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Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:19 am
by Grower
Jolly Green Giant wrote:
Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:03 am
Grower wrote:
Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:57 pm
Do Meanwell B drivers output 10v on Dim+?
By placing a transistor between any pwm output of the arduino and Dim+ on the driver we could control the dimming
found this over on RIU.

For automation dimming-control 3 'sub-units' are needed :

-A Control Signal Source ( A microcontroller unit like Arduino Uno or Raspberry Pi )
- A 10 VDC power Supply
&
-A " PWM switch " .

http://www.rollitup.org/t/meanwell-led- ... on.838760/

crap load of info on there about the 3 in 1 dimming.. you'll want a scroll down half - 2/3rd the way down for the arduino part... he goes into all the parts.
Y I am one of them lol
I am really interested in automation and data gathering. I researched a bit on different sensors: temperature, RH, soil moisture, light, etc
Then for some reason I feel the need to make the system modular

A story without an end

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:38 pm
by Grower
Worth a mention

HUMBLE BOOK BUNDLE: DIY ELECTRONICS BY WILEY

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/diy- ... le_index_3

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:34 pm
by seiks
I'm in the middle of gathering all my materials so don't have anything running yet but I've been doing a lot of research on using wifi to dim the led drivers (this thread has helped me a lot, thanks everyone for posting all these resources.)

So from what I gathered, in order to dim the LED driver we need a 0-10v analog output controlled by an arduino (or any microcontroller).

[[ I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS YET, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK]]

The arduino can only output 5v, so it would only be able to dim 0-50%.. no good! We need a voltage doubler circuit in order to output the full 10v. I lack the electrical experience to do this.. but I make up for it with research skills!

I found these modules that convert the Arduino's PWM signal to a 0-10v output so it should do exactly what we're trying to accomplish here. So the requirements would be:

- 1x Arduino Uno (can output 5v): https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3
- 1x PWM 0-10V Digital to Analog Signal Converter: https://www.amazon.com/MagiDeal-Digital ... B00UIZKYAS

Connect the module to the arduino, connect the DIM + DIM - to the module. Use code to drive the pwm signal (I plan to use a web interface with a slider / buttons to change the pwm signal).. magically watch the lights dim.

I'm going to order the module, but I haven't even started my grow yet so I don't want to burn my new hard-earned driver :D I'll test with a multimeter and measure the voltage output first, then maybe buy a cheaper driver for a real-world test before trying it on my bigger one... but I'm definitely curious what anyone else thinks of this

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:39 pm
by seiks
I almost want to delete my last post.. but I just discovered these as well: https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1650.html

I'm already using an analog 100k pot so can't we just use a digital one? SO CHEAP!

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:50 pm
by seiks
I did it! I got a dimming mechanism working off an arduino, now allows me to dim the lights automatically based on temp, schedule the lights, etc. Very excited!

Someone on reddit guided me on using a MOSFET in parallel with a 100k resistor and control it with the arduino's PWM. Here's what they wrote to me:
The technical explanation: The Meanwell 3-in-1 dimming system is actually a 0.1mA constant current source. If you wire a 100kΩ resistor to it, you have a voltage of V=R*I = 105 * 10-4 = 10V, which is exactly what you need for logic high. If the MOSFET is active, it shorts out the two connections, making the voltage differential 0V, which is exactly what you need for logic low. If you PWM between those two states, you get your PWM input as needed by the power supply (note that it's inversed, PWM high means logic low and PWM low means logic high, but that's easily flipped in software).
These are the parts I used:
1x Arduino Uno

1x n-channel mosfet: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071Z ... UTF8&psc=1

1x PCB mount screw terminal to plug in the DIM+/- wires: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LW ... UTF8&psc=1

1x 100k resistor

1x 10k resistor

If people are interested I'll put together a quick demo / tutorial up on youtube

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:02 am
by Sativant
If people are interested I'll put together a quick demo / tutorial up on youtube
That would be great 👍🏼

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 8:36 am
by Hyakutak
If you're interested, I'm working on a project to simplify the creation of an automated control system for people

viewtopic.php?p=5145

I'm working with a RPI B who can control up to 16 drivers with a PWM hat and an Web app (IOS/Android/Web). You can add as much RPI as you want.

There is still some work to do before I can publish the project (1-2 more weeks), but if people want to beta test it, it would help me a lot!

The final goal is to automate everything. (right now I'm focusing on Mean Well driver)

Re: Automated control system - any experience or directions?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:33 pm
by Grower
I am getting in love with this forum every day.