MeanWell LED Drivers: 3 in 1 Dimming Function.

JavaCo

Well-Known Member

sixstring2112

Well-Known Member
Hi to all, sorry for my englisj. I' m in a trouble with my potentiometer on a HLG-240H-C1400B.
I have read all the 3d and i took lots of useful informations but I'm still confused..
Because I need to drive 5 COBs( CLU 048 1212) wire in series at 1.4A, i need of 36.7V for each cob(183.5V) i need ALL the courrent the driver can do, so an open circuit.
In another 3d a RIU user sugegsted me to put a swith to cutt off the dimmer to have an opern circuit and some extra VOLTS (182v instead of 179v whit potentiometer at 100%)
I decided to buy a potentiometer with integrate switch.
Here the link of potentiometer with datasheet
http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=P170S-FC20BR10K
here the link for resistor
http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=od103je

Are those component right for my lamp?

i put also a little scheme postproducing on my own a scheme from datasheet trying explain better my issues.

Hoping in a your answer, best regards.
it seems you got a 10k pot instead of a 100k pot like this one http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/tt-electronics-bi/P170S-FC15BR100K/987-1317-ND/2408894

you need 100k for dimming just 1 driver.i like that pot you found if we can get someone with knowledge to tell us how to wire it.also the resistor is just so you can dim down to zero i believe so not totally needed in every application.
 

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
My bad was focused on the switch and didnt notice it was a 10K pot. You for sure need the 100K pot.
 

rocho

Well-Known Member
WTF, i need to buy another one!!
So resistor is fine but potentiometer not( i was sure to have check properly before buy it and that was 100k :(
JavaCo while you was sending me your picture i was making that.... comparing it to your I would that mine was wrong!
 

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JavaCo

Well-Known Member
WTF, i need to buy another one!!
So resistor is fine but potentiometer not( i was sure to have check properly before buy it and that was 100k :(
JavaCo while you was sending me your picture i was making that....is it right(with a right potentiometer)?
yes that is correct.
 

UniversZero

Active Member
Hey, I was hoping someone here has experience with it can weigh in on the capabilities of that dimmer that Kingbrite sells. It's called ZK-link and comes with a remote, and runs about $14. Jerry informs me that it can run multiple drivers, and assured me that it will run the 6 hlg-185h 1400b units I purchased from him to run the 24 cxb 3590s on the same order. It came with no instructions or paperwork of any kind. Poking around the meanwell site, they recommend a certain model of Lumtek and an additional power pack module to run multiple drivers... All of which is substantially more expensive that Jerry's dimmer. So naturally, I'm skeptical...And very apprehensive of wiring this thing into the $1700 worth of stuff I just got. Any direct experience and advice/instructions would be greatly appreciated. Below is the wiring schematic of the ZK-link:
 

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VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
Hey, I was hoping someone here has experience with it can weigh in on the capabilities of that dimmer that Kingbrite sells. It's called ZK-link and comes with a remote, and runs about $14. Jerry informs me that it can run multiple drivers, and assured me that it will run the 6 hlg-185h 1400b units I purchased from him to run the 24 cxb 3590s on the same order. It came with no instructions or paperwork of any kind. Poking around the meanwell site, they recommend a certain model of Lumtek and an additional power pack module to run multiple drivers... All of which is substantially more expensive that Jerry's dimmer. So naturally, I'm skeptical...And very apprehensive of wiring this thing into the $1700 worth of stuff I just got. Any direct experience and advice/instructions would be greatly appreciated. Below is the wiring schematic of the ZK-link:
It looks like a simple 1-10v dimming circuit. It should work fine, and cause no real problems for your system. It takes the signal from the driver both AC and dc and converts it to a 10v pwm signal. it looks to be an esp product. it should work fine. it has a dial on the front and an app too. Instead of plugging the power into your driver you plug the power into the dimmer and it runs the driver directly.
 

UniversZero

Active Member
OK, so to clarify, I don't need to wire any resistors into anything, right? Would the easiest method of wiring the AC lines and dimming leads into the dimmer be something like a couple of terminal blocks?
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
@UniversZero Yes, just wire it up as shown in that schematic. Just use the terminals that are inside the dimmer.

:edit: A friend of mine got this dimmer from Kingbrite and they sold him one dimmer per driver. Could also be a sales trick of course, but it only outputs 20mA so it's not very powerful. I wonder if it can run all 6 from one dimmer. Either way, odd that they changed their story on this. Although he was e-mailing with "Vicky".

BTW That's not a PWM device as VegasWinner guesses, but it outputs a voltage between 1V and 10V for 10% to 100% dimming. With a relay to switch the power on and off. It does not look like an ESP product either.
 
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UniversZero

Active Member
@wietefras,

That's somewhat distressing about your friends sales experience...I tried to amend my order to include more dimmers before finalizing the final invoice, but Jerry actually told me that I wouldn't need additional ones, as the one I ordered was enough.

What I'm referring to when I say terminal blocks, is combining all the leads from the drivers onto one terminal block and having one set of leads coming out the other end and into the dimmer. How is this usually done? I'm competent on a basic level with electrical wiring, but I'm a tad lost when it comes to electronics.
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
Yeah, like I said, it's strange they changed the story. I would hope it's based on insights after he tested this.

I doubt it something that would damage the drivers, but perhaps it might break the dimmer. In that case I would expect Jerry to replace the dimmer since it was his advice.

Indeed after I posted I saw that you were planning on using multiple drivers on a dimmer. Indeed you would need extra Wago's or other terminal blocks. I like the Wago connectors myself. You can use those to interconnect all wires and then have one going to the dimmer. Although I think Wago's are limited to 5 terminals. So you'd need a few per "wire".
 

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
Meanwell states that it should use this formula: 100Kohm/ number of drivers(8 in your example) so it should come to 12.5Kohm.
I think that you could use a 10K pot and wire in a 2k resistor in series to approximate the value.
 

UniversZero

Active Member
Quick question... And I thought I had come across the answer sometime back when I didn't have the question, but now for the life of me can't find it.... If your using the B series drivers and are not currently using the dimming function, what do you do with the dim leads? Or do they have to be wired to a controller of some sort?
 

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
When the + & - dim wires have very high resistance value, the driver interprets that as a command to go to 100% output. The B drivers don't have an internal adjustment pot like the A model so you have to use an external dimming command to reduce power-the A models can be set to run at a lower output with the internal pot.
 

UniversZero

Active Member
Well, I'm a little stumped here. I've wired up a module consisting of (4) 36v cobs to a b series hlg185 1400, in series, wired correctly, and nothing is happening when I plug it in. The dimming leads are currently taped off. I've tried all six of my new drivers to this module, all failing to light this thing up.

I've successfully built two other units last year, that were 72v cobs mated to the A series 700ms version of the above listed driver, and they work fine. So either I have some faulty cob(s), six faulty drivers, or Im doing something wrong with the dim leads. The only other difference is that I'm using 221 clamping wagos instead of the push connectors I used on the last units. Any clues as to what might be going on here?
 

UniversZero

Active Member
NM, figured it out. One of the holder contacts was ever so slightly the cob contact. Sheesh, forgot how precise those things need to be tightened down.
 
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