0-10v dimmer for a Photontek X465 pro

Hello all.
Just bought my light for my first grow and am finding dialing it in with the provided 25% incremental dimmer, take out a light bar here and there a bit to difficult for this old stoner.
My light
Photontek does sell a beautiful control, but $500 is out of my range and needs.
Controller

I've been searching google, here, and good old yubtub. But can only find a cheap dial dimmers that would have to be spliced into existing lines, possibly voiding my 5 year warranty.
So here I post, to see if anyone has a plug and play dimmer that I can use without having to splice anything. My electrical skills are sub par, I don't trust what I can't see.

Thanks again, y'all have been great here with advice and knowledge

Burndoggin said:

Hello all.
Just bought my light for my first grow and am finding dialing it in with the provided 25% incremental dimmer, take out a light bar here and there a bit to difficult for this old stoner.
My light
Photontek does sell a beautiful control, but $500 is out of my range and needs.
Controller

I've been searching google, here, and good old yubtub. But can only find a cheap dial dimmers that would have to be spliced into existing lines, possibly voiding my 5 year warranty.
So here I post, to see if anyone has a plug and play dimmer that I can use without having to splice anything. My electrical skills are sub par, I don't trust what I can't see.

Thanks again, y'all have been great here with advice and knowledge

Click to expand...

You need a simple 0-10v dc dimmer.
You would have to remove the existing dimmer and wire a replacement, there's no way around that.

I'm curious why the discrete (25,50,75,100%) levels aren't suitable for your situation.
If you really, really, need more precise control over ppfd, simply raise or lower the light a few inches.

Billy the Mountain said:

You need a simple 0-10v dc dimmer.
You would have to remove the existing dimmer and wire a replacement, there's no way around that.

I'm curious why the discrete (25,50,75,100%) levels aren't suitable for your situation.
If you really, really, need more precise control over ppfd, simply raise or lower the light a few inches.

View attachment 5297434

Click to expand...

My other thread. Messed em up pretty good.
Just trying to not make the same mistakes. If I can avoid it.
Definitely learning more about the light and growing in general, just was looking for a cheaper alternative, if the Photon app is accurate enough I'll be using that to dial it in.
Thanks for the quick reply.

Burndoggin said:

Hello all.
Just bought my light for my first grow and am finding dialing it in with the provided 25% incremental dimmer, take out a light bar here and there a bit to difficult for this old stoner.
My light
Photontek does sell a beautiful control, but $500 is out of my range and needs.
Controller

I've been searching google, here, and good old yubtub. But can only find a cheap dial dimmers that would have to be spliced into existing lines, possibly voiding my 5 year warranty.
So here I post, to see if anyone has a plug and play dimmer that I can use without having to splice anything. My electrical skills are sub par, I don't trust what I can't see.

Thanks again, y'all have been great here with advice and knowledge

Click to expand...

The accuracy of all phone apps depends on the phone. iphones are better than many androids.

I use the UNI-T Bluetooth Lux meter with the PPFD meter app.


This should work for dimming.

Couple it to this cable with the splitter below. I think any phone cable splitter or coupler will work.

1212ham said:

The accuracy of all phone apps depends on the phone. iphones are better than many androids.

I use the UNI-T Bluetooth Lux meter with the PPFD meter app.

This should work for dimming.

Amazon.com

Couple it to this cable with the splitter below. I think any phone cable splitter or coupler will work.

LED Daisy Chain Cable RJ-12 | Daisy chain lights | Led grow lights

Use this Photontek RJ-12 LED daisy chain cable to convert RJ input signal to 0-10V output signal. | Led Lighting | Led Accessories

photontek-lighting.com

Amazon.com

Click to expand...

Great idea, thanks.
I can get that cable from my local hydro store... But can't find that type of dial dimmer on amazon.ca.
I can also get the extension cable... I could grab that and splice in the one
This or something similar
Thanks for the info
The RJ-12 control isn't available in Canada for what I've searched for. I'll ask around.

Burndoggin said:

Great idea, thanks.
I can get that cable from my local hydro store... But can't find that type of dial dimmer on amazon.ca.
I can also get the extension cable... I could grab that and splice in the one
This or something similar
Thanks for the info
The RJ-12 control isn't available in Canada for what I've searched for. I'll ask around.

Click to expand...

Burndoggin said:

Great idea, thanks.
I can get that cable from my local hydro store... But can't find that type of dial dimmer on amazon.ca.
I can also get the extension cable... I could grab that and splice in the one
This or something similar
Thanks for the info
The RJ-12 control isn't available in Canada for what I've searched for. I'll ask around.

Click to expand...

Its hard to say: the link doesnt give all details on the pot and we dont know anything about your driver. But looks like it may work, the missing info is how many Ohms the pot is, for a single standard Meanwell driver youd wanna use a 0-10V 100KOhm resistive pot.

Rocket Soul said:

Its hard to say: the link doesnt give all details on the pot and we dont know anything about your driver. But looks like it may work, the missing info is how many Ohms the pot is, for a single standard Meanwell driver youd wanna use a 0-10V 100KOhm resistive pot.

Click to expand...

on a 0-10v dimmer the pot can be any value as the circuit board converts the resistance value to a voltage. the pot just becomes the adjustment dial, you could use a 500k pot as long as the on board pcb scales 0 resistance to 0 volts and 500k resistance to 10v.
i think rapid leds old 0-10v dimmers used a 50k or 500k pot in them.

grotbags said:

on a 0-10v dimmer the pot can be any value as the circuit board converts the resistance value to a voltage. the pot just becomes the adjustment dial, you could use a 500k pot as long as the on board pcb scales 0 resistance to 0 volts and 500k resistance to 10v.
i think rapid leds old 0-10v dimmers used a 50k or 500k pot in them.

Click to expand...

Then whats this thing with changing the KOhms when youre using one dimmer for several drivers? Theres some formula or something. I cant quite remember, a bit rusty, lol but im sure you had to use a certain Kohm for one driver, another for 2 and 3.

There was an old thread where it was all spelt out but my memory is fuzzy

Rocket Soul said:

Then whats this thing with changing the KOhms when youre using one dimmer for several drivers? Theres some formula or something. I cant quite remember, a bit rusty, lol but im sure you had to use a certain Kohm for one driver, another for 2 and 3.

There was an old thread where it was all spelt out but my memory is fuzzy

Click to expand...

thats when you are just using purely resistive diming with a bare pot with no additional circuitry.
100k for one driver control, 50k for two, 33k for three ect.
most meanwells will do resistive or pwm or 0-10v (if they dim to off) or 1-10v (if they dont dim to off)..

Burndoggin said:

Great idea, thanks.
I can get that cable from my local hydro store... But can't find that type of dial dimmer on amazon.ca.
I can also get the extension cable... I could grab that and splice in the one
This or something similar
Thanks for the info
The RJ-12 control isn't available in Canada for what I've searched for. I'll ask around.

Click to expand...

Thats what I'd do, buy those and splice. I had looked for a plug in solution as you didn't want to splice. Either of those cables should work. Please let us know how it works out for you.

Rocket Soul said:

Its hard to say: the link doesnt give all details on the pot and we dont know anything about your driver. But looks like it may work, the missing info is how many Ohms the pot is, for a single standard Meanwell driver youd wanna use a 0-10V 100KOhm resistive pot.

Click to expand...

My bad, thought I'd linked a 0-10v dimmer. It could be that or a just a potentiometer.
BTW, no such thing as a 0-10v 100k ohm pot. A pot (potentiometer) is just a variable resistor specified by resistance and wattage.

I looked through your other thread and I'm not seeing where you messed up? Was expecting to see bleached and crispy plants based on this thread, but they're looking pretty healthy - I'm not sure you really need a dimmer beyond the 25% increments plus occasional height adjustments.
I found this on amazon .. not an endorsement but I'd probably try it myself if I needed one cheap https://www.amazon.com/VBR-C100-Controller-Timing-Sunrise-Temperature/dp/B0BGD81VX5/

groworm said:

I looked through your other thread and I'm not seeing where you messed up? Was expecting to see bleached and crispy plants based on this thread, but they're looking pretty healthy - I'm not sure you really need a dimmer beyond the 25% increments plus occasional height adjustments.
I found this on amazon .. not an endorsement but I'd probably try it myself if I needed one cheap https://www.amazon.com/VBR-C100-Controller-Timing-Sunrise-Temperature/dp/B0BGD81VX5/

Click to expand...

Thanks for the vote of confidence growmie

You guys get all the good stuff in the states.
Can't get that one in Canada, but will keep an eye out for something similar when I get the cable.

Burndoggin said:

Thanks for the vote of confidence growmie

You guys get all the good stuff in the states.
Can't get that one in Canada, but will keep an eye out for something similar when I get the cable.

Click to expand...

A couple cheap dimmers/controllers...