LEDwiz + RGB wiring for the absolute beginner?

[Ashek]

So I just got a decently sized shipment of parts in from GGG with the goal of putting together my control panel... problem is I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.  I kind of figured I'd just read a lot and learn as I go but I can't even find a tutorial I can wrap my head around since I've never done anything like this before.  Is there anything out there specific to the LEDwiz and Electric Ice 2 RGB buttons? 

Here is where I'm at:
I do know my Electric Ice 2 LED ribbon has the red 5v cable and the three cables for RGB.  Each of those three cables goes into separate numbered slot.  I just don't know where I plug the red 5v cable.  I'm also under the impression that I splice a black power supply cable into the GRD slot.  But do I also splice the Power Supply red cable into the USB +5v slot next to it?  For whatever reason I thought the LEDwiz took care of grounding and voltage through the USE port...  And what are the Bank Voltage Select slots even for?

...thanks for any help.  I've been looking around for about 5 hours now and have come up empty handed.  Knowing exactly what I'm doing BEFORE I start messing with stuff would be preferable as to not fry something expensive... I'd like to avoid having that conversation with the wife.

[Nephasth]

http://groovygamegear.com/PDF/LEDWIZv2_INSTALL.pdf

[Ashek]

Thank you but that doesn't help me at all... my parts actually came mailed with one of those and half of it may as well be in another language. 

I've read it through 6 times now.
All I really got from it is using standoffs, how tight to tighten, and I THINK I'm okay without splicing into my Power Supply for voltage so long as all I'm using is 5v LEDs.  I still don't know what I'm doing with the ground.  Once they start talking about Bank Voltage I'm lost.

[Ashek]

Another thing I'm unsure about... I thought the R1 R2 and R3 on the LED were indicating resistors.  The mailer that you linked is telling me to wire up my own; Isn't that already taken care of?

[Nephasth]

Your LEDs have built in resistors, so you don't have to worry about that. Wire up your LED-Wiz like in figure 1. You'll have to jump your bank voltage terminals to one another as well (if using 5V LEDs connected to all your LED-Wiz outputs). You shouldn't have to tap into your power supply. Don't expect your LEDs to come on when you power up your computer, you'll need to install software such as LEDBlinky to get your LEDs to come on.

[Ashek]

Alright, I'll follow figure 1.

Now do I wire the red 5v cable for all 10 buttons together and then to the 1-8 Bank Voltage or do I only wire LEDs 1-8 to that slot and follow the same pattern for the other Bank Voltage slots?

[RandyT]

Now do I wire the red 5v cable for all 10 buttons together and then to the 1-8 Bank Voltage...

Yes.  If you are using 10 buttons, wire all of the Bank Voltage Select terminals together as well.  This is really an optional step, if only using the RGB Drives, but it's good practice.

If you light all of those white (meaning activating all 30 LED elements) you will be pulling ~ 600ma, which is more than the USB port is technically rated for.  You might be able to get away with it, you might not.  If you see anything flaky happening with the USB, you may need a powered hub or a direct 5v line to the PC power supply.

RandyT

[Ashek]

I would like to have all 30 activated at once, or at least have the option to without having to constantly worry.  So in this case I splice the red wire from any of the spare power supply cables into the LEDwiz or directly to the LEDs?

[RandyT]

I would like to have all 30 activated at once, or at least have the option to without having to constantly worry.  So in this case I splice the red wire from any of the spare power supply cables into the LEDwiz or directly to the LEDs?

Directly to the LED's and to the Bank Voltage Select terminals, if necessary.  Running a separate ground wire from the same connector to the LED-Wiz might be a good idea as well.  Some find a terminal block jumpered together on one side of the block a simple means of connecting the 5v to the LEDs.  You can also just tie all the +5v wires on the RGB-Drives together by any means you wish.  In my test rig, I have 17 RGB-Drives where I just stripped about an inch of insulation from each, twisted them all together and used a wirenut and electrical tape.  Not the prettiest, but it's been working perfectly for years now.

[Ashek]

Alright, this is how I'm understanding things:



I would continue to add all remaining buttons in a similar fashion.
Am I forgetting anything important or am I ready to wire things up?

[evh347]

Alright, this is how I'm understanding things:



I would continue to add all remaining buttons in a similar fashion.
Am I forgetting anything important or am I ready to wire things up?

Mine are wired just a bit different from how your diagram shows...nothing goes into the LEDWiz ground terminal.  And I've daisy chained all of the +5v wires coming off each RGB LED into a terminal wired directly to the +5v terminal on the LEDWiz.

[Ashek]

Running a separate ground wire from the same connector to the LED-Wiz might be a good idea as well.

If you light all of those white (meaning activating all 30 LED elements) you will be pulling ~ 600ma, which is more than the USB port is technically rated for.  You might be able to get away with it, you might not.  If you see anything flaky happening with the USB, you may need a powered hub or a direct 5v line to the PC power supply.

RandyT

I was going off these statements for the diagram.  Better safe than sorry I guess.
So this setup won't have the neighbors wondering why they lost power?

[RandyT]

Your diagram is fine.  The ground isn't absolutely necessary, as there is ground through the USB cable. But as long as you are already tapping into the power supply, you might as well connect it.

[Ashek]

I plan on ordering two more LEDwiz to support the 21 buttons I have coming in the mail.  Will I be able to connect all of these to the same 5v Power Supply cable or will that be too much for it?

[RandyT]

I plan on ordering two more LEDwiz to support the 21 buttons I have coming in the mail.  Will I be able to connect all of these to the same 5v Power Supply cable or will that be too much for it?

You can connect them together.  Just make sure you use the same or larger gauge wire for your main feed, as that which your splicing into, and it should be fine.

[Tony555]

I have just wired up 3 LEDWIZ (30 buttons) with RGB Drives. I found this thread very helpful (has some diagrams - some of the diagrams I created to help me understand it all) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,87419.msg1300678.html

[Ashek]

I just got my trackball and two buttons set up with some basic animations.  Thank you for the help.

I am wondering one more thing... can I plug all 3 LEDwiz into a USB hub instead of dedicated USB ports?  I'm running everything directly off my power supply so I shouldn't have any problems right?

[RandyT]

I am wondering one more thing... can I plug all 3 LEDwiz into a USB hub instead of dedicated USB ports?  I'm running everything directly off my power supply so I shouldn't have any problems right?

Sure, no problems there.  We have sold 16 units on a number of occasions to architectural firms and artists for controlling lighting of scale models and electronic art.  There's really no way to connect that many USB devices, other than hubs.

[Ashek]

I recently bought an Electric ICE-T trackball and was impressed by the LED clip-on that came with it.  I know these use the same voltage as the push buttons but they seem brighter... is there anything to this or is it something to do with the trackball itself?  Also, I'll be needing several more LEDs just like it to finish my project, any way these can be ordered separately?

[RandyT]

I recently bought an Electric ICE-T trackball and was impressed by the LED clip-on that came with it.  I know these use the same voltage as the push buttons but they seem brighter... is there anything to this or is it something to do with the trackball itself?  Also, I'll be needing several more LEDs just like it to finish my project, any way these can be ordered separately?

The EI trackball lighting uses very special LED's, the same as used with our NovaGem 2 buttons.  It's not the voltage which dictates brightness, rather the amount of current the LED is rated for.  Each LED on the trackball light unit has the same lighting power as 5 standard "superbright" leds, and therefore uses 5x the current.  We don't offer these as separate items, as there are very specific hardware support requirements for their use.

But we do have a new, high power RGB light unit for the Electric ICE 2 and NovaGem 2 buttons, waiting in the wings.  You can see it in action here, thanks to a video made by yaksplat.

[Ashek]

I just got my second shipment of buttons and hooked up a few more.  I'm noticing something odd.  I noticed one of the buttons had a red LED that seemed 1/3 as bright as its counterparts.  I put in a simple animation cycling White, Red, Green, and Blue.  I then noticed that same button having a hard time shutting off the blue LED, often keeping it on all the way till it cycled back to blue.  After about 5 minutes of this animation a second button started showing that same anomaly with the blue not shutting off.  I immediately shut everything down and came here to see what might be the problem.  I was pretty sure the wiring was sound; I'll probably double check the connectors for those two buttons.  Is there anything else I might be overlooking that could fix this?

[RandyT]

I just got my second shipment of buttons and hooked up a few more.  I'm noticing something odd.  I noticed one of the buttons had a red LED that seemed 1/3 as bright as its counterparts.  I put in a simple animation cycling White, Red, Green, and Blue.  I then noticed that same button having a hard time shutting off the blue LED, often keeping it on all the way till it cycled back to blue.  After about 5 minutes of this animation a second button started showing that same anomaly with the blue not shutting off.  I immediately shut everything down and came here to see what might be the problem.  I was pretty sure the wiring was sound; I'll probably double check the connectors for those two buttons.  Is there anything else I might be overlooking that could fix this?

Tech support is better handled in email, but double check your wiring and make absolutely sure that you aren't using 12v instead of 5v.  This error has been made by users on more than one occasion, so be certain.

It's very unlikely that one color could have any effect on another, as they are separate circuits.  Having one or more wires connected improperly could cause this, but I'm not sure how.  There could be an issue with the hub you are using as well.

Also make sure your software is doing what you expect it to.  If you send me an email with more details, I can help you get it sorted out.

RandyT

[Ashek]

Thanks, and I'll be sure to use email if I can' figure it out.

[Ashek]

Hello again.  I'll post here instead of creating a new thread since the problem I'm facing is a continuation of the one discussed above.

I finally got all my extra LEDwiz boards and extra RGBs.  I hooked up all 4 with the red 5v line I had spliced into from my power supply.  Each has a cable from the 5v slot (the one next to ground) and they connect together and then run to said power supply.  I have all the buttons hooked up in the same manner as before, R, G, and B each going to its own port, and the black ground cables hooking together in a giant chain till again, returning it to the spliced (black) power supply cord.  My daisy chain randomly includes the ground ports on the LEDwiz boards.  I booted up the computer and things appeared okay at first but LEDblinky wouldn't illuminate anything, even with the simple LED test.  I powered down to double check my connections which appeared okay and tried booting back up.  The power button was illuminated but pressing it did nothing.  I disconnected the 5v and ground wires and tried again, computer booted up no problem.

Oh, it might also be worth mentioning that all 4 LEDwiz boards plug into a single unpowered USB hub.  This then connects to the computer. 

Any help figuring out what I'm doing wrong now would be appriciated.  After slaving over that CP for a few days I'm pretty eager to get things lit up. 

[Nephasth]

That's because the R, G, and B wires you have hooked up to your LED-Wizs are grounds. And the "black ground cables" you have hooked to your LEDs, should be the power wires for your LEDs (coming from the bank voltage terminals on the LED-Wizs).

Sounds like you don't have your LEDs wired like you planned to in the pic you posted:

[Ashek]

Oh my god... one look at my diagram would have told me that.  I can't believe I just wired my entire control panel wrong.

...but if I just swapped my current "ground" cable into 5v and redid like 4 connections... oh thank god, everything would be lined up correctly.  lol, thankyou, thankyou, THANKYOU!!

I guess I just got a little too confident.  My new RGB LEDs came with a black wire, which my brain associated with ground.

[biscuit001]

Don't feel bad ... I did the same thing today. Drove me nuts and I felt like a complete idiot when I went back over the instructions and realized it.

[Toadie]

great info, I can't believe I posted before I found this and I've been looking for hours with searches lol

[Ben1981]

great info, I can't believe I posted before I found this and I've been looking for hours with searches lol

the absolute same happened to me great information here!

but maybe it's just because i'm an absolute nooob when it comes to electric wiring and stuff


cheers
Ben