On the "D" version, do the internal pot controls define the output current range from the dimmer control voltage range? For instance, as shipped, my 36-D at 10V on the dimmer circuit drives the LEDs at 1.5A. We made a simple circuit so our external pot only allows 6V to the dimmer circuit, which drives the LEDs at 1A.

What I'm wondering is if I need to crack my Meanwell open and calibrate the current range to max out at 1A for 10V of dimmer input.

Thanks.

It's a good idea to adjust SVR2 to set the max current lower. If you turn it all the way clockwise, you should be at about 975mA at 10v input.

Ummmhhh...what's a bias resistor ?

It sets the saturation current on the base of the transistor. Basically turns it on.

Evil, I have a question concerning the 10V "line" on the diagram. Can I hook up directly a 10V voltage power or I'd be better off with the schematics you posted earlier with the LM317 and the 10K pot ? Again, this is for a "P" model.

Depends on the quality of the power supply used. It might be better to use a 12v supply and an LM317 like used with the "D" model, but use a 10K resistor instead of a pot to set the voltage.

Alright, following the schematics you posted, if I use a 10K resistor as R2 and 1,2K and 220 ohms as R1, it gives 10,05V output. Is that a problem considering that it's >10V ?

Also, do you have an example of a bias resistor, like a reference or a website ? I have no idea what it means in french and I can't find no equivalent ! I'm sorry !

Finally, could you please explain in a few words how the dimming works, especially the transistor and bias resistor thing ? The Arduino output seems to be 5V, how could it make a 0 to 10V variation ?

Why not use a 1K and 470 ohm resistor to get just under 10v? I'd rather be on the safe side. Both resistors are common values.

A bias resistor isn't a specific product. It's just a resistor used to perform a specific function. All it does is set a current to drive the transistor.

Dimming for this driver is not analog 0-10v. It's pwm (pulse width modulation), which basically means that you turn the 10v on and off at varying rates to give the appropriate input signal. The Arduino is 5v, but that's what the transistor is for. You use the 5v signal to switch the 10v source on and off.

Ok, here is something I made to aid in clarification for those trying to make the pwm circuit for the "P" models.



Black lines are component leads
Red lines are bottom side solder traces
Blue lines are top side wires

Use a 12v or greater (up to 32v) power supply for this.

thanks Evil!

now i really know where i went wrong. yahoo! i will still ave to wait for next week though but

THANK YOU!

Hello guys,

From what Evil and others have been writing here and there, here's a draft of my dimming circuit for a "P" driver, using a PWM signal coming from an Arduino.

What do you guys think about it (hope the upload is working) ?

Thanks in advance !

Perfect. You hit the nail on the head.

Great ! Would that be a problem if I used a PNP instead of a NPN transistor ?

Also, in some circuit design I've seen on other threads or websites, the load (the driver in that case) is between the collector and the 10V. In what is it different ?

Waiting for this a long time.
Finally know hwere I go wrong

I goofed on that one. The difference is where you put the load. Actually, a PNP transistor is a better choice. On a PNP transistor, the load is on the emitter. On an NPN, the load is on the collector.


Yeah, I should have done this a long time ago

Is that going to make any differences?Wheather the load is on the emitter or collector.Sori if it is a stupid question as I an not electronic train

And Thank You for sharing.Its better late then never

Why a PNP instead of a NPN ? And what reference do you suggest ?

You could do it either way, but the PNP is a little easier, and potentially a little more reliable. With an NPN transistor, you would connect +10v to DIM+, then DIM- to the collector. the driver may not like being controlled from a switched negative setup. With a PNP, the emitter is connected to DIM+, and DIM- goes straight to ground. This is a switched positive setup and will be better suited for this application.

Hey Guys,

I have the meanwell "D" drivers and wanted to build Evil's LM317 circuit to reduce a 12V power supply, but since I am not a EE I was wondering if someone could actually list weblinks for the proper parts.

Click to view attachment

I'm wondering if anyone can explain this.

I was experiencing the regular version ELN-60-48 on 13 crees, with an amp meter in series, the reading was 2.3A something when I plug in the power, and it didn't change, then I quickly turned the SVR2 down to about 850ma just in case all LEDs blew up. I also had experience on an ELN-30-24 with 6 crees where I can turn the SVR2 to make the current 400ma something.

Strange the 30-24 spec mentioned (-25% ---- 3%), for the 1.25A max, 400nm is more than -50%.
the 60-48 spec max current is 1.3A, how come it reaches 2.3A, I dare not to leave it long enough to see if it'll drop on its own eventually. And I'm sure my AMP meter is correct.

thx
BXZ

Alright, I've modified my PCB design. Is it better now ? I've found out that the PNP transistor 2N2907 is the complementary transistor for the 2N2222. What do you think about it ? Could I use it ?

All of that is available at Radioshack. Nothing special there.



Your transistor symbol is upside down. Other than that it looks good.

I am going to be doing a LED conversion on my BC29 with 24 LEDS and 2 meanwell eln-60-48p drivers but there is only one part holding me back-- i can't understand the part about building a PWM circuit.

I understand the diagram in post #521 somewhat. I understand the concept of regulating the voltage from a power supply via the LM317. After reading up, I still have no clue what an arduino is. I just want to be able to turn the LED's on and off via a switch or a timer, and have a dial where i can adjust the voltage to the LEDs. Would there be a simpler circuit than the one above?

Would the V12 just a be a 12v wall plug power supply where the positive goes to the LM317 and the negative gets grounded?

As a side note, If I can't make any sense out of this whole thing, would an easier route be to just get the "d" version of the meanwells and then hook it up to a RKL with an ALC module?

You can wait for evil, but for your requirements I would recommend a "D" model and then you can build the more simpler circuit with standard radio shack parts, see above diagram, and be able to control the dimming. I have also read that you can also just buy a RKL and hook it up directly to the meanwells (you might want to ask evil how to do this exactly) bypassing the 10V circuit

The "P" models use a PWM signal to control the voltage which controls the dimming function (i think this is corret). The Arduno is a DIY programmable circuit or chip.

^^agreed. Much easier.

Sup Evil any updates on the ALC Circuit?

Thanks

Still waiting for my ALC before I move forward on that one.

What about using one of these for controlling the dimming output on the D model drivers

power regulator

They can work, but there is two things that need to be mentioned. First, all of them seem to have a lower voltage limit of 2.5v, which means that none of them will be able to turn off the LEDs (needs down to about 1.25v to do that). Second, none of them have a set maximum of 10v. The LT1117 is up to 9v, but all the others go higher, and could damage the dimming input on the driver if 10v is exceeded too much. I don't know how tollerant they are to excessive input voltage.

I should email them to make one to our specifications, I ordered some led bars for moonlight and fuge light was really good quality

I bought all of the parts so far from a member on here who did the group buy and am going to be getting 2 "p" type drivers. Any chance I'll find someone on here willing to trade a pair of D types for a pair of P types?

If I really wanted to get down to basics: have the LED's set at a static voltage and just have them run on a timer, would the pair of D type drivers and the LT1117 mentioned in post #528 be a viable solution?

I realize there are drivers that don't have dimming functions, but from what i think I've read so far, nobody runs the LEDs constantly at full 10v right?

Lol, don't mean to sound lazy or anything. I know there will be a fair amount of work to this I'm just trying to avoid building any type of circuitry with individual components.

lol the more I read up and look for parts, the more i get lost.

Going to be getting two D drivers and the power regulator from post #528 so I need a 12v power supply. Does the current rating on the power supply matter? narrowed it to these two:

12v, 1500mA http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...oductId=3807944

universal 1.5v-12v 1000mA http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...oductId=3875403

sorry for the all the basic type questions on this meanwell thread, there was a link to a AC supply someone else was using on this thread but its dead

Would this article be of any use? I'm not sure how one would wire this together even if the effective pwm signal was +10v.

Arduino 10v PWM

Either of those will work, but they are very expensive for what they are. Check MPJA. They have cheap 12v supplies. Anything over 100mA will be plenty.


That's a 10v AC square wave. Not useful for this application.

thanks for all the help so far. I will work on getting D drivers along with a simple 12v power supply and the LT1117 power regulator. Would its still be possible to turn the power regulator all the way up to 9v and then put a potentiometer between the regulator and the LEDs and use that to dim them?

I don't think the R4 adjuster on the power regulator will be easily accessible or convenient to use.

Last question, if i can do what i mentioned above, what kind of potentiometer am i looking for? What resistance and wattage rating should be i be looking for?

It would be just as easy to replace the pot on the board with a wired one, or spend a few bucks and build it yourself the way you want it with parts from Radioshack. You will also be able to get the full brightness from the driver by getting up to 10v output. The LT11117 regulator only goes up to 9v.

Oh, i was under the impression that no one ever ran the LEDs at full 10v because it was overkill. Probably misread something

It's all dependant on the application.

Hi Evil,
Following on from my questions on build in the Ultimate LED Guide - I've a couple of questions on the Meanwell power supply. drivers.

1. I'll be creating 3 seperate panels over my tank. The centre section that I'll build first consists of 30 number 50/50 mix RB & White LED's . I understand I'll need 3 drivers for these. Each driver wired in series to 10 LED's. Do I need to worry about overloading the LED's or will the Meanwells only supply the power needed to supply the LED's without overload?

2. With the LED's in series is there a danger of the Xmas Tree light syndrome - where if one LED fails the whole string goes out?

3. Elswhere in this forum you talk about turning down an onboard pot to restrict the maximum current. Do you just turn it down in a particular direction or do you need to measure something while you make the adjustments?

5. I plan on mounting the drivers away from the lid. I would etimate that the LED's will be on the end of a 6' run of wire from the drivers. Is this acceptable? I could alternatively fix the drivers on the tank lid adjacent to the LED's. However I'm concerned about any heat the drivers give off and having mains power in the lid itself. What would you reccomend?

Thanks in advance

Dave

1. The drivers adjust automatically. Nothing to worry about there.

2. If one pops, the whole string goes down (provided it fails open). This is much more desireable than wiring in parallel and cooking more LEDs from increases in current.

3. You can turn it all the way counter clockwise to set the output to about 975mA. Measuring the output would be ideal though.

4. What happened to 4?

5. That's fine. Just use 18awg wire to go from the drivers to the LEDs to reduce the voltage drop over that distance. You can still use 22-24awg wire for the LEDs in the array.

Hah - I missed Q4 by mistake. Seeing as you mentioned it here goes........ Per prev notes on this forum the analog dimmer control specified is shown as follows:-
Click to view attachment

However you mention earlier in this forum that we can remove the capacitors. In addition I found some specs on the LM317 ( http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM317.html#Overview) That says:-
"Normally, no capacitors are needed unless the device is situated more than 6 inches from the input filter capacitors in which case an input bypass is needed. An optional output capacitor can be added to improve transient response. The adjustment terminal can be bypassed to achieve very high ripple rejection ratios which are difficult to achieve with standard 3-terminal regulators."
Does that mean I can remove C1 and C2 from the circut? If not which one?

Additionaly - I seem to remember back in my college days that adding a capicitor and resistor in a circuit could ramp up the flow of a circut slowly. If so is there a way in which I could add a capacitor within this circut to increase the voltage over time (Say 10 or 20 mins) instead of an instant full blown value. This would give a rather simple sunrise/ sunset effect to that starter. If this is practical what sort of values would you need and how would the circut look?

Dave

Make sure you change the R1 and R2 values. R1 should be 1470-1500 ohms, with R2 being a 10K pot. That gets you about 10v out.

You can take both caps out and still have fine results. they are both cheap parts if you want to leave them in.

Using a RC circuit to add a fade in can work, but the cap that has to be used would be quite large.

Regarding the LM317 w/10K pot setup, here's what I picked up at Radio Shack. I'm probably including overkill on information, but the last thing I want to do is to find out that I got a capacitor made from the wrong stuff or the resistors are rated for too low of a wattage.

Let me know if any of these are out of whack. Radioshack is pretty close to home.

470 ohm and 1K ohm resistors. 1/8 watt. Wasn't sure what wattage to get and this was, iirc, the only ones they had at these resistances.

0.1 uF ceramic disk capacitor, 50WVDC max "high K dialectric"

1.0 uF tantalum capacitor (the only one they had) 35WVDC max.

10K ohm pot, 500VDC, 0.5w

LM317, pretty straightforward. Looks like the forks we use for eating corn on the cob


I do not have the Meanwell nor the LED's in hand yet. This stuff was in budget and the rest will come later. Baby steps for po' reefers.

Good morning.
I am just seeking clarification for my upgrade early next year.

I will be controlling the 12 Meanwell dimmable drivers using 4 channels (2x white 2x Blue) on a profilux computer.
The 12 drivers will be split over 3 daisy chainable LED light "modules" over my 5 foot tank.

I have 2 options for interface between the Profilux L-port and the drivers.
1 is a card (EVG-AP-2F) that can control 2 channels and also has a relay for each channel that switches the power off to the device that is being dimmed to 0%.
The other is a card (LBFAP) that can control 2 channels but has no relay for switching power,

Now for my question:
which one of the above 2 cards will be best to use?

Either or. At 0v, there is no ooutput from the driver. No need for a relay at that point. The relay might be nice to shut the AC side of the driver off when not used just to save a little power usage. It's not required though to get full range of usage.

Thanks Evil.
For sake of simplicity people using profilux are therefore probably best to use the LBFAP card based on there being no requirement to drop the AC supply.
I'm just waiting for a response from Martin on the profilux support forum about any limitations on how many drivers I can control off each L channel.
Meanwell topic on Profilux support forum

Click to view attachment

Hi Evil.
So a revised circuit would look something like this:- ?
Click to view attachment
For the fade portion - What would be the size of resistor and capacitor for a slow ramp up of say 15 mins?
Can you replace R3 with a variable so the time can be adjusted? Is there a wonderful formula you would be willing to share that can be used to calculate the time?

Dave

You could use a 5K pot and a 0.01f cap to get up to a 40 second delay. You need to change the location of R3 though. It needs to go between R1 and the output to the driver, like this:



Anything more than about a minute and you are looking at huge capacitors.

I so built what i believe to be the right circuit and tried testing it but i'm not sure whats up with the results im getting. I used 1k and 470 ohm resistors on the LM317, no capactiors, and a 10k pot.

The power supply was a 9v 500mA just to test it, i know i should be using a 12v. When i test the voltage of the power supply it shows 14.3 volts with no load on it. When i hook the power supply up to the rest of the circuit, I am able to adjust the voltage with the potentiometer between about 2 volts and 12 volts on the output side

Does this mean the circuit is working? lol or does this mean i've built a distaster. I'm right about where i should be, except 2 volts above on each side.

See your other thread for an explaination.