Arduino controller

[eagle]

One thing I would like to add here. The arduino is the brain pretty much. It reads an input signal and send out output signals. The arduino itself can't drive a motor or led's etc. You either need a driver or "shield". They are called a shield because that's exactly what they do. Shield the arduino from the higher current. If you tried to drive a motor off a arduino it would just burn it up. So to drive a DC motor with PWM you need a motor driver/shield as pictured here.

The arduino just plugs right into the shield. As long as there aren't pin conflicts (shields that use the same pin) you can stack different shields. (Wifi, Xbee, Motor Driver, etc) Or you can use stand alone driver boards such as this one

Either way, your external power source (power supply) is run to the motor driver. The arduino sends the signal to the driver to tell it what to do. Turn on, Turn off, PWM etc. The motor controller protects the arduino from the higher voltages and amperage.

So there is a little bit more to it than simply hooking the arduino up to the motor etc... The good thing is most of the different driver boards are pretty cheap. I found my motor shields on ebay for 5 dollars a piece. I got my power supply for $11. You just need to research what you want to do. What voltage and amperage motor you are wanting to drive. etc. If looking to use multiple shields and stack them then you have to be aware of what pin those shilds use so you don't have any pin conflicts etc.

 

[eagle]

Depending on what you are wanting to do you can get pretty elaborate with stacking different shields. I bought a doublewide extender also from liquidware to minimize pin conflicts.

Doublewide

Examples of Stacking Shields. It all depends on how complex your project is.

 

[dorky]

That explain it thanks! Okay correct me if I'm wrong if I have a driver tht use 1-10v Dc tht mean I need to find a shield tht will convert analog into pwm single?

 

[dorky]

Can u show me pics of how ur led driver connect to the the shield or arduino

 

[rajkovich207]

Well I decided my makershed kit was a waste of money and returned it lol. Also I think building code from the ground up is a bit to daunting so I'm going with a reef angel and will hack it a bit from there

 

[dorky]

Well I decided my makershed kit was a waste of money and returned it lol. Also I think building code from the ground up is a bit to daunting so I'm going with a reef angel and will hack it a bit from there

you could do something like this which is awesome. ill do tht if i cant get my controller to work lol
[video=youtube_share;GUcX41pokZY]http://youtu.be/GUcX41pokZY[/video]

 

[vbsaltydog]

That explain it thanks! Okay correct me if I'm wrong if I have a driver tht use 1-10v Dc tht mean I need to find a shield tht will convert analog into pwm single?

No. The Arduino has a max output of 5vDC and has no analog outputs. You would need to convert the 0-5vDC PWM output to a 0-10vDC analog output by using a low pass filter to smooth the PWM signal to an analog signal and by using an OP amp to amplify the 5vDC output to 10vDC but there are no shields that do this currently so you will need to have one built by an electrical engineer (EE) which brings the cost up to that of an off-the-shelf commercial LED controller.

 

[eagle]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1987110

I'm not sure but I will look it up. I haven't got to looking at led drivers. But I have seen a lot of people are doing it. This is the first search i found on it. I know andrew at practical maker is running his via arduino. If you can pwm a dc motor from start to full throttle and back to off I dont see how dc led would be much different. I will look in a bit when i have my laptop available. On my phone now.

 

[eagle]

http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/analogWrite

 

[eagle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82OEK0vzIa8

[url]http://code.google.com/p/jarduino-aquarium-controller/

Jarduino Aquarium Controller - LEDs, Wave Maker, and MORE! - YouTube

[/URL]Definitely can be done.
I see what you're talking about now. You mean a driver that you buy with a led kit. From what I understand about it, and I may be wrong, i think it would be just like running a motor. I would think your shield would be the driver and take the place of the driver you get with the kits. The shield has power to it from a power supply (10 volt) and uses pwm to dim. PWM always has the same voltage it just turns the led on and off very fast to dim it. You will have to research this but I googled arduino aquarium led and there are tons of links.

 

[dorky]

This is the drivers tht I'm getting in couple of day n am told tht these are 1-10v analog not pwm so if I get the dc motor shield it should work?

 

[vbsaltydog]

I have not researched the motor shield but I do see that it is separately powered and allows output to 12vDC so this may work. Please post your results.

 

[dorky]

http://reefledlights.com/shop/hyperon-700ma-40watt-dimmable-driver/ forgot to post the link

 

[eagle]

I see that the new arduino Due has 2 digital to analog pins as well. So that may be something to look into.

 

[vbsaltydog]

Hyperon 700mA 40watt Dimmable Driver | Reef LED LightsReef LED Lights forgot to post the link

Why reference this? I thought we were discussing the meanwell 60-48D driver.

It does not specify whether it accepts the 0-10vDC input as PWM or analog.

 

[dorky]

I talk to the reefledlight they have the adaptor tht allow to make their driver compatible with apex or their dim box but would this work for what I need to do? http://reefledlights.com/shop/rj45-jack-apex-wired/

 

[vbsaltydog]

I talk to the reefledlight they have the adaptor tht allow to make their driver compatible with apex or their dim box but would this work for what I need to do? RJ45 Jack APEX Wired | Reef LED LightsReef LED Lights

You are asking a totally different question from this thread. You should start a new thread.

 

[eagle]

To do this with that driver, you would have to do what saltydog described earlier. You would have to smooth the digital output. Here is a link to the same question in another forum. analog out 0-10V With Arduino for lighting control - Arduino Forum

I tried to look and see if anyone sells a low pass filter and this is what came up [US$15.91] - DDS Signal Generator Module : BeepBee - Cute Gadgets at Right Price - Worldwide Free Shipping

I would have to look into this more. Hope this helps any.

 

[vbsaltydog]

I see that the new arduino Due has 2 digital to analog pins as well. So that may be something to look into.

This has a digital to analog converter (DAC) which solves the PWM issue but the operating voltage is 3.3vDC.
You will still need to up the 3.3vDC analog signal to the desired 0-10vDC before sending it to the meanwell.

 

[eagle]

yeah, after reading about the due a lot of people are ticked that they changed it from 5 volt to 3.3v. Especially since most all the available hardware out there is 5 volt signal. Here is a link to how to accomplish the voltage gain. arduino 0-10v ? - Do It Yourself - Nano-Reef.com Forums still think it would be easier to just drive a led from a digital pin via pwm/shield and power supply. Maybe I'm missing something with the pwm and led. But it would seem to me that you match the voltage/amperage per led string to a motor driver/power supply and control each string like it was a motor via digital pin and pwm.