Dimmer switch for Meanwell HLG?

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RedeyeDragon

New Member
Finding myself a bit confused on exactly what kind of dimmer switch i need for Meanwell HLG 320H-C2800B Drivers. I would prefer to mount the switch to the unit rather than the wall.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
RedeyeDragon said:
Finding myself a bit confused on exactly what kind of dimmer switch i need for Meanwell HLG 320H-C2800B Drivers. I would prefer to mount the switch to the unit rather than the wall.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
The 'B' version driver has 2 dimming wires that come out of it. You simply run those 2 wires to a 100k ohm potentiometer (if you're using 1 driver) and add a 10k resistor so your dimming does not go below 10%. You can run those wires wherever you like so your dimming knob (the potentiometer) can me mounted anywhere you choose. Most people just grab a simple junction box or whatever from Homedepot and drill a hole to accommodate the potentiometer knob and hide the wire connections.
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
Just take the amount of drivers and divide by 100.
1 driver - 100k ohm
2 drivers - 50k ohm
3 drivers - 33k ohm
4 drivers - 25k ohm

And for your resistor just divide your pot ohm's by 10 to limit your dimming down to 10%.
100k ohm - 10k resistor
50k ohm - 5k resistor
etc.

Resistors don't need to be exact, you can use 4.7k or 5.3 or whatever is close. If you used a 10k resistor and a 50k ohm pot you'd have dimming down to 20%.
 
N

newguy41410

Well-Known Member
Danielson999 said:
Just take the amount of drivers and divide by 100.
1 driver - 100k ohm
2 drivers - 50k ohm
3 drivers - 33k ohm
4 drivers - 25k ohm

And for your resistor just divide your pot ohm's by 10 to limit your dimming down to 10%.
100k ohm - 10k resistor
50k ohm - 5k resistor
etc.

Resistors don't need to be exact, you can use 4.7k or 5.3 or whatever is close. If you used a 10k resistor and a 50k ohm pot you'd have dimming down to 20%.
Click to expand...
is it possible to wire multiple 'A' version drivers to dim using one pot??
 
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RedeyeDragon

New Member
I think im more confused now.

Why do i need a resistor? Don't I want it to go all the way to 0% so it shuts off, not 10%?

The variety of Pots seems endless, with all sort of other specs besides 50k ohms i have no idea what they are for...power rating, voltage rating.

An example of one that would suit my needs would be great, as well as why and how the resistor is wired in.
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
RedeyeDragon said:
I think im more confused now.

Why do i need a resistor? Don't I want it to go all the way to 0% so it shuts off, not 10%?

The variety of Pots seems endless, with all sort of other specs besides 50k ohms i have no idea what they are for...power rating, voltage rating.

An example of one that would suit my needs would be great, as well as why and how the resistor is wired in.
Click to expand...
Meanwell doesn't recommend dimming below 10% if I'm not mistaken. It causes flickering type issues. The light will shut on/off with a light timer, unless you're going to physically turn it on and off every day.

Your potentiometer will look like this. You connect the positive +wire from the driver dimming to the + on the pot. Then you connect the -wire from the driver dimming to one end of the resistor and connect the other end of the resistor to the - on the pot. Done. Put some type of sheath or shrinkwrap over it and you're good to go. Buy any typical 50k ohm pot like THIS, some have nicer knobs than the other. Add any approximately 5k resistor like THIS.

upload_2017-2-27_18-12-40.jpeg
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
Hi guys, my first post. Great forum!
You want a linear taper potentiometer (pot) rather than audio taper. Audio taper can work, it's just that it's progressive, not linear.
The only spec other than resistance that could matter is wattage, but I'm using a tinny trimmer pot that's probably 1/4 watt or less.
The reason for the 10k resistor in series is to make sure you can get to 100% power, many cheap pots are actually slightly less than their rated resistance.
Bottom line, any pot of the proper resistance should be fine.
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
Bigdaddy212 said:
any electronic pots around with digital display?
Click to expand...
You can get a pot with measurements on it like THIS.

Or you can get an Arduino and control as many aspects of your grow as you'd like. There are threads on Arduino's in RIU if you're interested in that.

I'm not sure about finding just a simple digital readout of your watts/volts etc other than the one's I've seen that are very expensive. Like $50-$100 or more for one.
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
Alot cheaper just getting a kill-a-watt type meter and hook it up once to your light and use a marker pen or small stickers to label your potentiometer at whatever intervals you desire. A kill-a-watt meter is pretty much a must-have device anyway.
 
Bigdaddy212

Bigdaddy212

Well-Known Member
Danielson999 said:
You can get a pot with measurements on it like THIS.

Or you can get an Arduino and control as many aspects of your grow as you'd like. There are threads on Arduino's in RIU if you're interested in that.

I'm not sure about finding just a simple digital readout of your watts/volts etc other than the one's I've seen that are very expensive. Like $50-$100 or more for one.
Click to expand...
The reason I ask is I am wanting to electronically dim up and down the lights like the controller can do for the Chilled lights and the gavitas controllers seems like somebody needs to make one for cob users
 
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