RGB LED Control after the power supply
RGB LED Control after the power supply
I currently run about 1000 watts of RGB LED strips powered by two regular 500watt computer power supplies. Has anyone on here dimmed LED's by doing PWM between the power-supply and the LED? (rather than just sending PWM signal to a driver). My power supplies don't do dimming on their own.
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DrewPalmer04
- Posts: 818
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 2:12 pm
- Location: Christopher, IL
Re: RGB LED Control after the power supply
Simple answer, I wouldn't....
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Sebyte
Re: RGB LED Control after the power supply
Hi Scot
I believe you are running a commercial operation, hence the high wattage of LED's. Can I ask were the LEDs commercially built units or home-brew?
If they are home-brew the you could look at Meanwell LPF drivers, which can be controlled by the Reef Angel. If you have someone with an electrical or electronic background they should be able to work out how the split the LEDs into series and parallel circuits. Buy using this type of configuration you get better use out of each driver.
You may want to look at http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=788
Many forum members have obtained their Meanwell drivers from the company mentioned in the thread. They appear to be about the best price.
I believe you are running a commercial operation, hence the high wattage of LED's. Can I ask were the LEDs commercially built units or home-brew?
If they are home-brew the you could look at Meanwell LPF drivers, which can be controlled by the Reef Angel. If you have someone with an electrical or electronic background they should be able to work out how the split the LEDs into series and parallel circuits. Buy using this type of configuration you get better use out of each driver.
You may want to look at http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=788
Many forum members have obtained their Meanwell drivers from the company mentioned in the thread. They appear to be about the best price.
Re: RGB LED Control after the power supply
Thanks for the reply Drew an Steve.
I checked out the thread you linked to, and looked into the Meanwell LPF drivers. I believe I may go that route for a future LED project. I'm still learning about this stuff, and didn't know what a 'driver' was until now, so that is a step in the right direction.
The LED's I have are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-RGB-5050-SMD ... 4abc2f5862
We use them over our broodstock and grow out tanks in our small hatchery. I was reading and reading, and think that the constant-current drivers are more for stand alone LED's. These ones have resistors that do the same job (however less efficiently, and not as accurately).
What I was really hoping to do was to blink them really fast with a slightly higher voltage. That is a way to have a higher apparent brightness, while using less electricity. However, I think the PWM on the RA is in the 100-200Hz range? I have yet to research it, but I think that the frequency required for this project is much faster.
Hopefully I'll make a small controller that I can plug into the RA so the RA can still do the human interface & logic. If I do, I'll post Eagle Files, the sourcecode and a writeup.
I checked out the thread you linked to, and looked into the Meanwell LPF drivers. I believe I may go that route for a future LED project. I'm still learning about this stuff, and didn't know what a 'driver' was until now, so that is a step in the right direction.
The LED's I have are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-RGB-5050-SMD ... 4abc2f5862
We use them over our broodstock and grow out tanks in our small hatchery. I was reading and reading, and think that the constant-current drivers are more for stand alone LED's. These ones have resistors that do the same job (however less efficiently, and not as accurately).
What I was really hoping to do was to blink them really fast with a slightly higher voltage. That is a way to have a higher apparent brightness, while using less electricity. However, I think the PWM on the RA is in the 100-200Hz range? I have yet to research it, but I think that the frequency required for this project is much faster.
Hopefully I'll make a small controller that I can plug into the RA so the RA can still do the human interface & logic. If I do, I'll post Eagle Files, the sourcecode and a writeup.