LED lighting project
- Thread starter Neogenesis
- Start date
Neogenesis;3648771; said:
Don't forget: You will be looking for AC before the transformer & DC after the transformer. All the DC should be ~24v.
JakeH;3650534; said:
Actually no, I'm running 12 in the string, so it should be just shy of 40 volts.
I'm hoping to get it measured this weekend, but with Turkey Day in the way, I need to get the house clean and also get the bird done with all the fixings. I will keep this thread updated as long as there is interest.
I'm using the Meanwell dimmable driver which can be seen here.
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-26/Mean-Well-ELN-dsh-60-dsh-48P-dimmable/Detail
Scott
Ha! I got my threads mixed up... I forgot you have those RapidLED badboys. 40v is pretty intense! I really like the nice beam effect you got, too. It looks awesome. One idea I had was you could change out random 60 degree lenses for 80's & make it a little more dynamic. I just thought it would look more like natural sun beams... Or.... how fancy is that controller you got? Most of the LED drivers I've used in the past have a twinkle program built in...
JakeH;3650800; said:
As for the lenses, 80 degree would just spread the light out more, and I think it would be less dynamic as the light it would just illuminate the tank more in general. Now if I went with the 40 degree lenses, then it would give me the spot light look that some people really like.
There is nothing special about the controller, but if you have a tank controller that will give off a 10v pulse width modulation signal, you can dim it remotely. I'm just supplying a 9 or so volt signal to it, and everything is happy. No twinkle program is needed, a little surface agitation and you'll get all the shimmer you need.
Now is where I come clean, as I don't fully understand the driver. There is a voltage and current pot , which I understand is different and both are adjustable. If no outside voltage is provided to the dimmable circuit, you get 0 current output and therefore no juice to the LED's. When you provide the 10v as specified, the led's work, however the voltage pot doesn't change anything and the current pot changes voltage. So what I did is measure the voltage with a voltmeter as I adjusted the current pot to get my 39.5 volts. Are voltage and current tied together somehow?
The diagram is coming....having a tough time making it on my mac as I'm struggling to get a handle on this freeware image editing program.
Scott
