Cheap dimming (voltage) solution for Meanwell "D" models?

[vresor]

Opps, sloppy reading on my part. You're both right: 8 Meanwells, 8 pots and just one 9 VDC supply. Very cool.

[therman]

Opps, sloppy reading on my part. You're both right: 8 Meanwells, 8 pots and just one 9 VDC supply. Very cool.

 

Yep that's correct! Got it hung and running now!!! So psyched...it is absolutely fantastic. Right now they are set at the minimum (300mA) and I think they may be bright enough for many corals at that level! It's mostly an sps growout system, so I wanted the ability to crank it up a lot if I so desire. Got a LOT of rearranging corals to do...

 

Also, I'm replacing a 400W halide with it, and at the minimum the new LED fixture only draws 115W. I imagine I'll be turning it up at least partway, but after that I'll still be cutting my energy usage in half, with waaaay better coverage, full control of color temp, and fantastic colors.

 

I love LEDs...

 

-Tim

[redfishsc]

Glad to see this working for you so well! Definitely going to save you some cash.

 

I'm close to changing my 15g cube to all LEDs. I have the blues, just need the whites and I think I'm going to go with XP-G's. Someone around here mentioned they found 60-degree optics for XPGs, so I can raise the LED fixture up higher to reduce salt creep on them.

[Giga]

can someone make a diagram so I can see how this works and maybe real pics of it working?

[therman]

can someone make a diagram so I can see how this works and maybe real pics of it working?

 

 

Here's what I did...

 

The red connector at the top of the left box is the lead to the 9V supply. The positive from the 9v was split out to the outer leg of each pot, then the wiper from each pot is run to the positive lead of one Meanwell's dimming wires. The negative leads from all the meanwell dimming wires are all run back to the negative lead on the 9V supply. I used 1/8" mono headphone jack connectors from Radio Shack to connect all the dimming circuits to the dimmer boxes, black plugs go to the 4 MWs controlling blue LEDs, silver go to the 4 MWs controlling white LEDs.

 

It did take a LOT of work and hours to put this together, but it was my first time soldering on a breadboard, so I'm pretty happy with the results.

 

Hope that helps clarify things. Somebody else who's better with circuitry diagrams can step in and show a pretty schematic if they feel like it.

 

Good luck!

Tim

[Giga]

cool now I just need a diagram and I'm good lol

[redfishsc]

 

What little breadboard work I've done tells me that I'd spend $75 in breadboard replacements before I got that right lol!

[rrcg50]

This is for all the folks struggling to find a power supply for the Meanwell dimmer input that actually gives a stable, reliable voltage output (without having to wire up a voltage regulator circuit).

 

 

I just sent an email to the guys at sparkfun to see if they could verify this for me.

 

If these regulated 9v wall-warts are TRULY a well-made regulated power supply, they should realistically only give you around 9v. See the link at the end.

 

The problem with most 9 or 10v wall warts (ie, unregulated) is that they usually throw off a lot more than 9 or 10v. I have some 9v that actually give 18v with no load.

 

I am using a product just like the Sparkfun regulated 9v supply on my Meanwell. It gives a constant 9.1v and says "9v Regulated" on the back.

 

 

To get FULL 1,000mA out of your Meanwell, you simply need to set your 10K potentiometer (spliced into the wall-wart line) to full power, and turn up the SRV2 screw inside the Meanwell cover until you get something close to 1,000mA (multimeter hooked up inline in the circuit to verify).

 

This is soooooo much easier, cheaper, and predictable than wiring up the LM317 circuit. Just turn the SRV2 screw up while watching your multimeter.

 

 

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_i...products_id=298

Thank you very much for the detailed post. Wired mine up yesterday and am loving it.

[redfishsc]

Sweet. Glad to hear it. .

 

The more folks we get using LED's, the better.

[rrcg50]

Sweet. Glad to hear it. .

 

The more folks we get using LED's, the better.

my next build will be 48 to 60 leds but the dimming will be thru a rke with alc module. it will replace roughly 750 w of energy

2 250w hallides

2 110w vhos

thank for the help with the setup of the dimmer

[Giga]

can you still get the diagram drawn up maybe in paint to make it ez on you-nothing fancy, but i'm just a visual Lerner

[redfishsc]

can you still get the diagram drawn up maybe in paint to make it ez on you-nothing fancy, but i'm just a visual Lerner

 

 

Of a single dimmer circuit, or of the multi-driver dimmer circuit (ie, wads of wires and potentiometers on a single 9v power source)?

[Giga]

multi

[zemuss]

Following because soon I will be starting my LED build.

[zemuss]

Question I bought the P Model because I wanted to integrate with a Audrino or RFK. Will this work on those?

 

Thanks

 

"Z"

[therman]

Ok, here's my ghetto diagram of it:

 

Cut one outer leg off of all of your 10k pots. Run the positive from the 9V Supply to the other outer leg of each pot. Run the positive dimming wire from each meanwell (blue wire DIM+) to a middle leg (wiper) of a pot. Run the negative dimming wire from each meanwell (white wire DIM-) to the negative wire of the 9V supply.

 

Make sure you cut the same leg off of each pot or else you'll have to turn them in different directions to dim.

 

Hope that clarifies things.

 

Not sure if this will work for the "P" version, I've only used it with the "D".

-Tim

[fisheriestech]

Thanks for the great diagram and information (and redfish for starting all this). I'm sorry to have to ask such basic questions but have been lurking around for a few months, have managed to build an LED array for my tank and would really like to finish with the great dimmer set up you have shared, but having absolutely no knowledge and very little understanding do not want to mess everything up by using the wrong parts. Could you tell me where you got the enclosure and pots so I can get the same and at least feel confident I'm not trying to use something that won't work?

Thanks, Lynne

 

Ok, here's my ghetto diagram of it:

 

Cut one outer leg off of all of your 10k pots. Run the positive from the 9V Supply to the other outer leg of each pot. Run the positive dimming wire from each meanwell (blue wire DIM+) to a middle leg (wiper) of a pot. Run the negative dimming wire from each meanwell (white wire DIM-) to the negative wire of the 9V supply.

 

Make sure you cut the same leg off of each pot or else you'll have to turn them in different directions to dim.

 

Hope that clarifies things.

 

Not sure if this will work for the "P" version, I've only used it with the "D".

-Tim

[therman]

Honestly I wouldn't recommend the same enclosures (from radioshack), as the breadboards that radioshack sells dont fit in them. I had to trim down the edges with a dremel to make them fit. It also might be easier if you get panel mount pots, but I went with the pots and knobs from sparkfun:

10k linear pot

the knobs are the ones listed in "related products"

 

Just be sure you have a nice strong mount on the breadboards and pots, as severe strain on the pot knob can break your solder connections if you're using these board mounted ones.

 

Someone else more savvy with places like Digikey or Mouser might be able to link to enclosures, boards, and pots that would work better.

 

Good luck!

Tim

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the great diagram and information (and redfish for starting all this). I'm sorry to have to ask such basic questions but have been lurking around for a few months, have managed to build an LED array for my tank and would really like to finish with the great dimmer set up you have shared, but having absolutely no knowledge and very little understanding do not want to mess everything up by using the wrong parts. Could you tell me where you got the enclosure and pots so I can get the same and at least feel confident I'm not trying to use something that won't work?

Thanks, Lynne

[evilc66]

Ok, here's my ghetto diagram of it:

 

Cut one outer leg off of all of your 10k pots. Run the positive from the 9V Supply to the other outer leg of each pot. Run the positive dimming wire from each meanwell (blue wire DIM+) to a middle leg (wiper) of a pot. Run the negative dimming wire from each meanwell (white wire DIM-) to the negative wire of the 9V supply.

 

Make sure you cut the same leg off of each pot or else you'll have to turn them in different directions to dim.

 

Hope that clarifies things.

 

Not sure if this will work for the "P" version, I've only used it with the "D".

-Tim

 

I would change this slightly. The leg that you are cutting off should be tied to ground. This will make a full voltage divider. It's more accurate with items like the Meanwells where the internal voltage and current reference can float a little.

[DC5]

Anyone have more pics of how they have done this? I am about to order the parts I need, but I want to see if people have been stuffing the meanwells in project boxes, etc.

[redfishsc]

Nah, I didn't bother putting the Meanwell in anything like that. It's pretty compact and flat, easy to stow somewhere.

 

Now the potentiometer is a different story. I need to put mine in a box but I haven't found one I like yet, and I only have 1 pot on my LEDs at the moment, so a big project box with one measly pot is kinda silly.

[Freakin]

Lol I forgot that the meanwells use direct AC current. I thought you were powering the 88 LEDs off a 9v 650mA wall wart. I said WTF like 6 times in my head before realizing I didn't sleep last night and the wall wart was just for dimming

 

 

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work for the PWM dimmable "P" type meanwells. It is a different concept entirely. I could be completely wrong though. I've only been doing LED research for a few weeks.

 

General concept is the voltage driven dimming "D" type sets the LED output power based on input voltage to the dimming control. You supply between 1.1 and 10v and that controls the output power.

 

"P" type use a newer concept called pulse width modulation. Instead of outputting a constant current from 1-10v you "pulse" the signal. In the simplest example of pulsing an LED directly, if 5v powers it at full power, if you pulse 5v quickly on and off at even intervals the LED will average half the power.

 

Someone smarter than me please correct me if I misspoke

[redfishsc]

So far as I can tell, you're right. I use the D model.

 

Rapidled.com sold only the P models for the longest time, and I know of a few folks that bought them mistakenly. I imagine Rapidled.com has had a LOT of them returned to them since most folks aren't savvy enough to know how to rig up a PWM. Especially me.

[Freakin]

I'm still unsure if I'm better off going to P or D type if I'm planning on doing Arduino. Is P type with a transistor to go 5v to 10v all I need for dimming from Arduino digital pins?

[redfishsc]

You'll want to ask that in the main "Ultimate LED" sticky at the top of the page, or on the massive "Meanwell" thread that's been around a while.

 

I think I'm the only person following this thread daily and I couldn't even begin to answer your question lol. There are people who can, though, in the Ultimate thread.