Dimming LED CAT 4101 drivers (5V) HELP !

[KevinK]

Ok, so i’m locking for away to dim my LED drivers

My drivers are build out ot CAT 4101 chips, and need a 5V PWM signal to dim.

problem is, everything I find is all 0 to 10V, not 0 to 5V


is there anyone that has CAT 4101 driver chips thy dim, and if so how do thy do it.

- Rapid LED had there own version to dim light, but again 0 to 10V, I mailed them, and thy say I might be able not to supply it with 10V but with 5V, but thy cant guarantee it, so for now I’m not ordering it, because I want to be 100$ shore it is going to work.

- some also suggest to have it dimed by a ARDUINO based unit, problem it the ARDUINO is a bit out of my knowledge,

any help ore suggestions ??

for your info:

the drivers are 3 boards, each holding 2 sets of 4 chips, 2 boards (4 sets, 16 chips in total) will be my white, and 1 board (2 sets, 8 chips) will be my blue

[KevinK]

no one?

[Cal_stir]

you could build a simple 2 resistor voltage divider for a 0-10v dimmer

google "voltage divider" or "op-amp voltage divider"

[chandigz]

0-10v and PWM dimming systems are totaly different. Basicly analog and digital. 0-10v dimming relies on the voltage stength where PWM dimming uses controled pulses to dim. Basicaly PWM the dimmer sends pulses to the driver flickers the led at different intervals. I don't believe it will work trying to use 0-10v type control at 0-5v.

[Cal_stir]

I have never tried it, but in theory it might work, if he had a 0-10v PWM and connected the output to a voltage divider, it should divide the voltage and the duty cycle should remain the same. since the width of the pulse determines the voltage where 10% = 1v and 100% = 10v with an amplitude of 10v then 10% = .5v and 100% = 5v if the amplitude is divided in half. of course load is a factor so some experimentation with resistor values would be required, i would start with 10k half watts and see what happens

[Bryan]

Use a simple 555 ic. Plenty of schematics out their on the web. Doesn't get any simplier than this one.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-and-dirty-Pulse-Width-Modulation-PWM-Wi/

[Cal_stir]

http://www.robotroom.com/PWM.html

here is a link i just found, really simple and outputs 25ma.
not sure how you could implement sunset/sunrise similation though

[chandigz]

I don't know if you found anything but check out boost led. They have a pre-assembled pre-programed ardiuno based unit.

[Lampshade]

I bought an arduino for dirt cheap off ebay and set it up as a full reef controller. If you pick one up i'd be able to help you get it going for lights no prob. lots of stuff on the web about doing it too.

check out:
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1279784011

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/133679-my-diy-cree-led-fixture-w.html