| Main > Main Forum |
| RGB Buttons on a 4p build |
| (1/5) > >> |
| Kupoppo:
Hi all, New to the forums, but have gotten a lot of good info that's helped me in planning a build. One area I'm still a little stuck/overwhelmed with trying to get my facts straight is exactly what parts are needed for complete RGB LED buttons. I've done some searching around for a good post that explains everything - if I'm still missing it please feel free to let me know and delete this post. In my case, after a lot of debate I've decided to go forward with a 4-player build with 6 buttons for each player. From what I understand, each unique button is going to require 3 channels from an LED controller. I also understand that you can chain buttons together to control the same set of RGB values for multiple buttons at once using only one set of channels from the controller. Applying this together I can make my setup work to my desires (6 buttons 100% unique for P1/P2, 6 buttons with 4 unique combinations for P3/P4, grouping upper left + upper mid together and lower left + lower mid together. If I'm correct that would leave me with 60 channels required, and leave me with enough channels to do a lit/not lit P1/P2/P3/P4 start button if I plan to use a single 64-channel LED controller. Is this all possible? Am I correct in my assumptions on the basic wiring requirements? If the previous paragraph is more or less correct and what I'm planning to do is feasible, this leads to the part that I'm REALLY wrestling with: picking out my exact buttons. I'm just getting a little overwhelmed due to the sheer number of products out there. I'm finding clear/frosted buttons that can be lit with add-on LED's or rings, white LED buttons that it seems like might be possible to replace the LED with an RGB LED, and I'm finding finished product LED buttons. Ideally I'd like to get away from something approaching $7/button if possible since I'm looking at a ballpark of close to 30 buttons - is this possible? Is the wiring fairly standardized, or do I have to make sure my buttons will be compatible with my controller/encoder somehow? Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated, I've already leaned pretty heavily on these forums getting as far as I am :) |
| Nephasth:
On the Beast I have 7 buttons for P1/P2 and 4 buttons for P3/p4 (plus a start button for each). All of my button RGBs are individually controlled, and I had to use 2 PACLED64s to light them. As far as pricing, RGB buttons are going to be expensive no matter how you go, but you can cut out quite a chunk in price if you buy 5mm RGB clear lens LEDs off ebay from China and solder/wire them up yourself. However, I've found you don't get even lighting across the whole button when doing this, and buttons light up better with the RGB LEDs vendors offer, as they were designed for this purpose (hence the higher price). Parts are a lot like oats. If you want quality oats, you have to pay a fair price. If you want oats that have been through the horse already... well, those are a little cheaper. |
| Kupoppo:
Haha, love the analogy. Yeah, as this is my first build I wasn't so much sure if this would be closer to, well, oats, or to pre-shelled nuts. I don't mind a little elbow grease or a few extra decisions to get me where I need to go, just as long as the end product is just as good. If it has to be higher cost to do it right then so be it, doing it right is the whole reason I'm looking at RGB buttons in the first place ;D So if I went with, say, Ultimarc's ClassicRGB LED Pushbuttons and a PACLED64, would that be more or less everything I need, aside from the encoder to bring the input to the PC? PS: Nice build! Gosh that makes me all the more excited to get physically working on this soon :) |
| Nephasth:
Thanks. Those would work if that's the look you're looking for. A PACLED64 can control only 21 RGB LEDs though, so if you're looking at 30 buttons, you'd need another PACLED64. Personally, as you can see, I like the look of translucent IL button barrels coupled with black IL button plungers. One thing that is of concern (as I can't find the info), is the length of wires on those LEDs from Ultimarc. It may be an issue when determining where to mount the LED controller, but won't be if you're comfortable lengthening the harnesses or making your own. Don't forget about your coin door reject button lights, you can convert those to LEDs easily and control them with the PACLED64 as well. You'll need to use the LEDBlinky software to control the outputs of your LED controller too. |
| Kupoppo:
There will be a grand total of 20 unique RGB combinations I need, so I should be able to wire a couple to the same ports on a single controller - right? I think if I had my choice of everything I'd want something frosted, I just linked those because I've not really done much similar wiring before and they seemed advertised as more of a pre-assembled solution. Any recommendations for someone just getting into this all? Generally I'm a pretty quick learner, but I've not really done a lot similar to this so knowing what to shop for can be difficult. Thus the post here :) |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |