mrg02d
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello all,
I have a design in the works for some constant current controllers for driving leds and laser diodes (or anything that needs a constant current source).
I had built some controllers for high power laser diodes and thought about modifying the design to work with led strings for reef lights.
Here is how they work:
They used an op-amp and power mosfet to control the current through a string of leds (or laser diode) via a current sense resistor and a presicion voltage reference. A trimpot (or nice high end potentiometer) adjusts the current from zero to max.
The boards will be built using ExpressPcb and I will solder on the parts and test, ect. Bare boards will also be available for those that want to do the job and save the cash.
I am looking over parts right now and will be ordering a few to test before offering them for sale. I am also looking into making them work with arduino boards (or anything that can put out an analog or PWM signal for dimming).
Basically you connect the driver to a clean PSU and then connect the led string. A turn of the trimpot will cause the current to go up and thus the led brightness.
This is not PWM dimming, but can still be efficient if you take care when choosing a PSU. (Higher voltages will cause more heat dissipation).
Ive been using this design to control 40W laser diodes. (Thats 40W of light output!). Ive also been selling them on ebay for some time, but am changing things up to make them easier to use/put together.
As of right now, there will be two channels. You can use one for whites, the other for blues, or connect however you want. A separate 5v source will be available for a moonlight or another white led for refugium, ect.
Cost will depend on the number of channels and whether you want to control 1A or 40A.
(Cost of parts go up). If you just want one channel, that also saves you money. (less parts).
These arent as cheap as the buckpuk type stuff, but can run some 14 or more leds in one string (per channel).
Right now I am just checking out whos interested and what they would like to see in one of these. They are highly customizable (is that a word?).
Thanks!
Matt
I have a design in the works for some constant current controllers for driving leds and laser diodes (or anything that needs a constant current source).
I had built some controllers for high power laser diodes and thought about modifying the design to work with led strings for reef lights.
Here is how they work:
They used an op-amp and power mosfet to control the current through a string of leds (or laser diode) via a current sense resistor and a presicion voltage reference. A trimpot (or nice high end potentiometer) adjusts the current from zero to max.
The boards will be built using ExpressPcb and I will solder on the parts and test, ect. Bare boards will also be available for those that want to do the job and save the cash.
I am looking over parts right now and will be ordering a few to test before offering them for sale. I am also looking into making them work with arduino boards (or anything that can put out an analog or PWM signal for dimming).
Basically you connect the driver to a clean PSU and then connect the led string. A turn of the trimpot will cause the current to go up and thus the led brightness.
This is not PWM dimming, but can still be efficient if you take care when choosing a PSU. (Higher voltages will cause more heat dissipation).
Ive been using this design to control 40W laser diodes. (Thats 40W of light output!). Ive also been selling them on ebay for some time, but am changing things up to make them easier to use/put together.
As of right now, there will be two channels. You can use one for whites, the other for blues, or connect however you want. A separate 5v source will be available for a moonlight or another white led for refugium, ect.
Cost will depend on the number of channels and whether you want to control 1A or 40A.
(Cost of parts go up). If you just want one channel, that also saves you money. (less parts).These arent as cheap as the buckpuk type stuff, but can run some 14 or more leds in one string (per channel).
Right now I am just checking out whos interested and what they would like to see in one of these. They are highly customizable (is that a word?).
Thanks!
Matt
