How do you illuminate your balls?

[ahofle]

I have a Happ Controls translucent trackball that I want to illuminate from under the control panel.  What is the preferred method to accomplish this?  LEDs?  Bulbs?  What about wiring and power, etc?  Is a mirrored reflector (like in a flashlight) necessary?

Thx,
Andy

[JustMichael]

Got to love that title...  
I prefer LEDs.  I have heard the ball gets warm after a while with the bulbs.

[shmokes]

I usually have a string of christmas lights running through my pants.  When I'm feeling saucy I but in a blinking bulb.

[nighthawk2099]

   -  ROFLMAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

" 50,000 volts.... !!! WHAT A CHARGE !!!... "

sorry...

 I hear LED are best.

[shumph]

best title ever!


and led lighting is best choice

[EggZilla]

I would definitely recommend LED. It's quick, easy, cheap, lasts forever, and most importantly of all, burns cool so your ball doesn't absorb heat and expand out of shape at all.

Personally, I went here

http://www.svcompucycle.com/ledlicl13or4.html

 and spent a whopping two dollars on the blue LED cannon and another six on one of the four-light clusters. I ended up using the blue and just velcroing it in place under the ball. They even plug right into your PC's existing molex power supply, though you might have to extend the wires or buy an extension cable. It was easy, and it looks pretty fantastic.  

Good luck!

Eric

[Ren Hoek]

...my girlfriend and I play this game called 'Uncle Fester' and it's real simple and a lot of fun...  

I couldn't resist either.

[Zakk]

Personally I tried reading passages out of the bible to them, but hell they just weren't havin none of it.  

[NIVO]

use a flashlight with the ......uh........sock puppet.

Led, or socket minilamps will do fine either way.

[ahofle]

I would definitely recommend LED. It's quick, easy, cheap, lasts forever, and most importantly of all, burns cool so your ball doesn't absorb heat and expand out of shape at all.

Personally, I went here

http://www.svcompucycle.com/ledlicl13or4.html

 and spent a whopping two dollars on the blue LED cannon and another six on one of the four-light clusters. I ended up using the blue and just velcroing it in place under the ball. They even plug right into your PC's existing molex power supply, though you might have to extend the wires or buy an extension cable. It was easy, and it looks pretty fantastic.  

Good luck!

Eric

THanks for the link Eggzilla!!!  Those are just what I need -- turns off when the computer shuts down!  Do you know where I can find an extender for the molex power supply cables?  I suppose I could just slice it and extend it with regular wire if nothing else.

[papaschtroumpf]

My local Target has a lot of cool automotive light gadgets to light up your dashboard, and they would work great for lighting your trackball. They're 12V devices designed for cigarette lighters so they can easily be plugged in the 12V of a computer power supply (between the yellow and black wire).
The neat thing is that they have shimmering LEDs, sound activated LEDS, multicolor patterns, etc...

[ErikRuud]

I just built one of Oscar's Super Bright LED driver with I-PAC connections last night!  It works great.

I used a pair of super bright white led's to illuminate my Betson trackball.

[CthulhuLuke]

Yah, dont get the happs lights that go underneath the trackball.  I had one for my blue illuminated trackball and it had the exact problem everyone has been talking about, even when I WAS using it, the light is just too hot for that poor ball.  It heats up the ball which expands and no longer fits correctly on the rollers.  Go with a bright white/colored LED, the color of your LED should be matching with your trackball if your going to go that direction.  One super bright led should do the trick, I think mine was like 4 bucks from radioshack.
        -Chu

[ErikRuud]

Super Bright LED's in blue or white are a $1.50 at American Science & Surplus

[papaschtroumpf]

You can also use the "flight lights" that plug in the usb port of laptops so that you can see what you're doing on airplanes, etc...
Mine is a bright blue(ish) LED very similar to the "canon" described above except that it plugs in the USB port.

[grafixmonkey]

Happ sells these little thingies that hold a lamp underneath the trackball.  They're not all that well suited for LEDs, but with a normal wedge-base lamp they're the quickest easiest way to go.

The big metal tab screws into a small hole on the underside of your ball(s), and holds the lamp in the correct position for proper ballumination.

EDIT:  Also, if you were to bend a little piece of metal into the right shape and drill a couple holes in it, you could reposition this thing to hold an LED in the right spot.  Or maybe the metal on this can be bent to the right shape by itself.  I'm assuming you're using the wedge-based LEDs like those that Happ sells, that shine mostly in one direction.  

[EggZilla]

THanks for the link Eggzilla!!!  Those are just what I need -- turns off when the computer shuts down!  Do you know where I can find an extender for the molex power supply cables?  I suppose I could just slice it and extend it with regular wire if nothing else.

Sorry it took so long for me to respond - work is really getting in the way of my goofing off lately.

Anyhow, any radio shack or computer supply store will have them. Actually, that same website I sent you should stock them as well. They'll run you about four bucks each, I'd guess.

[planetjay]

I have a Happ Controls translucent trackball that I want to illuminate from under the control panel.  What is the preferred method to accomplish this?  LEDs?  Bulbs?  What about wiring and power, etc?  Is a mirrored reflector (like in a flashlight) necessary?

Thx,
Andy

The BEST answer is UV. Either LEDs or Neon. Neon is the easy one because you can find it at WalMart in the US. UV LEDs can be found on eBay easily.

Too much UV however, will give you a sunburn.   Wear your sunscreen!

[Spaced Invader]

Tantric Yoga  

[KevSteele]

I used a 4-LED cluster of ultra-brights from glowire.com:

http://glowire.com/Lazer%20LEDs.htm

They have versions pre-wired to connect to a PC power supply, which makes it plug-n-go stupid simple.

The LEDS make a nice bright blue glow with no heat.

Best. Subject. Ever.  

Kevin

[Magnet_Eye]

I make my girlfriend wear one of those miners hat with the light on it. That usually lights them up pretty well!

 

[Sasquatch!]

Personally I tried reading passages out of the bible to them, but hell they just weren't havin none of it.  

Sorry that I don't have anything informative to add, but this was clearly the best answer of the bunch.