Need advice

[andrewbean90]

Is there a way to hook up an ipac 2 to an led wiz id like to use both one for pinball (led wiz hooked up to ipac) and a straight connection to an ipac for joysticks and buttons that are for beatem ups / fighters

[Gatt]

I'm kind of confused about what you're trying to do.  An LEDwiz just drives LED lights(Usually in buttons,  trackballs, or joysticks),  it's not any kind of input/output item.

An Ipac is as you describe.

So they're pretty much independent of each other,  though I guess you could trigger the lights based on keypresses,  but that'd be done all in software.

[andrewbean90]

i seen people use an ipac and ive seen people use led wiz seperately for led buttons but an ipac 2 does not use leds so i want to use leds for the pinball buttons when the keys are pressed

[Lilwolf]

But LEDwiz doesn't handle inputs.  Without the IPac, you could light up lights... but you couldn't tell when someone pressed them.

IPac converts button presses to keypresses.
LEDwiz lights up lights.

[Sjaak]

i seen people use an ipac and ive seen people use led wiz seperately for led buttons but an ipac 2 does not use leds so i want to use leds for the pinball buttons when the keys are pressed

So you want to light the button when someone presses the button?

[Franco B]

Not really sure what is being asked 

but if it helps.....

You can get  the [LED-Wiz+GP] which is a LED controller and encoder in one. However you are limited to 16 inputs (microswitches etc) and 16 outputs (16 single colour LEDs etc)

[andrewbean90]

actually i was mostly wondering if i really need an ipac if i get an ledwiz

[Franco B]

Okay, lets break this down.....

What project is this for? An arcade cabinet or a pinball table (or hybrid)?

How many push buttons and other microswitched based controls (microswitched joysticks, coin door etc) are you using?

How many buttons do you want to light?

[andrewbean90]

a hybrid 25 microswitched based controls including 2 joysticks and a coin door with 5 buttons lit

[Franco B]

Okay, just to clarify the amount of inputs.

How many buttons?

What joysticks are they?

How many entries does your coin door have?

[andrewbean90]

8 buttons per player and 2 joysticks one entry for the coin door 2 pinball buttons each side and a pinball button on the front pinballs are the only ones needed to be lit up

[Franco B]

Okay

8 buttons per player = 16

Coin door = 1 (You sure you are not using two?)

Pinball buttons = 5

Total 22?

Something doesn't add up.

ARe you using U360s for the joysticks?

[andrewbean90]

you for got the 2 joysticks (4 microswitches each) and a coin door 2 side as in 2 play coin door

[andrewbean90]

oh and im using the joysticks it came with (my old / current cab that is) it use to be a street fighter 2 cab

[Franco B]

Thanks, that's more like it.

Player Buttons = 16

Joystick micros = 8

Coin door micros = 2

Pinball buttons = 5

So in fact you need to connect 31 microswitches (not 25).

You will need a keyboard encoder such as the Ultimarc IPAC2 (up to 32 inputs) or one of Groovy Game Gears's Keywiz's.

Do you want to have your lit buttons to be lit permanently, or to be able to control them?

[andrewbean90]

i have an ipac2 already and was looking to control the lights and add the lights maybe with an led wiz some how hopefully utilizing an ipac2

[kronic24601]

I have an Ipac & Led-Wiz ... they are completely independent of each other ... you cannot lose one you need both.

Ipac converts your button key presses into keyboard strokes.

Led-Wiz just sends info to your lights (which aren't in ANYway connected to your button micro-switches).

If you want a program to recognize when a button is switched on, you could probably devise a complicated hardware method for this, but there is already a software platform out there to do this.

I don't remember what it is, but I know that it is not LED-Blinky ... but I think Arzoo (the creator of Led Blink) knows who created it.

[Franco B]

If you want to control your lights with software you will want a Pac Drive or LED Wiz.

I would recommend the LED Wiz as the Pac Drive can only turn LEDs on or off, you cannot vary the intensity etc.

If you just want them to flash when pressed you can get a smaller/cheaper PCB. I think Kaytrim made/makes them

You will still use your IPAC to encode the button presses. Anything you use to light the buttons is used in addition to it.

[andrewbean90]

so.... I do need an ipac and an led wiz for controls cuz i just want to control the led buttons when they are pressed??? i heard the led wiz is an keyboard encoder with an led programable in them thats just weird oh well at the end of the month my 100 us of ssd check is hopefully going to that

[kronic24601]

You heard wrong. The LED-Wiz is NOT a keyboard encoder in anyway.

Clarification: the LED-Wiz+GP is half/half solution. It supports 16 inputs for Keyboard encoder, and 16 Light inputs. The Basic LED-Wiz is 32 light inputs ...

Unless you only need 16 keyboard inputs then you would need both

[kronic24601]

double post

[andrewbean90]

thanks kronic and mr. b i have made an informed decision