Hot-swappable panels, IPac/LEDWiz questions-

[saloonstudios]

Common sense tells me that plugging anything live into 5v is probably not a good idea, but I figured I'd ask anyway-

1: If I have detachable P3/P4 panels with LEDs in the buttons, can I plug in the LEDs while the LEDWiz is powered up?

2: Can I plug the buttons into the IPac while the IPac is running? If the answer is no to the Ipac thing then I'll leave the LEDs and buttons on the same cable and just power down to attach them, otherwise I'll leave the LEDs on a separate cable-

3: How does the PS3 attachment for the IPac work? Is is a dongle that plugs into the ps/2 on the ipac, then gives you a single male USB connection to connect the PS3? One USB cable for both players? Also, can you get 5v off of this USB for powering LEDs?

4: Where can I find some male/female molex (or IDE-type alternatives) connectors to make easily detachable dongles for all said connections? Newegg has IDE cables but for some reason they are way more expensive than I remember and I'd be open to any alternatives you guys may be aware of-

Thanks all-

[Gatt]

Good questions,  I'm working on something similiar myself,  and am a little worried about swapping out the panels.

Only one of your questions I can answer is 4,  Cat5 cables are an option,  that's what I'm going with.

[saloonstudios]

Yeah Cat5 could work for the external P3/P4 connections since there are only going to be 10 or so connections, but for the internals (I want to make all the buttons easily detachable from the IPac just in case I want to use them for an Xbox Hack or what-have-you) I found that I can use DB25's or these, boosh!

ATX Power Supply Extension Cable (20 pin Male - Female)