Controller for DIY led light

[j2m-marley]

Dear all,
I would like to upgrade my reef light currently made of 45 x 10W - 12V multichip leds with individual 900mA drivers and constant current power supply

I don't feel enough technical to go deep into a #Reef_Pi and Arduino are not acclaimed (to my knowledge)
I found this DIMFree-W8 but as using 10W leds I need enough power (About 450 to 500W with heat loss) which is not available from the seller

I'm therefore thinking about using 3x Meanwell ELG-200-36B to drive 15 leds each (5 parallel groups of 3 leds in series), but I don't know if both the DIMFree and the ELG will fit together... the question is mainly about the 0-10V dimming I think.
Unfortunately no answer from the seller yet...

I aim also at adding 4x full spectrum leds to my refugium drived by the controller to allow reverse functioning of the later compared to the main tank lighting

I would like therefore to ask your help for similar system that could be applied to mine
I wish something simple not needing to go deep into technics...

Also I'm in Madagascar... so quite nothing available locally, but even with the Covid-19 crisis I can use DHL for shipping here

Thanks for the advices
Cheers
PS: Will try to post few pics of my led light later

 

[Galvano]

Hi!

How about an ESP32 WROVER board? There are many systems based on that processor. Combine it with a PWM module, a suitable Meanwell PSU and LDD drivers to get a dirt cheap controller. I order all my components directly from China, likely no problem to do so from Madagascar.

The AquariOS controller I built for example offers 8 light channels, 8 for pumps and 4 for heaters or chillers and didn't cost me a fortune.

Cheers

 

[Diyreef8401]

As far as cheap controllers that will handle 10 volt. Hurricane X will do 16 channels And there is an adapter to make it handle 10 v dimming.

 

[j2m-marley]

Thanks to both of you for your reply. @Galvano the AquariOS still looks bit complicated for my electronics capabilities... However would you mind sending me some links of leds suppliers you find in China. For instance the one I found doesn't look reliable on leds specifications and diversity. (maybe in pm)
@Diyreef8401 the hurricaneX with 3in1 10V adapter looks great. I will go deeper on the manual to see if it fit my expectations.
4 channel is great as I need 3 for my tank light and 1 for the refugium.
The ELG can shut down compared to HLG however the minimum power is @8% if I'm correct.

 

[Galvano]

I'm therefore thinking about using 3x Meanwell ELG-200-36B to drive 15 leds each (5 parallel groups of 3 leds in series)

You know, that with a power source in constant current mode you can't drive multiple parallel lines of LEDs correctly?

 

[j2m-marley]

You know, that with a power source in constant current mode you can't drive multiple parallel lines of LEDs correctly?

Mhhh... told you that my technical skills in electronics isn't very good, can you explain please

the ELG-200-36B is a 36V switched mode power supply @200W - 5.55A
Assuming that my multichip leds run at an average 12V - 1050mA, 3 leds in series gives me 36V - 1050mA: Is that correct?
Then I have 5.55 A total so with 5 parallel lines I will use 1050mA x 5= 5.25A which gives 300mA left for losses?

 

[Galvano]

The point is that your LEDs apparently require a current of 1050mA though otoh their individual electric resistance may vary, e.g. by a large scale dependent on their temperature. Now with all of them interconnected in series the driver is able to adjust voltage till the targeted current, identical for each of the LEDs, is reached. But after adding another line of LEDs with possibly different electrical characteristics in parallel the current ratio between these two LED series is no longer defined with one of them possibly being damaged by overcurrent while the other one looks too dim. That's why each series of LEDs requires its own constant current regulator.

 

[Reesj]

If the LED are devided equally meaning you are drawign same current in each parallel line, You can dim the main line to dim all the aprellel lines. PRoblem will be if, the parallel lines have diffrent LEDs.

 

[j2m-marley]

Well, the answer of @Galvano is convincing, but @Reesj still adds to my doubt

I indeed want to drive the same number of led in each parallel lines with a 36V power supply
CH1: 5 parallel lines of 3 leds each
CH2: 5 parallel lines of 3 leds each
CH3: 5 parallel lines of 3 leds each
CH4: 3 leds in series or 2 parallel lines of 3 leds each

I tried to look after different setup using parallel connections on internet and found those two additional controllers people using with parallel connections
TC421
WU-322-6A

For the latter, below is a connection which looks even simple using a constant current power supply without need of a PWM version

 

[j2m-marley]

Well I think that @Galvano is definitely true in my setup I Made a mistake on electronics with the following setup...
Indeed, I assume that if in one of the line a led burn, the full line will have to support the 36V Edit: the current will be cut for the line and the two other will simply shutoff
I tried to draw the setup for my understanding se below

 

[Diyreef8401]

If you want to use one power supply then you will need individual drivers for each series string. Then The controller will pulse the driver to control intensity. If you want to run High voltage and high current then you would probably use an hlg for each series string and then control that with your dimmer.

 

[Diyreef8401]

Which is pretty much what everyone else is saying.

 

[Galvano]

In your example with a constant current source it's not about the voltage, but the 5.x Amps the driver despite the broken LED still tries to deliver now have to be distributed among 4 instead of 5 lines, which means 25% overcurrent for each of them.

BTW, with an LED similar to any diode within its operating range a small voltage difference results in a much bigger change in current, which is why here in contrast to an ordinary resistor for example 36.5V vs. 36.0V make a huge difference.

 

[j2m-marley]

In your example with a constant current source it's not about the voltage, but the 5.x Amps the driver despite the broken LED still tries to deliver now have to be distributed among 4 instead of 5 lines, which means 25% overcurrent for each of them.

Ok but isn't the driver designed here to deliver a maximum of 6A according to the CC power supply BTW but to adapt intensity to the needs?
I mean, if a led burn, current will no more run into the corresponding series, I will have 4 strings left instead of 5 so 4A to be delivered by the driver instead of 5. Won't it be adapted by the driver from the controller?
sorry for the dumb question

 

[Galvano]

If you want to run High voltage and high current then you would probably use an hlg for each series string and then control that with your dimmer.

15+ HLGs may cost a pretty penny. I'd go for one or two sufficiently dimensioned PSUs along with LDD drivers.

 

[j2m-marley]

15+ HLGs may cost a pretty penny. I'd go for one or two sufficiently dimensioned PSUs along with LDD drivers.

Yes but HLG doesn't provide cutoff to my knowledge, while the ELG does (they each cost 45USD) - So about 150USD for the setup + the refugium

63USD for one HLG-240H-36

 

[Galvano]

Ok but isn't the driver designed here to deliver a maximum of 6A according to the CC power supply BTW but to adapt intensity to the needs?
I mean, if a led burn, current will no more run into the corresponding series, I will have 4 strings left instead of 5 so 4A to be delivered by the driver instead of 5. Won't it be adapted by the driver from the controller?
sorry for the dumb question

Nope. How would the driver get knowledge of the failing circuit? It's designed to deliver a constant current, but that's it.

 

[j2m-marley]

Nope. How would the driver get knowledge of the failing circuit? It's designed to deliver a constant current, but that's it.

OK

 

[Diyreef8401]

15+ HLGs may cost a pretty penny. I'd go for one or two sufficiently dimensioned PSUs along with LDD drivers.

I prefer ldd’s as well but they can only power up to 56 volts limiting how many leds you can put in your string. I am a little unsure of what j2m is trying to do so I was just throwing out some options. The cheapest and easiest thing to do is get a 48 volt power supply and an ldd for each channel that you want to control.

 

[j2m-marley]

Ok so with 1A LDD if I take a 48V power supply, it means I can drive 4 leds for each strings, and I need 11 LDD to drive 44 leds. Correct?
So eleven channels to be controlled (pretty hard...)
In my setup I have Blue/ RB/ CW and UV leds... that why I was wondering to go "simple" on channels and to group colors:
CW all together
Blue all together
RB + UV