Shiggity Goes Mad Scientist: Paving The Yellowbrix Road With DIY Adventures!

ShiggityFlip said:
Lmao bobrown! Yeah I am interested in making 2 board 3 foot rails. Two rails per 4x4 for 520W. 1265ppf. That output matches a SE 1000w hps. Then eventually I will add some Cree mono strips. Each strip has six 3 watt colored crees.
4 strips royal blue xpg-3 (460)
4 strips xpe photo red (660nm)
2 strips xpe far red (730)

I will run these off of meanwell LDD drivers. These drivers accept a 3.3W Pwm dimming signal. This means I could use an aquarium controller to set on and off times, intensity, and growth and decay rates. You could hit them with more blue in the morning, more red at "noon" and phase far red in the evening for a simulated day. Kinda neat thinking of the possibilities.
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I have COBs with the dimmable Meanwell drivers. Talk to me about the Pmw dimming signal or send me a linky please?? I'm having some issue with my setup and inrush current taking out my timers over time. The contacts burn down and then no love. I know I can build a switching device that I can customize to do a slow start so not all at once burn the switch every power on.

Sounds like there's something "built in" to the Meanwell PSUs... I'm interested ...
I'm staying away from the colored LEDs... not sure if what your using for strip lighting is white light or colored???


Cheers KIG
 
Buckshot317 said:
, the mean well B series, offers a 3-1 dimming, anolog or digital.
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If right so, say maybe I have a meanwell B series with a potentiometer dimmer already in stalled would it be much of a job to swap it with a PWM unit ( hurricane, bluefish or whatever). I don't want to tear up my dimmer too bad. It is neatly wired. As seen here. Can ya see what I mean?

CIMG1825.jpg
 
kelticBlue said:
If right so, say maybe I have a meanwell B series with a potentiometer dimmer already in stalled would it be much of a job to swap it with a PWM unit ( hurricane, bluefish or whatever). I don't want to tear up my dimmer too bad. It is neatly wired. As seen here. Can ya see what I mean?

CIMG1825.jpg
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If your using the hlg B series. I left off the hlg, I forgot. Instead of dimming leads going to pot, they would go to digital controller. The controller I ordered has an interface board in which you power 1st, then that powers the drivers and display controller. That way it can be used as a timer, also has overload and thermal protection.

I need to get the hurricane or storm controller to use on another light. I know they do sunrise and sunset, but dont think will turn lights on/off(timer). Still have to have a timer.

I need to get one, that way know for sure how they operate. The hurricane or storm looks to be the best deal $, both under $100.
 
Hey keltic, should be easy to convert. Shiggs has been looking at hurricane, and bluefish. He might know more about them, I went a different route on the controller, the controller I ordered can handle up to 1200 watts of drivers at 120v or up to 2000 watts at 240v. I'll know more about it when I get it in, should be another week. But it's expensive, it powers the drivers and controller.
 
So the deal with HLG "B" drivers is that they have an external dimming lead. It can work with 3 types of dimming. Most importantly it can work with a potentiometer like keltic has or it can be used for 10v Pulse width modulation (PWM)

What is PWM? It's all in the name. Pulse width means how long the led is "on". Modulation means to alter how long the pulse will be. This is the proper way to dim an led. Instead of altering the amount of current it gives full current for differing length pulses. These pulses happen so fast you can't see the flicker.

So hooking up to a pwm controller like a bluefish or hurricane it controls when the led will be on or off or how intense it will be.

For example most of these controllers will perform a sunrise and sunset. So the controller acts as a timer and a power controller.

We can set sunrise for 9am and a rate of increase up to the set level of power. At sunset we can do the opposite.

Keltic you can disconnect that dimmer and put in a connector so it can be easily removed and then you can add a controller. It is worthwhile to disconnect those dimmers if you are not dimming currently because they can rob up to 10% of your available power. A pwm controller won't do that.
 
That's what I've asked few places, and sales guy can't give me an answer. How does the controller actually turn off and on the drivers, or does drivers stay on 24/7 and controller keeps output at zero. That's only reason I went the route I did. I wanted the incoming AC to come to controller then out to drivers. That way if overheat or short circuit, the controller automatically shuts drivers down.
 
Buckshot317 said:
That's what I've asked few places, and sales guy can't give me an answer. How does the controller actually turn off and on the drivers, or does drivers stay on 24/7 and controller keeps output at zero. That's only reason I went the route I did. I wanted the incoming AC to come to controller then out to drivers. That way if overheat or short circuit, the controller automatically shuts drivers down.
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I don't think the incoming AC could go through that controller first. It says it can control 255 lights. If AC went through it first it would have to have a 1ga power cord. So it must be using a pwm signal.

You are right with pwm dimming the driver will technically always be receiving power it will
Just be dimmed to 0%. That way the controller can act as a timer and intensity device.
 
If you look at their site. He has a interface board. That gets the incoming power, then out to drivers. The actual controller is powered by POE(power over eathernet). Just a patch cable, like security cameras. So if there is any problems the controller will pick it up from interface board. It's expensive, but great setup for safety, no need to fuse the drivers or anything.
 
I was looking at that set up. I think it would break my budget getting all those interface boards. Pretty sweet for your application though. Very cool functionality including the "only white please" button!
 
Yea, your setup is lot bigger. Now those interface boards can handle up to 1200 watts, 300 a channel. Or you can double that if your using 240v.

I too ashamed to say how much I got tied up in his stuff, and I only have 6-90w boards. He seems to make a great product, but is fairly expensive, about the same as using cxb 3590's, as dollar per watt.
 
I sometimes prefer take-away as well. Indeed indeed. But I can't afford to eat all my dinners outside :)
 
DeVille said:
I sometimes prefer take-away as well. Indeed indeed. But I can't afford to eat all my dinners outside :)
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Lol damn autocorrect!
 
I got frame all bolted together, I had to flip angle around. If I used 80/20 it was going to cost over $800 just for brackets. Cnc machines are expensive.
420-magazine-mobile540232800.jpg


I think this should workout fine. I'm going to take it back apart and paint orange. I got paint at Sherman Williams, if I got black or white it was $12 a can, I guess orange wasn't a good seller, on sale $3 a can.
 
ShiggityFlip said:
So the deal with HLG "B" drivers is that they have an external dimming lead. It can work with 3 types of dimming. Most importantly it can work with a potentiometer like keltic has or it can be used for 10v Pulse width modulation (PWM)



So hooking up to a pwm controller like a bluefish or hurricane it controls when the led will be on or off or how intense it will be.

For example most of these controllers will perform a sunrise and sunset. So the controller acts as a timer and a power controller.

We can set sunrise for 9am and a rate of increase up to the set level of power. At sunset we can do the opposite.

Keltic you can disconnect that dimmer and put in a connector so it can be easily removed and then you can add a controller. It is worthwhile to disconnect those dimmers if you are not dimming currently because they can rob up to 10% of your available power. A pwm controller won't do that.
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i do use the dimmer run at about 50% in veg then increases as the plant gets busy. Also sometimes dim when I am in there for long periods the lights get bright for the ol' peepers.
I wish I had asked earlier. It sounds do able. And if I do not like it I can return to my previous. I really like the idea of sunrise and set. Just the driver being constantly powered is concerning. But, The PWM control needs constant power to maintain its timing, right?
 
It depends on the controller. Some have batteries or capacitors to save settings/timing
 
Hey Shiggs, awesome stuff going on here. Love the look of that rosin! What is the best way to learn how to press rosin for a noob in your opinion? Just about to harvest in a week or so and will have some stuff to experiment with soon.
 
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