shark boy
New member
Thank you very much.
If you load the file into your Typhon you will see going through the channels it will give on one screen start/stop times as well as min/max intensity + ramp time.
Shark boy
Who wants a cheap, simple, Arduino-based LED controller?
- Thread starter der_wille_zur_macht
- Start date
Thank you very much.
If you load the file into your Typhon you will see going through the channels it will give on one screen start/stop times as well as min/max intensity + ramp time.
Shark boy
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Well, good news and bad news.
Good news: I got the PCBs for the analog/moonlight expansion module today.
Bad news: I sat down to solder one up and realized I'd gotten the ADC chip in the wrong package compared to what I used on the board.
So it'll probably be another week before I have the right part in hand. Which should give me a chance to do some software work.
Speaking of, if anyone wants in on that effort, lemme know. I can make software that works but it's not elegant.
Good news: I got the PCBs for the analog/moonlight expansion module today.
Bad news: I sat down to solder one up and realized I'd gotten the ADC chip in the wrong package compared to what I used on the board.
So it'll probably be another week before I have the right part in hand. Which should give me a chance to do some software work.Speaking of, if anyone wants in on that effort, lemme know. I can make software that works but it's not elegant.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
HA! Scratch that. I DO have the right part. I had pulled a bag of LM3409's out of my inventory instead of the ADC chips. So no wonder they "weren't the correct package." 
Hope to have something tested by the end of the weekend...
Hope to have something tested by the end of the weekend...
HA! Scratch that. I DO have the right part. I had pulled a bag of LM3409's out of my inventory instead of the ADC chips. So no wonder they "weren't the correct package."
Hope to have something tested by the end of the weekend...
Sweet!
Can't wait, unfortunately i can't help with development, i'm on the "carefully following instructions part of things"
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
We don't really have a solid answer because we don't know the current draw that a Meanwell needs. (If you ask Meanwell, they will often blatantly misquote a spec that doesn't actually apply here).
In reality though, it should be "way more than you need." The limitation is the current capacity of the transistor that switches the 10v signal. It's limited to 100mA. Typical drivers pull only a few mA each, so in theory that gives you room for several dozen per channel. If you DID need more than that, you could simply swap in a different transistor with a higher current limit.
In reality though, it should be "way more than you need." The limitation is the current capacity of the transistor that switches the 10v signal. It's limited to 100mA. Typical drivers pull only a few mA each, so in theory that gives you room for several dozen per channel. If you DID need more than that, you could simply swap in a different transistor with a higher current limit.
From what I have seen on the reefkeeper forums the meanwells draw 26 mA and thats why if you try to run over 2 on there alc pod you can no longer get up to the 10 volts needed to fully power the dimmer. There is a post over there with a circuit that fixes it so you can run 4 on each channle. I posted a copy of it on the DIY because I dont know how to make it so im hosed on using my RKL for the 6 meanwell drivers I have.
here is the discution on the digital aquatics page
http://www.forum.digitalaquatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7448&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I can picture that working for their situation.
If you are building a Typhon though, you can just swap in a transistor with a higher current rating and be done. No need for an amplifier. Though I suppose you could build one for kicks.
I must say, I would be really shocked if the Meanwells actually needed that much current. Someone should just whip out a multimeter and take a reading as dimming goes from zero to 10v so we'd know for sure.
If you are building a Typhon though, you can just swap in a transistor with a higher current rating and be done. No need for an amplifier. Though I suppose you could build one for kicks.
I must say, I would be really shocked if the Meanwells actually needed that much current. Someone should just whip out a multimeter and take a reading as dimming goes from zero to 10v so we'd know for sure.
I now have my BoostTyphon up and running and am a little bummed it doesnt allow you to dim the 4 channels very easily seperatly, custom adjusts all four at the same time.
Also setting the start/stop and fade times is so long winded holding down the +/- buttons.
Also what do you guys do to get a seamless fade in and out as the the driver only brings the LEDs in at 11%?? (ELN 60 48P). I have 10 cool white XM-L, 10 Neutral white XM-L, 10 Blue XP-E and 22 Royal Blue XP-E in two strings of 11 all on seperate channels.
Is anyone still running the sketch supplied by Boost or are they using a custom one? Does anyone know of a new sketch that might solve some of the problems mentioned above?
Many thanks and I hope someone can assist.
Also setting the start/stop and fade times is so long winded holding down the +/- buttons.
Also what do you guys do to get a seamless fade in and out as the the driver only brings the LEDs in at 11%?? (ELN 60 48P). I have 10 cool white XM-L, 10 Neutral white XM-L, 10 Blue XP-E and 22 Royal Blue XP-E in two strings of 11 all on seperate channels.
Is anyone still running the sketch supplied by Boost or are they using a custom one? Does anyone know of a new sketch that might solve some of the problems mentioned above?
Many thanks and I hope someone can assist.
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I have found that it depends on the amount of LEDs in the chain of each driver as to whether or not the 10% cut off happens. I have 10 RB bridgelux in a chain which works from 1%-100% and 12 cool whites on another driver (ELN-60-48P for both) which has the 10% start up point. I suspect it's something to do with getting enough volts in the circuit to power all LEDs at their minimum which only happens once the driver gets to 10% of it's maximum output.
It'd be nice to be able to set the range that the LEDs operate in (in my case 0-100% for blue, 10-100% for white) and then have the 0-255 PWM steps operate in that range. Or to be more exact make 0 = 0 and 1 = first step vairable (1 for blue channel, 10 for white channel) so that when the fader gets back down to 0 it actually signals the driver to run at 0 not 9% which runs the risk of using power to do nothing. Perhaps this is what the 48D driver sketch updates achieve already?
Yes thats the exact probelm I am having with all the strings/colours with Cree LEDs. Are there sketch updates for the 48P drivers that you know of?? Boost sell these drivers with the Typhon so you'd think all would be well.
It would be nice to set 10% as 1% an so on.
It would be nice to set 10% as 1% an so on.
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ReeferVinnEE
New member
Does anyone know of some way to add more PWM channels to an arduino? I could use something like double what the mega gives you, but I still need to be able to have buttons and a screen of course for control...
This was all I could find...
http://shieldlist.org/practicalmaker/pwm
http://www.practicalmaker.com/products/45
My concern is then for the memory... with all of those outputs, and some pretty complex programs for some ("light mover" or "cloudy day" simulator, ramp-up, ramp down twice a day maybe on some channels, and so on), do I need to add some memory as well?
This was all I could find...
http://shieldlist.org/practicalmaker/pwm
http://www.practicalmaker.com/products/45
My concern is then for the memory... with all of those outputs, and some pretty complex programs for some ("light mover" or "cloudy day" simulator, ramp-up, ramp down twice a day maybe on some channels, and so on), do I need to add some memory as well?
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tony.hebert
New member
Yes you can add more PWM with added complexity
Yes you can add more PWM with added complexity
You can use a TLC5940NT. You can find them on eBay for 6 bucks. Each chip will give you 16 channels of PWM with 4096 steps (arduino has 256 steps). They use these chips often to make an LED cube matrix or mix RGB color.
However you might think about using digital pins for buttons and if you want an LCD screen get an IC2 serial LCD it uses only two pins (clock and data) and only one is PWM so you still have 5 left for your project. I have my LED project going with this setup and it works well.
Do you need more memory? Depends how much you want to do. I have about 1500 lines of code that does a ton of stuff with only 28 of 32k used on an UNO. I have run out of idea's to usefully expand the functionality. So 28k gets me:
Mooncycles, Lightning storms, separate brightness levels for blue and white channels, Sunrise and sunset twilights. Manual timer for the same time everyday lighting OR selecting the auto timer which figures out the actual sunrise and sunset times for that day for whatever lat and lon you input .
Yes you can add more PWM with added complexity
You can use a TLC5940NT. You can find them on eBay for 6 bucks. Each chip will give you 16 channels of PWM with 4096 steps (arduino has 256 steps). They use these chips often to make an LED cube matrix or mix RGB color.
However you might think about using digital pins for buttons and if you want an LCD screen get an IC2 serial LCD it uses only two pins (clock and data) and only one is PWM so you still have 5 left for your project. I have my LED project going with this setup and it works well.
Do you need more memory? Depends how much you want to do. I have about 1500 lines of code that does a ton of stuff with only 28 of 32k used on an UNO. I have run out of idea's to usefully expand the functionality. So 28k gets me:
Mooncycles, Lightning storms, separate brightness levels for blue and white channels, Sunrise and sunset twilights. Manual timer for the same time everyday lighting OR selecting the auto timer which figures out the actual sunrise and sunset times for that day for whatever lat and lon you input .
Pny
New member
A PWM driver with TTL output is a much better choise. The TLC5940 is a current sink LED driver by itself. You will need to drive the LED's directly from it, and it can only drive low power LEDs <120mA. Since it does not have TTL output you cannot connect this device directly to a high power LED driver.
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