16 Channel LED Signal Converter PCB

[Steve S]

Good question Matt,
I'd like to know how they connect too.
I'm curious how the MarsAqua work out with the R-T. I bought a pair as a temporary light source until I finished my 3rd gen custom design. For the money, they do a descent job.  I didn't want to hack into them until I have my new lights running.  I would like to do the same hack as you describe to have as back up lights. Have you looked at their circuitry past the dimming pots? Do you think you can break them into more than just the two channels??
Please let us know how they work out for you.

[Rob F]

Hi Matt, yes it sounds like you have it correct, the ground will need to go from the power bar to the converter and then to the driver. You do need to add 12v DC to the converter board, this powers up the IC's on the board. If you have a volt meter place the positive probe on the channel out pin on the converter board, you should have 10v when the slider for that channel on the display is set to full. As you move the slider down the voltage should drop till it hits 0.

[rott]

I am finally all caught up at work and will be making a video of using mars aqua and how it all comes apart and taking the covers off the drivers so you can get a good look a the inside. If any one burns out the drivers they can be replaced for 15$ + $3 S/H

[zfreak_1125]

So turns out that not all of the clones of the MarsAqua use the same driver requiring a 0-10v analog signal to dim the driver. The lights I bought use a different dimming circuit and wouldn't dim with 0-10v analog. So tried a 0-10v PWM signal and voila it worked. The LEDs drop out earlier on the slider than I would prefer so think I'm gonna try a 0-5v PWM signal tomorrow and see what I get, but if it's still the same I can at least get some dimming now. Here's the lights I bought...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-180W-LED-Aqua...5731.m3795

But to answer the wiring question above, it is exactly like Rob stated above...run 12V and GND from power supply to the converter board, solder a wire to the GND Signal spot on the converter and run that into the LED ground pins on the connector board, run the positive of the dimmer plug to the converter channel pin and the negative of the dimmer to the converter ground connection. Turn it on and you'll be golden. I'll take some pictures tomorrow of my lights, the dimmers, and the wiring once I clean it up a little and post them to help clarify.

Thanks again Rob for the awesome product and great customer support.

Matt

[Rob F]

Hey Matt, glad to hear you got it figured out. At what level on the slider does it turn off? Check the voltage on the dimming wire going to the driver, you should have 10v when the slider is max and 0v when its off. As I understand it not all drivers dim to 0, its possible the driver shuts off even when 1v is going into the dimming wire. If that's the case and you want better dimming you could swap the drivers for Meanwell LDD style drivers, those dim very low. I don't think going to 5v signal will do it, that should affect the high end. Since the driver didn't blow up with 10v it's probably a 10v driver, using 5v you wouldn't get full brightness. That would be like having the slider set to 2047 using the 10v signal, when its set there the 10v signal should be at 5v.

[zfreak_1125]

Rob,

Driver drops out at around .9v (1100ish on the slider). Makes sense on the 5v signal...try it to see what happens.

Dims really smoothly all the way until cutout, so not going to worry too much about it right now. Might switch over to Meanwells at a later date. Thanks

matt

[rott]

this is how I have it set on mine I have more pics for closer up views I have not used it yet if you see any problems post here
on the right side you see red and black wires going to the right side power supply and driver I tapped in the psu and have 12v going to the board you will see the white plug on the bottom on mine I put the black mark to show the hot side I did this on both and used a jumper to short them out to make them come on soon as power is applied

on the right green is dim+ and blue is dim-
on the left blue is dim+ and purple is dim-
brown is on signal gnd I had that going back to ground of driver in the light witch is also grounded to the PSU so I think it should work (untested a the point).

[Rob F]

Hi Rott, that picture doesn't help much, can't see where the wires go? The screw terminals on the converter connect to the driver dimming wire and the header pins on the other side go to the controller LED outputs. Then connect 12v DC to the converter board and it should work.

[Rob F]

Here's a diagram showing how to wire it. The only wire you need to touch in the light is the dimming wire. Instead of going to their dimming pot you want to put it on the output of the converter board. You can power the board using any 12v source, if you have 12v always available in your light you can use it. If you run the 12v from the controller you only need one ground wire. Make sure the Output to the Light LED driver is set to the matching signal type using the jumpers on the converter board.