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I have a question about the dimming of Led drivers. I have a lot of LED drivers which can use pulse dimming or 1-10V dimming. One problem I have is that I realized too late that by using pulse dimming, the drivers could be going out of sync. I do already have installed my pulse-dim buttons and I also already installed the drivers.

I would like to use 1-10V to control the dimming as the drivers will stay in sync. But now I have to find a way to convert from a button to 1-10V without losing the dimming functionality of the button. I don't want to try and design a circuit myself to fix this, but rather find a module that does this exact thing for me. Does such a module exist?

Note: I have searched a lot already myself on google, but untill now I have not been able to find the right module.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I know you know exactly what you want. But reading, I'm sure your concrete and clear internal thoughts weren't received in my mind with similar clarity. Are you looking for a module that will take your existing PWM outputs and then convert this into 1-10 V outputs? Or do you expect to add libraries and/or write code? It sounds to me (you are "shopping" for a "module to do that thing") as though you already have PWM buttons, feel stuck keeping them, and just want a "PWM-in makes 1-10 V-out" magic module. Did I misunderstand you? This, but different, yes? \$\endgroup\$
    – jonk
    Sep 3, 2020 at 5:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ what is meant by "out of sync"? How's it a problem? \$\endgroup\$
    – dandavis
    Sep 3, 2020 at 6:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ @jonk Thanks for replying! I have found a module that does exactly what I need after a day long search haha! This is the module I found. It takes a button as an input and converts it to a 1-10V signal to control the drivers. niko.eu/en/article/05-711 \$\endgroup\$
    – Ciaran Lichtenberg
    Sep 4, 2020 at 7:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ @dandavis I have solved my problem luckily. The problem is that if every driver is connected to the same button, eventually the drivers get out-of-sync as one driver might pick up the button press earlier and some later. The drivers I have do really have this problem as I have tested it myself. Soms drivers will turn on the way I expect it and some drivers won't even turn on. It seems to be a problem of these specific drivers... \$\endgroup\$
    – Ciaran Lichtenberg
    Sep 4, 2020 at 7:10

2 Answers 2

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Typical LED drivers have no way of staying in sync. Each device's driver will have a free-running oscillator to control the PWM.

enter image description here

Figure 1. Input circuitry of some Mean Well LED PSUs. Image source: LEDnique.

This circuit can be driven by a potentiometer, a 0 - 10 V (or 1 - 10 V) source or a PWM signal but the end result is always the same: an analog voltage reaches the IN control pin. See my linked article for more detail.

Maybe you have a different kind of driver but it's not clear from the question.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the reply! I have solved the problem :) I want the drivers to be controlled by 1-10V. But the only thing I had was a button basically. I just needed a module which would convert the button press to a on/off/dimming 1-10V signal. The module below does the job! niko.eu/en/article/05-711 \$\endgroup\$
    – Ciaran Lichtenberg
    Sep 4, 2020 at 7:12
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I have solved my problem by using the following module from niko.

https://www.niko.eu/en/article/05-711

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Your "I would like to use 1-10V to control the dimming as the drivers will stay in sync" requirement threw several of us off track. When you used the word "sync" in the context of "pulse dimming" most readers would assume that you wanted to synchronise the PWM signals hence the comments requesting clarification on that point. If you had clarified that you were trying to keep the lighting level in sync across multiple channels it might have been clearer. Also adding datasheet links to the drivers would have been a big help and is usually a minimum requirement of a question like this. \$\endgroup\$
    – Transistor
    Sep 5, 2020 at 9:07

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