So I set up the LM317 PWM circuit as above in my breadboard but have a problem. Seems to work until the transistor. Getting my 10V out of the LM 317 but when I hook up the Meanwell to the transistor output all I get is a very dim glow from the LEDs. If I hook the Meanwell directly to the 10V out of the LM317 the LEDs fire at full brightness. If I hook the Dim+ up directly to the output from the Arduino the LEDs fire and blink (using the blink code as a test right now) but at a lower brightness as they are only getting 5V max. Just nothing when I hook up to the transistor.

Any suggestions?

Most likely it's because the transistor isn't biased properly. Check your voltages at all points on the transistor. I'll bet you find the emitter voltage low. I have made comments on the proper way to set up a transistor before in this thread, but you need a resistor on the emitter to saturate the transistor to turn it into an on/off switch.

An easier way to set up this is to place an NPN (not PNP like you have) transistor between the DIM- and ground. Use a 100 ohm resistor between the emitter and ground, and put the 10v source right to the DIM+ wire. The transistor is in saturation now.

Thanks Evilc for the input. The reason I went with the PNP setup was that reading through the thread I thought that the PNP was thought to be a more reliable configuration than the NPN. It's hard to keep it all straight after 38 pages So then the circuit diagram above is incorrect and I need a resistor between the emitter and the Dim+? Would a 470 Ohm resistor be alright as I have extras from the building the LM317 part of the circuit? Do I still need the resistor between the Arduino and the base?

Okay, sorry to be a pain but I'm not an electronics expert and I'm having trouble figuring out the Arduino/PWM setup. This is the circuit I have:



Is it incorrect or should it work as drawn? Does not seem to be working for me.

Also, does everything get connected to a common ground? i.e do I hook up the Dim- and GND from the Arduino to the ground from the 12V PS? Which ground from the Arduino should I be using? The GND from the power connectors by the analog inputs or the GND with the digital connections or does it not matter?

Also, as I asked before do I need separate LM317/10V circuits for each of the two PWM signals or can the single one supply all? Also, do I need a separate transistor setup for each of the eight drivers or can the output of one transistor go to 4 drivers?

Thanks.

A bit of follow up. I have 10V at both the collector and emitter. It behaves as if the transistor is just staying on all the time. The PWM signal directly to the LEDs gets them to blink. But going through the transistor just gets steady on. No blinking. If I leave the LEDs hooked to the transistor and remove the Arduino PWM signal from the base input of the transistor the LEDS go off so the transistor is capable of going on and off but the PWM signal is not switching the transistor on and off, just leaving it on.

Man I wish I had paid more attention to electronics since high school 20+ years ago

Just a bump. Any thoughts on why my transistor isn't transisting? I would like to get it working with the parts I have rather than going to buy different transistors etc. and reworking everything.

Thanks.

can someone put some light into the situation below?

My setup:
2x Meanwell ELN60-48D (9RB and 9W respectively)
Dimmable via the 10V circuit provided by Evil.

I put everything together today and luckily everything fired up on the first go.
Accordingly i opened my meanwells in order to adjust for current.
I added my Digital Multimeter (Black to COM and Red to DC current up to 10A) in series as you would add a led. After powering up, i tried to adjust the SVR2 knob to turn down the output current from thhe meanwells.

The weird part
While adjusting the knob, i found that both drivers shows readings as low as 0.23A up to 2.0 (at which point the leds go out)

Just to be safe i adjusted both to 1A as intended in the first place.
My understanding is that the meanwell's can be adjusted from 0.975 - 1.3A. Can anyone explain what is going on here?

edit: by the way, at the time of testing the potentiometer from the 10V circuit was turned to max

i am a nob when it comes to doing circuits. do you have a physical pic of one of these built and can i controll 2 meanwell 30-27d's from one board

I had the same results, although I didn't try upping it all the way to 2A. I just adjusted it to .95A.

I picked up these parts and was wondering if they were correct
*0.1 Uf ceramic disk capacitor-50wvdc maximum
*1uf electrolytic capacitor
*lm317t positive (adjustable voltage regulator)
*general purpose printed circuit board
*10 k ohm linear-taper potentiometer
*470 ohm resistors. 1/4w 5% tolerance
*1k ohm resistors 1/4w 5% tolerance. Is this everything I need to complete the dimmer for d meanwell. I read the whole thread and still am not sure.

my parts are linked in post 717

thank you
would it be too much to ask for you to post a pic of the board all finished top and bottom, this will be the first circuit i will be doing

I just read through this entire thread in one sitting. I still have a few questions though. I know that most (if not all) of these have been discussed, but I don't completly understand everything that's been said and my brain is in a state of shock.

1) I read that a cheapo 10V DC supply may put out 12-14 volts at times, but if I get a good power supply that can be switched between voltages do I have to use one of the circuits discussed in this thread with a 12V supply and a pot? I know I wouldn't be able to control it to an exact level, but switching in between something like 7V to 9V would be good enough and wouldnt require any additional circuits. I would just have to switch it between voltages to make it dimmer or brighter in increments right?

2) If I go with a setup like this and I turn off the 120V input and the 10V DC at the same time will I have problems with a peaking voltage greater than 10V with a 10V power supply under no load? Dfom what I understand the DC supplies put out higher voltage under no load.

3) What happens if I use more than 12-13 LED's on one driver? Will it drop voltage to each LED and just not be as bright? Will it drop amperage to each LED and not be as bright? Will it fry the meanwell by trying to overload it? I want to run 30 LED's total, so what would happen with 2 drivers with 15 LED's each?

4) If I build a 10V power supply circuit with a 12V power supply like the ones outlined in this thread can it be used to control 2 or 3 drivers all on thier own individual pots? Or do I need a power supply circuit for each driver?

1. You would likely have the same problem unless you actually tested the voltage with a multimeter.
2. Regardless of load or not, some 10V DC will output more then 10V
3. It probably wouldn't light up at all since there isn't enough voltage to power that many LED's per meanwell, 13 max per meanwell
4. Yes, just connect all the meanwells to the same power supply and it'll work. Although I haven't found a solution for the heating up of the LM317 when dimming the pot, I'll probably end up getting an Apex controller instead.

Easy fix would be to replace the transistor with a FET. Keep the resistor to limit current (more to protect the controller than the FET).


Not uncommon. The 0.975-1.3A range is just a range that Meanwell can guarantee proper operation.


Just fine.

OK, thanks for the reply ming.

Now if I go with the non dimamble version I just have to hook up the 120V AC feed by splicing one end to a power cord and wire my LED's to the other side and call it a day right?

That, and just SRV2 inside the meanwell to 1A or however much you want and you're set

Awesome, thanks. Does anyone know where I can buy one of tehse for a good price? Earlier in this thread people were mentioneing these for a really low price, but I can only find 3 places that sell them and they are about the same price as the dimamble ones.

This may be a littel off topic but I didn't see anything about it in this or other topics. Whan I turn off the 120V power to my LED system (Meanwell ELN60-48D with 12 LEDs and a regulated 0-10V control) I get a slow fade and then an sudden bright flash. Is this normal or should I be worried? Thanks!!

Tom

It's normal and has been covered before.

Mounted on arduino

Okay. any suggestions on a particular one? Somebody suggested the ICL7667 MOSFET which could do both the blue and white channel. Do you think that would that work?

Thanks.

Sharp



Almost any FET would work.

Ron, you might consider this IC:
4 Channel Level Shifter

What it will do is let you connect a 5V (or 3.3V) supply (whatever is driving your micro) and a 10V supply (the output of your LM317). Then connect the PWM pin of your micro to one of the Input pins and the DIM+ of the Meanwell to the corresponding Output pin.

There are four channels, so you could drive up to four Meanwells with this from four separate microcontroller pins.

One question in my mind is whether the Meanwell control will sink more current than this device can drive. It doesn't list a maximum output current, only a minimum, so I suspect there's not a strong limitation there.

One caution is that this shifter doesn't switch really quickly. So I'd keep your PWM frequency below 500 KHz. 50 KHz or less would be even better. Ah, I just noticed that the maximum frequency for the driver is 3KHz, so that should not be a problem. But this could be *your* problem with the transistor circuit. What frequency do you have the Arduino PWM set to? Is it below 3KHz?

It's $.55 from Digikey but they have a $25 minimum. Let's see... Ah, Mouser has it for $.70 and I do not think that they have a minimum.

ST HCF40109B at Mouser

So Vcc goes to your 3.3V or 5V supply. Vdd goes to your LM317 Vout (where your transistor collector is now). 'A' goes to the PWM output of your Micro. And E goes to the DIM+ input of your Meanwell. And you'll need to tie Enable A to your 3.3V or 5V supply as well.

For additional channels, use B - F, C - G and D - H and remember to supply voltage to the corresponding Enable pin.

Nice find. That could make life easier, especially as a DIP package.

Looks like the output is ratiometric based on the input voltage. The output is limited to 100mW per output, but 200mW per package. At 3mA (average draw from the Meanwell), you are looking at about 120mW for 4 channels.

Thank you. IIRC, the link I posted at Mouser is for the DIP package. Digikey has them listed as a non-stocked item but also has 500-some in stock. :-)



I'm not sure what you mean by "ratiometric based on the input voltage". I think this is the important part of the datasheet:
===================================
Each circuit will shift a low-voltage digital-logic input signal (A, B, C, D)
with logical 1 = VCC and logical 0 = VSS to a higher voltage output signal (E, F, G, H) with logical 1 =
VDD and logical 0 = VSS.
===================================

My understanding is that VCC and VDD are separate power-in pins on the chip. So you supply VCC at whatever level your IN logic is using. And supply VDD at whatever level you want your OUT logic to be at. In this specific case, we'd set VCC to whatever the microcontroller is using and set VDD to 10V, assuming there aren't any internal diode drops. It bears some testing whether the output logic 1 is really VDD or a little below VDD.



Ah, nice. I missed that part. So the Meanwell's draw 3mA X 10V = 30 mW each. So if one wishes to drive multiple Meanwell's from the same microcontroller pin, do not gang up more than three of them on a single channel of this level shifter, and maybe no more than two to be safe. Also, put no more than six (6) Meanwells on the level shifter total, regardless of how many channels one is using.

Here's an even nicer version (cheaper, 6 channels, no "Enable" pins to tie high, and 500mW output rating), except I cannot find it available in the DIP package. Mouser has the TSSOP in stock and claims that they have the DIP on order:

TI CD4504 at Mouser


Datasheet for the CD4504 from TI

Some good suggestions but I just went with a couple general purpose FETs (part# IRFZ44) as I could get those easily at a local electronics supplier. I think each one should easily be able to handle 4 meanwells as it looks like they can take up to 50A.

For those reading this thread who may not run across this one as easily...

Cheap easy dimming for ELN-60-48D

Basically it's just a well regulated 9v wall wart power supply that can power 10k pots in parallel to dim one or many D type ELN Meanwells. I just rigged up boards to dim 8 D's independently. As much soldering as that required I'm fairly certain I would have shot myself if I had to do LM317 circuits.

Due to the adjustability of SVR2, 9.2V will allow you to run your D's at 1000mA and higher.

Have people been burning up their MeanWells like they have been with buckpucks when using PWM using say an arduino?
I'd like to hook my arduino up for the heck of it,
make a timer of it and what not......
If I can dim them wouldn't it be as easy as adding the output of arduino PWM,
then wiring it up to the MeanWells PWM?
Then mess around with the duty cycle(um whatver it's called )
to get the dimming I want?

Yes you can. Is not as easy as just hooking up PWM pins in Arduino to the meanwell. Requires a little more cause you need 10V max out from the Arduino PWM. Also if you want it to work automatically will need a real time clock.

I can't use a realtime clock out here because we don't get the signal.
But I was thinking a clock I have to set alog with a small battery,
but for now I'd be happy with pushing a button, having the light slowly coming on and such....
What do you mean by you "need 10V max out from the Arduino PWM"
Does the PWM need some work to be done to it's output to work?
I know some basics(coding, reading schematics, semiconductor basics ....) but I have not read a whole lot of arduino and Cree array stuff.

a Real time clock is an IC, it uses a battery and tracks date and time, instead of using the onboard crystal oscilator to keep time. Its less complex. You can buy one already made from sparkfun.

The Real Time Clock (RTC) is the red thing you see in the pic above. It has a built in battery and you can set real time and date so it keeps the time running even when the Arduino is not plugged in.

Meanwell drivers (P & D) models need 10V in the Dim wires in order to operate.
Arduino works with less than that so that means you won't get full power through the PWM pins. It needs some work to get full power out of it.

Do you have any pics of how you wired your ALC to the drivers?...or better yet any diagrams or schematics. I have the RKL with the ALC and I'm waiting on my LED's. Let me know if you have any of these. Thanks!

argyle



I asked another person this but,...do you have any pics, schematics, or diagrams of how you connected your meanwells to the ALC? If you could help that would be great!

argyle



Evil,

If you need and ALC module, you could use mine until I need it ! Let me know if you are interested....seriously!

argyle

evil in your opinion, what would be a better unit the P version or the D? I'm about to order drivers and either added circuit is not a big deal to me so if either are the same I might get one of each to test lol

If you refer to the datasheet for the meanwell drivers it suggests that the D has a wider more linear dimming range. Whether this is true or not I cannot say but I chose D's because of it. In reality you could use either PWM or analog to control them since you would just need to add a small cap to the output of the pwm to make it an analog signal anyway.

Anyboday has an Arduino code working? I'm having a hard time getting mine to work. Keeps having Errors when trying to compile or Upload.

I just want Fade in and Out from 2 PWM Pins (one for each Meanwell) is that to much to ask?

So one person already asked it, but never got an answer. Is it possible to add a large capacitor anywhere in this circuit to get a morning sunrise? Would the same capacitor also provide a sunset, by continuing to provide power once 12V power supply is shut off?

edit - found my answer - page 28 of this thread. thanks evil.

how are you converting the PWM voltage from 5v to 10v?

I have a dimming shield which takes care of that (you can see it a few posts back). I use a 12V wall wart so the shield coverts to 5V and 10v

ygpm

How are you tying that shield into the PWM? I thought it was for variable voltage output for D type.

The VIN is from arduino digital pin or positive on wall wart?

Everything fits right into the Arduino board just like a proto board. The Vin is from Arduino digital Pin

Oh, the board labeled "ELN dimming shield"

Yeah I was looking at the LM317 with the pot and getting quite confused.

Is that shield available for public purchase yet?

That shield is not commercially available. Its a DIY designed by a reefer from RC

I am owning a bc14 with nanocustoms 3.24, media basket upgrade for 1 year, and
realize I need a big tank now. So I am starting the project of next tank design.

I want the marineland 24 x 24 x 18 or marineland 24 x 24 x 24 or customized 24 x 24 x 20 by LFS.
I'm still not sure I want overflow in the corner or in the back of the tank. Seems marineland cube with
overflow in the back of tank has some problem based on the experience of the owners on the internet.

I also want to use LED lights. the question is how many leds I need. I want to keep som SPS from middle
to the top of the tank, and bottom for LPS and sofies. I want to use Cree XR-E Q5. How many leds I need
for 18" high, 20" high and 24" high.

I also want to use meanwell drivers, two ELN-60-48 for 13 x 2 CW at 1000mA and one for 26 X 1 RB
at 700mA. 30 leds are good enough for 24" cube? Should I use any optics lens at 24" high tank? How about 20" and 18"?

thanks a lot.

Dude no offense, but this is not the right area to ask this, this topic relates to MEANWELL Drivers. Granted you are going to have MEANWELLs in your build, but you could of started your own thread.

Any updates on the circuit for the RKM-ALC evil?

thanks

I know I downloaded the eagle files from the google site. Just wondering if anyone had put together a batch of PCBs for print. He said he had a bunch of boards left over so I didn't know if he was selling them or what.