Where can I buy one of these to controll a Meanwell Dimmable Driver? Would these be the dc adapters with switches to control the voltage. similar to the controllers for the Tunze powerheads?

Reefkeeper with ALC.

yeah,
that's one option but very expensive. If I can controll it with a adapter, then that would be fine for the time being.

I thought the D versions had a manual pot on them in addition to inputs.

Sorry, I am vary new to LEDs. Nooby question. What is a Pot on the dimmable driver

Potentiometer. The little knobby thing you turn to 11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer


Find the Meanwell D spec sheet and check it out. I thought it had a pot to change intensity, it may have been an Amp pot, different than the 0-10V pot, but the effect would be the same...you can change the light with a turn of a screw.

I'm not looking it up until I get mine from the group buy. In 8 weeks.

They may have a spec sheet at nanotuners.com. Or ask evil, he might answer this question much better than I.

ps, without one in front of me, your voltage adapter idea seems completely plausible. Something I thought of before I understood what you were saying. Makes perfect sense. Just make sure that the adapter you use does not have too much power on the input of the Meanwell. You would be limited to the discreet values of the adapter, but I don't see electronically why it would not work. But like I said, I don't own one yet.

If you pry open the driver there are two adjustment controls. There is no external pot for adjustment. To handle the dimming functionality you need to wire up the +/- dimming leads to a variable voltage power adapter or something like a ReefKeeper Lite/Elite with the corresponding ALC module.

I have a dc power supply that I'm going to be using to control cooling fans on my canopy, but I wonder if it would work for this application. Its a dc power supply with built in pot and digital voltage display, it's out put is adjustable from 1.2v-19.4v with the pot at a current of 2.0amp. I'm almost tempted to save it and use it for a led set up one day.

[quote name='Nickeleye' date='Feb 6 2010, 07:28 PM' post='2669592']
If you pry open the driver there are two adjustment controls. There is no external pot for adjustment. To handle the dimming functionality you need to wire up the +/- dimming leads to a variable voltage power adapter or something like a ReefKeeper Lite/Elite with the corresponding ALC module.
[/quoteDODo where

so where can I pick up a variable voltage adapter

Um, Radio Shack. Walmart?

You can buy variable power supplies at corner stores now for cell phones.

What are you asking that question for?

ps, without one in front of me, your voltage adapter idea seems completely plausible. Something I thought of before I understood what you were saying. Makes perfect sense. Just make sure that the adapter you use does not have too much power on the input of the Meanwell. You would be limited to the discreet values of the adapter, but I don't see electronically why it would not work. But like I said, I don't own one yet.

You stated that I would need to buy a variable voltage adapter that does not have too much power on the input of the Meanwell. What type of power should I be looking for then....

The internal pot on these (I own one), the SRV2, is a "more or less permanent" adjustment to the current. You set it and forget it, since you have to unscrew the cover to get to it.

The D model requires a 10v input to even turn on. No 10v input, no current through the LED's.

I am using a 9v power adapter, but I verified with a multimeter that it puts out under 10v. This one actually puts out (with and without a load) a hair over 9v. That's fine b/c all I needed to do to get 1000mA was to----

1) hook up my multimeter,

2) crank up the external pot that I spliced into the 9v power supply,

3) and then turn up the SRV2 inside the Meanwell so that I read about 1000mA with the external pot wide-open. Actually I stopped at 960mA, close enough.


As mentioned before in the thread, it's CRUCIAL that you do not exceed 10v input, and a 10v power supply usually does exceed 10v. I emailed Meanwell about the tolerance for excess voltage, and you can only go up to about 10.6v before damaging the dimmer

Boldface type only meant to grab attention not yelling.




If you use one of these, don't trust the settings until you test them with a multimeter to see if they are really giving 10v or less.

Awesome. Thanks for the detailed answer

No problem.

Feel free to send me a PM when you start wiring this up if you have any questions. I am VERY limited in my knowledge on these except that I have successfully wired one up and am using it right now. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I will use Meanwells for pretty much anything I do.

for analog dimming, becareful with unregulates sources. a 9VDC wall adaper doesn't put out exacly 9VDC. The meanwell requires 10.0V for 100%. I believe you run into trouble (potential damage) if you exceed 10.4V..hence needing a regulated source.

If you adjust the internal pot (SRV2) for current limiting, be sure to measure the actual current. Min was not -25%. Max isn't exactly 1.3 A. Measure or risk burning up your LEDs

Go get like a cheap 12v wall wart from a computer parts store or good will. I got mine for a buck. Then get a LM317 (few bucks from ebay) and use a multimeter. Turn the adjustment dial until its 10v. Then hook up like a 5k pot between it and the Meanwell. Now you can adjust between 0 and 10 volts for full power.

+1 to all this, except that the Meanwell doesn't actually require a full 10v to get full throttle. My 9v wall adapter actually only puts out 9.14v, which I verified without a load. I very easily turned the SRV2 up, with the multimeter reading current, so that the Meanwell was putting out a full 1.0 amps (well, actually I stopped at 960mA but I had a LOT more SRV2 adjusment I could have given it).






That's a very frustrating circuit board for electronic noobs to wire up. I tried it twice and finally said "to hell with it" and found a true 9v output.

You can get one already done for about $7 shipped

+ and - In from 12v wall wart and + and - out to pot/dimmer on meanwell

LM317 Ebay

You have to be careful with that, because there is no 10v limit on the output, and the drivers cannot tollerate much higher than 10v on the dimmer lines.

Well I wired it all up and dialed it down to 10v using my meter. Should I re-check it?

No, you're good. My point was that it's not hard to turn it up past that inadvertantly and damage the driver. The LM317 circuit that I had posted in the past stopped the voltage at ~10v.

So the LM317 simply allows me to be less selective in buying a DC power supply to run the 0-10 VDC dimmer input for the Meanwell, right? I could wire an 18 VDC power supply to the LM317 and dial its pot down till my voltmeter reads 10 VDC?

Could I do the same thing with the right resistor wired between the + and - on the 0-10 VDC dimmer terminals?

yup, it takes very little current for the meanwells to dim. you could use a simple 14 or 18v cordless drill wall wart. depending on the voltage drop a 12 or 11v unit would work.

Kind of. With the circuit that I have spec'd out before. The upper voltage limit is always 10v, regardless of the input voltage. The dimmer that was linked to earlier will go up to just under the input voltage, which could be above 10v.

My plan is to use one of the 12 VDC wall warts laying around my bench and this schematic borrowed from Ken:

That's one way to do it. The advantage of the LM317 over this is that it won't matter what the input voltage is. With just a resistor and a pot, you are relying on the input voltage being very regulated, and the resistors being very precise. Cheap 12v wall warts will typically have a higher output voltage than advertized, sometimes as high as 16v. The 2K resistor now no longer drops 2v (actually about 2.66v now), and the max voltage that the driver sees is now higher (about 13.4v, which will cook the driver).

That makes sense. So can one 12ish volt supply regulated down to a consistent 10 VDC by the LM317 supply two separate pots each controlling the voltage to separate Meanwells?

Or does the LM317 replace the pot?

You need both. The pot is part of the LM317 circuit and adjusts the output voltage of the regulator. You will need one complete circuit for each seperate group of drivers you want to control.

Okay. Thanks Evil.

Variable Voltage AC Adapter 3-12V

Would this Variable Power Adapter work just as well?
And would this be all I would need besides the Meanwell 60-48D, to be able to Dim the LED'?.

I'm contemplating purchasing the NC 5.6 LED retro.

You could do this but it would be best to get a PS that is around 12v since the difference between input and output is converted to heat. Even a 9v would work if you didn't ever want it to go to 100%. I guess since the amperage should be low that would limit the heat, I would guess that the dimmer consumes under 20mA.

You can actually get a full 1000mA out of the Meanwell with only 9v input. I'm doing it right now.

You just have to hook up your multimeter, turn everything on, give it 9v input, and turn up the SRV2 screw INSIDE the Meanwell until your multimeter reads 1,000mA. I did this (actually stopped at 960mA which is close enough).

You can probably get away with even less than 9v, but I can't say that for sure.


Be sure your 9v power supply is actually giving 9v and not something WAY over. I tested 5 or 6 of them and they ALL gave me 12-18v with no load. ONLY 1 that I found later (tucked away at our work shop's "pile o wires") gave only 9.1v.

A little bump. Does the above provide all I'll need to adjust the intensity of the Meanwells? Pro/Cons?

It might.

Pros, easy to use.

Cons, if you accidentally hit it up to 12v you may fry the dimmer mechanism. The dimmer's max voltage input is 10.6v, according to the Meanwell rep I spoke with.


Another con, the power supply may put out more than the voltage it's claiming. Test it with a digital multimeter (no-load) and see what happens. Normally this is fine b/c the voltage will drop when a load is applied to the power supply, but this dimmer draws such a small load that the fear is the voltage will remain too high.

Thanks for you reply.

How would I "accidentally hit it up to 12v" ?
Do I just not turn the knob all the way?
Would not want to fry anything of course. BTW I'm considering this as a means to Dim the 5.6 LED retro from Nanotunners.

I'm not familiar with the Nanotuners setup, does it use the Meanwell as a driver?


The way you would accidentally turn it up to 12v is to either slide the toggle too far (if it's a sliding toggle) or crank it too far (if it's a turn dial) or hit the wrong button (if it's a push-button).


In other words, just use it with caution. Also, I'll just repeat, double check the actual voltage it's putting out. The 9v setting sounds safe but it may be putting out more than 9v.

You can set it to whatever voltage actually gets you close to 10v (but under 10v) and (if the Nanotuners thing uses a Meanwell) open the Meanwell and turn up the SRV2, WHILE watching the current on your multimeter, to turn the current up to around 1,000mA.

Yes NT has the Meanwell ELN-60-48D as an option.

I can't tell by the packaging if it has different settings for the Volts. But if it did then could I select the 9volt setting & then open the Meanwell (yes I'm sweating at this point) & turn up the SRV2 (whatever that is) while watching the multimeter (gota get me one) making sure it does not exceed 1000mA. OK I think I just repeating your advise above, sorry I guess I'm a little nervous about blowing anything up.

Or is it best to choose the 12volt setting & dial down the SRV2?

Any idea if this devise is as good as the DIY solution?

Redfishsc's expaination is what you want to do. You do not want to apply 12v to the dimming circuit, ever.

Evil is 100% correct. If you put 12v into it (or anything over 10v really) you run a risk of damaging/ruining the dimmer mechanism.






Be sure to get a multimeter that reads amperage up to 10A. While we actually only read up to 1 or 1.5A, the 10A setting is the most common I've seen. They can be found at Lowes for around $25.


The SRV2 is a screw inside of the Meanwell itself. There is also a screw (they are labeled well) that says "SRV1" which is voltage adjustment. Don't pecker around with the voltage (unless Evil tells you to, lol!).



The way I adjusted the SRV2 is below. I will assume that you have confidently wired everything up and are ready for a test run.

NOTHING PLUGGED IN AT THIS POINT!!!!!!!!

1) Remove the cover from the Meanwell via the 4 screws. Note that the cover will ONLY FIT back the EXACT way you took it off, which keeps the labels for the wires in the right spot.

2). Find the screw inside labeled SRV2. Turn it to the MINIMUM setting, which is all the way COUNTER CLOCKWISE.

3) Connect all components on the array, and have your dimmer voltage at the lowest setting you have. Don't plug anything in yet.

4) Connect your multimeter in-line after your last LED, and be sure it's in-line with the LED circuit... not parallel.

5) Set mulitmeter to 10A setting. Double check that the dimmer voltage input is on lowest setting.

6) If you are ready to give everything electricity, and you are certain your soldering is right, and you have everything wired right, plug it all in.

7) LED's should light up just a little if the voltage input is around 3v. If not, don't fret, proceed to next step.

8) Look at your amperage reading on the Meanwell, should be pretty low. Increase voltage on your dimmer input until it's at 9v (do NOT exceed 1.00 A reading on multimeter).

9) If the 9v dimmer setting isn't giving you enough current (something around 0.95 to 1.0 A) then SLOWLY use a screwdriver to turn the SRV2 CLOCKWISE, which will increase your current. Turn it up until you hit close to 1.0A).

10) Put cover back on.



Note--- follow your multimeter's directions on how long you can leave this thing hooked up for amperage.

Thanks everyone, Redfishc that was very detail, even I can follow that. I appreciate it.

awesome thats exactly what i needed to know!!! THANKS