just 14 strips in series instead of the 5 depicted about
7 Likes
I am a bit late to the party now however I have used arduino to control dimming on the HLG drivers… It’s pretty straight forward with a MOSFET… here is the schematic
Benefit of this is your dimming then can be conditional on other factors… i.e. heat or time of day or whatever.
So you can control the dimming via code, or you can also connect some other rotary dial to control it. .
22 Likes
I’ve had an interest in doing this for a while to experiment with simulating natural light conditions and also for efficiency reasons. Pretty cool.
5 Likes
True I would give extra likes if I could. It’s just a PWM duty cycle. And much cheaper than the one I use (Bluefish LED Controller) even if it’s not as fully featured. Now that I think about it, I may have a use for mine now. 
7 Likes
I have a pretty good understanding of electronics and have worked with breadboards and stuff a bit, but I just stared at that simple wiring picture for like 5 minutes all baked and still can’t seem to wrap my head around it lol
6 Likes
Just a mosfet to turn signal into usable power…
These fritzing schematics make my head hurt 
4 Likes
Yeah I looked at one of these also… pretty cool huh? The engineer in me just has an aversion to buying stuff I can make if I am not being slack/lazy, especially if it’s something reasonably straight forward. man… every programmer/engineer is an optimist, but I reckon this type of controller would be pretty straight forward to put together and I don’t think it’s likely to be overly complicated based on what it does.
Looking at the storm controller there is about $15 worth of parts… it may even be arduino based in fact… the LCD display is identical to the DR Robot LCD Keypad Shields, I bought a box of 8 of them a few months ago for about $5 a pop for all those projects that I haven’t even got started yet 
Hmmm okay… so to break it all down and probable confuse you even more then…
For a start a link on how Arduino PWM works.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/tutorial/PWM
Mosfets, for the uninitiated are a type of voltage controlled variable resistor where the amount of resistance between the source and drain pins is determined by the voltage that flows to the gate.
This is basic schematic of a mosfet.
And a pretty good descriptive video of the various types of mosfets, their function and a general description of how they work etc.
So then to make your arduino controlled dimmer work you connect your pwm pin to the gate pin of the mosfet, and then connect the ground to the neutral on the dimmer line and also ground the mosfet gate via a resistor called a gate bleed resistor. (a 10k should be fine). The reason this bleed resistor is required is that mosfets behave as a weak capacitor and store charge, without the resistor you may find that if you turn the light off that it wont come back on again because the stored residual voltage within the mosfet is not at 0 volts. i.e. the resistor protects the high current circuit from a failure to “open”.
As the meanwell drivers supply their own 10v of power for the dimmer circuit this makes it much simpler as there is no need to provide additional external power and all the extra wires and time that requires. All you need to do is use an Arduino digital PWM pin which will output a range between 0 and 5 volts and in doing so alter the resistance on the dimmer circuit.
In the end though the above is only a test circuit. In practice it’s probably going to be easier and more robust to get hold of a MOS module:
These can be had for about $3 a pop and will save you some wiring and stuffing around.
Edit…
Just wanted to add that in practice it would probably be wise to integrate an optocoupler into the circuit to protect your arduino and also this is probable not suitable as is for high current drivers…
15 Likes
Great explanation that even I can understand lol. Thanks!
6 Likes
So the spydr give away got me thinking, what strips do they use that makes them so expensive? Are they really that much better?
5 Likes
they make/build their own, but they do use usually top bin chips what specifically “301b” and or others i dont know of the top of my head, but that information is out there just not off there site.
3 Likes
They use the best available chips. I’ve not seen a Fluence test much lower than advertised. Most of their units fall into the 2.2-2.5umol/j range, while the best approximation I can get from the bridgelux strips usually falls in the 2.0-2.1 range at best. So the Fluence is definitely more efficient, but the price per watt is so much higher it would take a long time to pay that investment down.
6 Likes
Greengenes Garden talks bout the Fluence chips in a couple a his youtube channel tech talks. Think its top bin sammies n crees. No special sauce. Same fer the drivers.
Member that Fluence SPyder 2p is a big fixture 42 x 47 so the same large dims as nething youd build yerself. Problem is its 3-4x the price of yer own build.
Last gen Bridgelux EB2 is approx same eff. as last gen Sammy LM501c from all the gonio n sphere results I seen which is 5-7% lower than current gen top end. And Digikey got them EB2 4fters back in stock fer cheap rite now!
Compared to the Spyder 2p at $1300ish delivered, u can build yer own DIY 12x of 4ft EB2 3500k usin 6 each mounted on a 2x4 angle alum frame (every strip on its own angle alum cross piece for rigidity) each fixture usin 1 of the 2 outputs from the MW HLG-480-42ab. Total cost round $400 USD delivered all-in for 525w at the wall which is perfect fer a 4x4. Efficiency is 2.2 - 2.3 um/j range. Higher end if u use 240v electric.
12 Likes
So even if i found equivalent strips, some of the ones i saw were $40-50, recreating their light would cost about $1000. 18 one foot strips and driver, is it worth it? Thinking power savings, coverage, and yield between the lights.
3 Likes
For sure, there are strips out there that feature the 301b top bin chips so yeah definitely can recreate the technology at a lower cost.
With a pre-built unit you get the warranty and support, so that has to have some value.
5 Likes
No sir. Sammy 4ft lm301b strips cost u $20 per strip at digkey or bout $260 fer yer build. 600w Meanwell driver $170. Yer gonna want heatsinks but this profile aint too spendy. Add a couple far red strips fer $25.
Figure $700-800 delivered fer equal err greater efficiency equal wattage equal spectrum better canopy coverage build.
6 Likes
or just a frame around the edges of two baking sheets…
3 Likes
Could be tuff fer 4ft strips. Think its easier 2 use angle alum but whatev floats yer boats!
4 Likes
2020 extrusion works pretty nicely as heatsink too fyi also really easy to assemble join and connect…
5 Likes
2x sheets with 2ft strips
3 Likes
Let’s not forget with Fluence your buying more than just a light.
It’s completely plug n play.
It’s got a warranty.
It’s designed to be in damp environments.
The countless hours into R&D to bring us the best of the best.
9 Likes