led dimmer

[Wp100]

Hi,

A young friend came over asking if I could make his 14w Aquarium LED lighting unit dimmable.

Its small ( just 50mm long) control unit has a simple looking circuit board with a small smd ic , that I cannot make out any markings , but would assume its some type of led driver ?

The voltage going to the led Array is 110v DC but because of its construction was not able to examine it any further without risking damage.

Not sure if reducing the 110v would dim the leds , but also not too sure what would be best to regulate such a high voltage, a mosfet fed from a 555 variable pwm ?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

It depends greatly on the design of the existing driver, if it's regulated you can't dim it externally, as the regulator will simply turn it back up - until it's gets too low, then it won't work at all, or might flash on and off.

 

[Wp100]

Thanks Nigel, as mentioned we cannot make out what the little smd chip is, so probably wiser to leave well alone !