Need advice about lighting 30 mm sanwa buttons

[brad808]

OK so I bought some clear clear rim buttons a while back with plans on lighting them in the future. Now is getting to be the future so I'm looking around for all my options. The buttons I bought are 30mm white solid plunger with clear rims for the player buttons and a 24mm black solid plunger with clear rim for the start.


So far it seems my best bet is the pele led light ring:
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/button-leds/580-pele-30mm-led-rings.html
I can get these for the 30mm and 24mm. Two concerns I have with these are:
1) How will these actually attach using snap on buttons? Will I have to glue them to the bottom of my control panel?
2) How even will light distribution be without having a clear plunger as well. Will I end up with 2 bright spots?


Next thing I'll need to tackle is led controller. Any advice on this? Any known problems with Sparky led controller:
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/arcade-pinball-leds/518-sparky-pwm-smd-led-controller-pcb.html
From what I can tell this won't work with ledblinky? I would like to have custom colours on specific mame games so this may not work for my intentions. At which point would the Ledwiz be the optimal choice?

If I decide to hold on a controller for a while there should be no issues hooking a power source to either the red, green, or blue line on the pele ring and just having 1 solid colour? As far as I know ledblinky has the option to turn down the brightness (I think I would prefer a low glow). Without using a controller could I simply control brightness by lowering voltage to the leds?

[brad808]

Bueller?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[opt2not]

Seems to me you're kinda SOL with the snap-in's. I for one never buy snap-in push-buttons because I like to swap them out here and there, and the little prongs tend to break easily from my clumbsy man-handling.
The screw-ins are more durable, and would be easier to use the led-ring.
But if you are set on the snaps, and you aren't planning on swapping out the buttons off the panel at all, then I'd recommend using some hot glue or double-sided tape to hold the LED rings to the panel.
 

[BadMouth]

http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/arc-eye-3-leds-made-easy.162346/

order here:
http://www.godlikecontrols.com/

[armi0024]

http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/button-leds/580-pele-30mm-led-rings.html

Pele rings, work with all available led controllers, including the remora.
They also work with the following buttons:
Il transparent
Sanwa snap in
Seimitsu screw in
Seimitsu snap in
Nova gems
Electric Ice
Classic Rgb buttons
And more

We also have a 24mm version

[brad808]

http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/button-leds/580-pele-30mm-led-rings.html

Pele rings, work with all available led controllers, including the remora.
They also work with the following buttons:
Il transparent
Sanwa snap in
Seimitsu screw in
Seimitsu snap in
Nova gems
Electric Ice
Classic Rgb buttons
And more

We also have a 24mm version

This really didn't answer any of the questions I had about the pele rings. I'm aware of their existence just not how they actually attach to the control panel. Do I have to glue them on? As far as the remora goes it won't work in this case as it's only for xbox 360. I tried to get you to add the pele rings in with my order from ebay via message and note on the paypal payment but it looks as if the package is now shipped.

@ Badmouth - I also saw the AE3s however I was hesitant about the mixed reviews on their lighting ability of 24mm buttons. The big complaint was that they are designed for 30mm buttons and the leds will line up accordingly. Installed on 24mm buttons and the leds are a lot farther out then the sides of the button and don't light properly. I think I may pull the trigger on the AE3s though and see if I can create some kind of isolation around all the buttons and have some sort of reflective material inside to help distribution. Once installed if I'm not happy with the 24mm button then I may just get a solid black and leave it unlit.

[brad808]

Just to update this:

I ended up getting the pele led rings. Turns out my package from paradise hadn't shipped, it was just marked as shipped on ebay, so I was able to add them to my order. They do snap onto the bottom of the sanwa snap in buttons, no glue or anything needed. They are a nice and tight fit and will actually snap in between the button's arms and the control panel. You have to be pretty smart on how you place them with a layout like the new astro city because of how much the led pcb sticks out. It is possible though but I had to take them off and rearrange them once I saw how tight it was going to be. Took me a couple of minutes to figure out what was wrong with the button colouring but it turns out the connectors they sent me weren't all pinned the same. Some would be white, green, blue, red. While others were white, green, red, blue. Just the colour coding on the wires were off from each other. Sort of confusing but once I realised what was going on it wasn't a huge deal to trace them back and connect the right wires. Another problem I had is that the red led on one of my 30mm rings is dead. I might take a closer look at it on the weekend and see if I can desolder the led from the ring and swap it with my 24mm start button. I'd rather have the full colour spectrum available to all 6 player buttons and have a limited pallet for the start button then vice versa. Seems like a pain but I'm sure trying to order a new one or getting this one replaced would just cost way too much for what its worth.


As it sits they look awesome no bright spots they are nice and even. I'd give them a good recommendation for lighting these type buttons. Button porn:

[armi0024]

Looks great! We can first class a replacement out, just email Susan.

With the way the LEDs sit up they can get damaged sometime, but replacing them is not an issue.

The harnesses we have are multipurposed from something else.  The color order on the other item is not significant so when we restock this will be remedied!

Mahalo,
Bryan

[chito]

Ive bought a pele ring and i have IL buttons and i have no idea how the pele ring is meant to attach to the button. no matter what i try the nut is in the way... I cant find an arrangement that seems like it was meant to be that way..

can anyone please post photos or info. I cant find anything on these pele rings

[armi0024]

I can take some pictures in the morning, I already responded to the other thread.  This is a Sanwa thread, probably better to use the other.

[chito]

Ok thanks that would be a great help.

[keilmillerjr]

Ive bought a pele ring and i have IL buttons and i have no idea how the pele ring is meant to attach to the button. no matter what i try the nut is in the way... I cant find an arrangement that seems like it was meant to be that way..

can anyone please post photos or info. I cant find anything on these pele rings

Insert body of button in control panel. Slip pele ring over threads of button, led legs facing downward. Carefully slip nut past the leds to not vend the legs and tighten.

[chito]

So i realise how silly this must seem, armi0024 gave me the heads up and after forcing the nut past the leds it fit. It did however raise another issue ive yet to research... these leds, being on the outside and not flush on the button surface, would contaminate other buttons being lit up.. whats the best solution for that?

this is my first time experimenting with RGB leds and I bought the pele ring to test and then later modify to recreate the lit up joysticks seen in Flynns Arcade
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,135116.0.html

for that however i would need to move the LED as close to the pcb as possible. I wish you could get the PELE rings unassembled (except for the resistors) then i could solder the LEDs at any height i needed and even use right angled header pins and not solder the inner pins

[brad808]

Forgot that this thread existed. Since it's been brought back from the dead after 4 years, the Pele rings have slowly been dying over time it seems. I still have them installed in one of my new Astro city cabinets but I think maybe 4 of them have lost a colour or two. Looking at the LEDs they have dark spots in the center so I'm assuming they have just died out from being used. I'll probably try to repair them at some point and replace the LED itself. Over the last 4 years my collection of games have expanded drastically to 15+ games in my current collection and who knows how many have come and gone during that time. At this point having a button light up is near the bottom of priority list.

[chito]

thats an interesting point, what are the life spans of these and other LED's. 4 years doesnt sound like much... they dont cost much and replacing one or 2 wouldn't be a huge deal (except for shipping, which is a fortune). replacing a whole panel and multiple cabs would add up

[armi0024]

Brad808, sorry to hear that hit us up we would like to exchange and take a look at them.  Good to hear the expansion though!

Chito,the method mentioned is how they are installed, then you bend the leds towards the button, you can also use large heat shrink to pull them in. 

[keilmillerjr]

So i realise how silly this must seem, armi0024 gave me the heads up and after forcing the nut past the leds it fit. It did however raise another issue ive yet to research... these leds, being on the outside and not flush on the button surface, would contaminate other buttons being lit up.. whats the best solution for that?

this is my first time experimenting with RGB leds and I bought the pele ring to test and then later modify to recreate the lit up joysticks seen in Flynns Arcade
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,135116.0.html

for that however i would need to move the LED as close to the pcb as possible. I wish you could get the PELE rings unassembled (except for the resistors) then i could solder the LEDs at any height i needed and even use right angled header pins and not solder the inner pins

Heat shrink tubing or aluminum foil tape.