On/Off functin for meanwell HLG style drivers using dimming and arduino

Gromax 3590B said:

Is the arduino even more stable than a raspberry pi?

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Technically speaking, yes... absolutely. An arduino is a much simpler piece of hardware with much less to go wrong.

An arduino is a micro controller. It runs one very small program written in C over and over again. Without additional hardware, it can not tell time, store data, or have any radio connectivity (wifi, Bluetooth). If you want to update the program it's running, you have to connect it to a real computer and reflash the onboard memory.

A raspberry pi is a full blown computer with a operating system, persistent storage, multiple languages, USB and HDMI ports... everything you're used to in a desktop.

It's an apples to oranges comparison. They both have practical applications. For my use case, I use a Pi.

Okay. I will use a arduino then. I do not want any (not even one) hickups in my expensive lightning system.

Gromax 3590B said:

Is the arduino even more stable than a raspberry pi?

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The arduino is better at running devices directly with 8 pwm pins, while the rpi3 has wifi and bluetooth for connectivity. They have software called Firma that allows rpi3 and arduino to work together. There is no better or worse, just what is best for the task at hand. Arduino are more cost effective for handling dedicated tasks, while the rpi3 is good ta automation controls. I am looking at using the rpi3 to manage multiple arduinos. right now I am looking at using openHAB for grow room automation using three variables veg, bloom and clone with fans, lights, and water controls for each, all under openHAB and rpi3 with9 relays to control 72 relays.

Arduino also has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity if you add a module (or get an Arduino with it built in)

The difference is mostly in performance. I use the Raspberry to run the website where I create the charts for the data logging. Although you also have Arduino boards with better performance and even ones with both an Arduino and Raspberry pi type processor on the same board.

Also the Arduino is a single process computer. It just runs one program and you have full control over the processor. This makes it much easier to do time sensitive things.

I've never had problems with the Raspberry pi freezing. I did have problems with one of my Arduino's freezing, but that was caused by a bug in the I2C library in combination with an I2C chip that wasn't always performing perfectly. I fixed the library and I have never had a freeze since (now a year and a half ago).

Dank je (Thank u) Wietefras.

VegasWinner said:

A little update:
I revised the case and removed the front legs and now it is a cube. see. B ut wait there is more. I have been working on an automation lighting system using openHab. Here are some screen shots. enjoy.

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Holy smokes, that is an even more beautiful controller with the clear case. I am a proud owner of a (black case) GrowGreen-----and let me tell you, the GG is hella slick, yo!

What about the "grow greener" and the "grow even more green"? You guys build some nice things and get me inspired.

miggaman said:

Holy smokes, that is an even more beautiful controller with the clear case. I am a proud owner of a (black case) GrowGreen-----and let me tell you, the GG is hella slick, yo!

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Thanks. I know you are in good hands. I use the clear acrylic to see assembly issues. Never thought of a clear GG.

Love this and was looking into "other" controllers and automation setups. The expense or the knowledge to wrap my head around programming kept me away. I would like a simple soulution to :

Time light schedule
Monitor temp and humidity
Set power to light via mean well driver
Do this remotely both in and around the house but while away also.

Subbed and thank you for this VW ! Very interested, I have a fabricating background but programming I hit a brick wall.

ChaosHunter said:

Love this and was looking into "other" controllers and automation setups. The expense or the knowledge to wrap my head around programming kept me away. I would like a simple soulution to :

Time light schedule
Monitor temp and humidity
Set power to light via mean well driver
Do this remotely both in and around the house but while away also.

Subbed and thank you for this VW ! Very interested, I have a fabricating background but programming I hit a brick wall.

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The GrowGreen does everything you just stated in 8 channels. it monitors temperature but not humidity. It controls both dimming and on/off for both style of MW drivers. It is dependable and reliable , but must be directly connected to system for control. You have to go look at it for updates, but no surprises. channel values and time are stored in permanent memory, schedule upon request, I am looking into a complete automation system on an other thread.

I have been getting emails about resetting the default settings. I had restricted access to the flash memory because repeated reading and writting wears out the chip. But since there is such a demand i removed the restriction and the user can reset the defaults as needed. If you want a software update email me I will send you the binary file to load on the controllet using xload.com and I will send you a cable to plug into the controllet and the usb port.

I have been testing with a couple of my units and it works well. I would recommend changing defaults less than 20 times

One of the anomalies I have noticed in all arduino based led controllers is repeated changes to the schedule seems to cause a failure in the program memory requiring a reboot.
I have a hurricane controller two stormx controllers and all failed the same way. I am running the GrowGreen now but my schedule is really unchanging. When power goes out everything is just how I left it. I was hoping doing the same for others was enough. I don't change it. So if you change your schedule be thoughtful no matter what controller you are using.

Probably you already know this as the RIU automation specialist but maybe not

The raspberry is famous for corrupting of sd cards. Use the sd card only for booting and use a USB stick/drive for the read/write operations. Also make sure the the pi shuts down properly and provide enough current to the pi.

Don't pull the plug of the raspberry when not shut down properly. There is a change of corruption when the citys power blacks out.

I love raspberry but it is not stable enough to use in a project that has to run for 3 months with absolute no problems. My opinion only.

Banana pi have sata connectors but is a bit more expensive and maybe more stable.

VegasWinner said:

One of the anomalies I have noticed in all arduino based led controllers is repeated changes to the schedule seems to cause a failure in the program memory requiring a reboot.
I have a hurricane controller two stormx controllers and all failed the same way. I am running the GrowGreen now but my schedule is really unchanging. When power goes out everything is just how I left it. I was hoping doing the same for others was enough. I don't change it. So if you change your schedule be thoughtful no matter what controller you are using.

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What arduino are u using? The arduino pro mini 3.3V works with 8Mhz instead of 16Mhz for the 5V arduino and may be more stable. It is easier to use with the raspberry because there is no need for level shifting between 5V and 3.3V.

Gromax 3590B said:

Probably you already know this as the RIU automation specialist but maybe not

The raspberry is famous for corrupting of sd cards. Use the sd card only for booting and use a USB stick/drive for the read/write operations. Also make sure the the pi shuts down properly and provide enough current to the pi.

Don't pull the plug of the raspberry when not shut down properly. There is a change of corruption when the citys power blacks out.

I love raspberry but it is not stable enough to use in a project that has to run for 3 months with absolute no problems. My opinion only.

Banana pi have sata connectors but is a bit more expensive and maybe more stable.

Click to expand...

I have a few corrupted sd cards. I use a 1TB hdd on mt rpi3 thru the USB port. I am hoping to get the good sata cable for the bpi, I have a 250GB hdd on that one. the bpi is not as bad on sd cards, but they all suck. I run my test work on a pc with openhab on it and I test until I am ready to download to the rpi3 and do hard testing. That allows me to run thru various scenarios and test different approaches and see what works best quickly. You can run openhab on a pc but there are no real inputs and outputs like switches and sensors. I have all that connected to the rpi3 and just run headless and copy and paste from text editor to nano. easier for work flow.

The aquarium controllers are famous for the blue screen. Wake up to no status and have to reset the controller. After two of those sessions, I decided I could build a better controller. I went thru the code of both hurircane and typhon, I have both and they both have serious short comings. A lack of channel controls, poor interface, too many buttons r not enough channel controls. pick one. I have a box of coralux and stevesleds controllers. All failed after maybe six months. I guess fish don's complain about no sunrise or sunset or lights on lights out, routine. I feel for folks buying those other controllers and learning the hard way like me.

The reason i was restricting access to eeprom is to stabilize and increase the life of the GrowGreen controller. Arduino recommends to access writing to eeprom an average of 20 times in the life of the unit that is sensitive. I left out the 20 times and locked out routine, no need to restrict folks if they understand the consequences. My schedules have not changed for years. When I switched from HPS to LEDs it switched, I could have lights on in the daytime and work in teh garden in the daytime. lovely. Otherwise schedules do not change as plants ar finicky about their schedules, hence GrowGreen. namaste

Gromax 3590B said:

What arduino are u using? The arduino pro mini 3.3V works with 8Mhz instead of 16Mhz for the 5V arduino and may be more stable. It is easier to use with the raspberry because there is no need for level shifting between 5V and 3.3V.

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I use an Uno for the controller. . For serial gateways, I use minis and micros and custom breadboards with 5v power supply. I like the mini too, but I am thinking about with the automation I may just go with direct gio pins for input and output. I figure three dft22's one co2 sensor and 9 control outputs to drive nine relay boards for lights, water, and fans.

I was watching the @Growmau5 video about the new canopy13UV and it was eye opening for me

Growmau5 shows a cxb3590, 36v running on a LDD1050 meanwell driver. that got me to thinking.

With the following:
a meanwell SE-450-36 power supply ->http://www.onlinecomponents.com/mea...DAC802F-9AB7-4858-B147-F3434D67374CcsF6xHtb5l $62
8-LDD1500 meanwell drivers at $5/ each ->http://www.ledsupply.com/led-driver...ep-down-mode?gclid=CIrSvoSM1NECFQEIaQodB1UKqA
2-LDD4UP boards -> http://www.rapidled.com/ldd-h-4-driver-board/ @ $15/ea $30 total
1- GrowGreen Led Controller
namaste

and you have a completely dimmable system with no HLG drivers at all and everything is dimmable under 5v pwm signals for on/off and dimming

What would be the point of that?

You also need to keep in mind the efficiency drop of a AC/DC(SE-450-36)->DC/DC(LDD-1000H) vs a HLG Driver. I ran into this on my EB Series build.

The SE-450-36 is 88% x LDD-1000H 97% (~85%) vs. a HLG Driver of ~94%. You do get the easily implemented PWM digital control (and some initial cost savings), but at a tradeoff for efficiency. Per growmau5 video you can wire up a 5v->10V booster for your PWM signal coming out of the Arduino for HLG B series.

Arduino is kind of a clumsy way to make use of ucontrollers. If you're learning coding in arduino you might want to go into learning some assembly or even higher level and finding a nice compiler?