PWM -> 0-10/1-10 V, need to switch on/off live / phase to

[lukas.polivka 3]

Hello,

I was thinking of using U-S2A converter to convert signal from Fibaro RGBW controller (24 V 240 Hz PWM) to 0-10 V (or rather 1-10 V) to control "Osram QUICKTRONIC INTELLIGENT DIM CFL" ECG (Electronic Control Gear).

It appears that this ECG (Electronic Control Gear) needs to have the live (phase) 230 V switched off to turn the controller loads off completely, as the ECG only dims 3-100 % using 1-10 V signal. (Or perhaps the ECG is "smart" enought to switch off when the control voltage drops to 0 V?)

Is anyone familiar with any relay capable of staying "closed" when the Fibaro PWM output is at 1-100 % but "open" when the PWM output is off (0 %)? Or a relay which would stay "open" for ~0-0.9… V but "closed" when the voltage level is 1-10 V?

Or do you know about any alternative? (Unfortunately replacing the CFL lights does not seem to be an option.)

U-S2A:

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Osram:

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[ Added: 2014-10-10, 08:05 ]

An update: It seems that most likely this 1-10 V ECG is actually controlled by resistance (rheostat). I'm trying to get any contact in Osram to confirm this.

On 1-10 V vs. 0-10 V dimming (source:

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):

The lights you have will contain 1-10v ballasts which require a current sink to operate. (a resistor, or more usually an electronic control unit)

A typical lighting desk will be 0-10v and provides a variable voltage output (i.e. a current source).

And (source:

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):

There is also another system which first originated for fluorescent lights which is the 1-10V system. This is very different to 0-10V & they are not compatible! With the 1-10V system the lighting fixture supplies the voltage between the two terminals - when the terminals are open circuit the voltage will be 10V. The controller applies a 'resistance' between these to pull a current, the more current that is pulled, (ie. the lower the resistance) the more the voltage falls and the more the fixture dims.

Do you have any suggestion / alternative product which would be able to control such dimmer?

(I know, I know, the best solution would be to ditch the light fixtures completely and replace them with anything compatible with either FGD-211 or FGRGBWM-441 directly. But that's not very feasible at this time.)

[ Added: 2014-10-10, 10:36 ]

So I managed to get in touch with a person from Osram (Czech branch) - according to them it is indeed dimmable with variable resistance.

So I'd need PWM to variable resistance or leading-edge type dimmer to variable resistance convertor.

[JanJoh 1]

H(Or perhaps the ECG is "smart" enought to switch off when the control voltage drops to 0 V?)

So I'd need PWM to variable resistance or leading-edge type dimmer to variable resistance convertor.

No, it is not smart enough to turn itself off.

What I would do personally is to etiher build a passive PWM->R converter based on JFET, but that may be tricky to calibrate properly.

Else i would just drop an 32u4 into the equation and put a voltage divider over one analouge input to read the 0-10V from the Fibaro module and control the "master on/off" relay via that.

If you want to get fancy, one could use something like

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to get 0-10 -> voltage divider -> 32U4 -> AD5246 which gives you a controlled resistor.

But as the osram is 0-10 V capable, i would not bother with a resistor workaround.