding a few other colors, but not sure what else I should add.

I would skip the cool white altogether if it's going over coral.

Warm white, lime (1:1), royal blue, blue (4:1), cyan (just a few of these), and lots of violet.

 

[Kaiserman1967]

I would skip the cool white altogether if it's going over coral.

Warm white, lime (1:1), royal blue, blue (4:1), cyan (just a few of these), and lots of violet.

Thanks for all the info. After looking at the cree datasheet I see why the cool whites are not near as good as the warm white bulbs.
I also found that the Blues I currently have are going to run about 3.1V at 1A. They are D36 N Code (550mW)

Where does everyone else buy bulbs at??? There don't seem to be too may people out there that I can find on Google.

 

[jedimasterben]

Thanks for all the info. After looking at the cree datasheet I see why the cool whites are not near as good as the warm white bulbs.
I also found that the Blues I currently have are going to run about 3.1V at 1A. They are D36 N Code (550mW)

Where does everyone else buy bulbs at??? There don't seem to be too may people out there that I can find on Google.

I don't use Cree, I prefer Lumileds (no longer owned by Philips). Typically RapidLED stocks the lower binned Cree chips, but they're also one of the cheapest. LED group buy stocks the highest bins only but they do cost a bit more.

 

[zachts]

There is also Steve's Led that stocks primarily the luxeon (Lumileds), also my preferred chip. They also do custom mounted multi chip stars even including violets now.

 

[Nirvan]

Hi guys,

anyone knows how to create correctly the Gerber files (for Iteadstudio) of the 8up LDD-H Dual SCW starting from the board and schematic?
I think it's the only project of O2Surplus where Gerber are missing here.

So I started to read the two following articles:
- http://support.iteadstudio.com/support/solutions/articles/1000156317-gerber-files-requirements
- http://blog.iteadstudio.com/how-to-export-gerber-files-from-eagle/

They suggest to open the job "gerb274x.cam" but in the list of my Eagles cam files I have also noticed one named "ITeadstudio_CAM6.cam" so I am tempted to use this one instead.
Which one you would recommend or do you know if a step-by-step guide has been already posted by someone on this forum (since I couldn't find it)?

Many thanks!

 

[O2Surplus]

Hi guys,

anyone knows how to create correctly the Gerber files (for Iteadstudio) of the 8up LDD-H Dual SCW starting from the board and schematic?
I think it's the only project of O2Surplus where Gerber are missing here.

So I started to read the two following articles:
- http://support.iteadstudio.com/support/solutions/articles/1000156317-gerber-files-requirements
- http://blog.iteadstudio.com/how-to-export-gerber-files-from-eagle/

They suggest to open the job "gerb274x.cam" but in the list of my Eagles cam files I have also noticed one named "ITeadstudio_CAM6.cam" so I am tempted to use this one instead.
Which one you would recommend or do you know if a step-by-step guide has been already posted by someone on this forum (since I couldn't find it)?

Many thanks!

Here's the files you need. Just combine both folders into 1 new zip folder and upload it to Itead.

 

[Screener]

O2, astounding, I don't know how you do it.

My question is how (what ways) could you control fan speed with the new master slave system you designed?

Could you also use the on board arduino for other functions and send values through to the BF App or another App???

my mind is boggling

 

[Wally.B]

Very Interesting thread. Subscribing.