Hello All,

Question about where in the circuit I should place this LED Controller in relation to this LED driver LED Driver ? I am powering the circuit with a 12vDC power supply and ultimately controlling an LED star capable of handling 700mA. I have tried the driver before and after the controller and both ways work for dimming the LED. Just trying to figure out from a electrical design standpoint if one way is "better" than the other. Ultimately, the CC driver must be used to limit the current going to the LED to 700mA. I can achieve full brightness with both configurations, however, a greater degree of dimming happens with the driver before the controller, but not by much. I'm just a tinkerer, and don't have any formal electronics training, so maybe someone who does could shed some light on which way is better and why. Many thanks, and have a great day!

 

OK, here is an engineering opinion from one who has not used that driver or that controller. Connect the driver to the ICs, as it is intended to control the operation, and the let the controller decide whichICs to drive.
THAT is based on the guessing that a "constant current driver IC" is intended to correctly bias the LEDs, while the "controllerIC" is intended to decide what LEDsilluminate.

 

I see the LED Controller PWM the power. The Driver also has that ability.

The LED driver has two options to reduce the brightness. (in most cases)
1) change the current
2) to drive full current but at a reduced duty cycle
3) You can do both to get more control.
I think your 12V power supply should drive the LED Driver and you are done.
In the below picture they are injecting a PWM signal into the driver. This is a common way to control the brightness.
Some types of white LEDs change color at low current. For them it is best to run them at high current but only partof the time (duty cycle)


I think you have is a 12V power that is on all the time.
Next you have the Controller that turns on/off the power to dim the LEDs. It has no ability to control the current. It appears to have a remote that looks like fun.
Lastly the Driver that sets the current and could control the duty cycle.

Probably you can find all the functions in one box.

 

The TLDR; Connect the “LED Driver” after “LED Controller” and directly to the LEDs.

I wrote this while the other two were posting. Anyway, a third Internet opinion. I saw the 700mA maximum current limiter as a protection for the LEDs that is inserted after the wireless PWM controller. Just some more free advice.

Just a quick look at your components:

1. The WiFi/BT receiver (your “LED Controller”) is in a family of ten remote-controlled electrical signal generators. I cannot find the exact internal electrical output specification, but a good guess is that it turns a transistor fully ON and OFF a thousand or so times per second. According to your transmitted commands, the transistor is mostly ON or mostly OFF, as commanded, in every millisecond cycle.

1. The LD3190SB Constant Current Controller (your “LED Driver”) is designed for connecting directly to the LED string. As long as you supply enough electricity to IN+/IN-, it will course 700mA from L+ to L-.

That large square component next to L- on the Driver is an inductor:

• If the Driver is connected through the Controller (that is, Driver then Controller then LEDs), it will raise its voltage and try to overwhelm the Controller’s output transistor every time that its transistor turns OFF (a thousand or so times every second). This is the purpose of a constant-current driver. Ultimately, this will shorten the Controller’s life. In general, one avoids interrupting the current in an inductor, if possible.

• If the Controller is connected through the Driver to the LEDs, then the Driver will shut off the current in the inductor in a controlled manner. The Driver is designed for doing this.

So, yeah, Controller, then Driver, then LEDs.

 

Wow! This community rocks! The members are so knowledgeable and helpful! I appreciate the thorough, detailed replies! I didn't mention that the main reason I am using the controller in the first place is because of it's bluetooth and wireless capabilities, which allow me to control the LED's with a phone app. As of yet, I have not been able to find a device that does everything I need it to in one package, hence the idea of combining the two. Thanks again for the help!