Hack a mean well led driver to show charging status ?

Hello,

Is there any way to hack a mean well led driver to show a simple status led (red - charging, green - done) ? Love the mean well reliability and efficiency, but I could use the indicator, to know when I can plug out the charger, and charge another battery...

Thank you for your time,

Just add a Voltmeter;

If the MW has a shunt, you can put a pair of wires from the shunt to a transistor or op-amp circuit that switches at a certain voltage from the wires (corresponding to when current drops below a certain level).

The output of the transistor or op-amp then drives an LED; if you use a red/green 3-pin LED, common cathode or anode, then wire the green permanently on, and the red driven by the output. Then when the charging is done, it goes from yellow to green. Or make a second, logically-flipped, output from the setup, and wire the green to one and the red to the other. Might be other ways to simplify that.



Alternately make an LED that turns on/off once a specific voltage is reached, but this doesnt' necessarily show that charging is complete, if sufficient current is still flowing.


I just look at the Cycle Analyst's current/wattage display page (as I charge thru it's shunt), and when it's dropped below a certain current, I call it done.

motomech said:

Just add a Voltmeter;

Click to expand...

Thank you for your replies. The voltmeter is actually so obvious that I feel rather dumb for even asking in the first place. When one is stuck with an idea, one often forgets there might be a much simpler way to do it. Any link to a cheap reliable voltmeter ? Not sure I would trust a $1 aliexpress device.

amberwolf said:

If the MW has a shunt, you can put a pair of wires from the shunt to a transistor or op-amp circuit that switches at a certain voltage from the wires (corresponding to when current drops below a certain level).

Click to expand...

Model is mean well CLG-150-48A. Not sure what you mean with "shunt".
That option with a transistor / logical link seems very intriguing, especially if I could wire the 2 bicycles in parallel, and add a simple circuit that switches from one battery to the next, once the first one is fully charged. Any idea where I could find such a switch ? Otherwise, I'll have to do it myself - and learn some more about the use of transistors