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Wiring Pac Drive Problem. LED runs hot (SOLVED: Don't cut out inline resistor)

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jdbailey1206:

I have wired three 5 volt leds to Ultimarcs Pac Drive.  But the last bulb in the chain burns hot and dim.  Any ideas?
Again thanks in advance.

jdbailey1206:

Does anyone know if the Pac Drive has to powered by a certain version of USB?  ie 1.0, 2.0.

PL1:

How much current are the LEDs rated to draw?

Are you plugged into a powered USB hub, an unpowered hub, or a port on the motherboard?

Are the LEDs wired in series or parallel?

Does the last LED have the same value resistor as the other two?

More details/pics?


Scott

jdbailey1206:

Scott,

In the setup I have one Red Convex LED Lighted Arcade Pushbutton from Paradise Arcade Shop and two NovaGemCDR Coin Drop Replacement Pushbuttons from GGG.  They are run in that order from my Pac Drive. 

I don't know how much current the Convex LED is rated for but it has a rating of 5V AC/DC while the Coin Drops are rated at 100 ma @5V DC.

I am plugged into my motherboard which is rated for 2.0 USB which I believe is strong enough to power the Pac Drive.  I have a powered USB hub at the house which I have not tried yet.

The LEDs are run in a series.  I have not tried to run them parallel.  Last night I only plugged in the one switch that was giving me the problem and still had the same affect.  Thinking it was a problem with the LED earlier I got a new switch but I am having the same problem.

I CANNOT say for certain that the Paradise Arcade button has the same value resistor as the other two.  Is there any way to check with a meter?

The attached images are how Ultimarc shows 5V to be wired and how I wired it.  I drew over the wires in Photoshop how it was wired.  (Don't you like my killer 5 year old art skills?   :lol) 

The button on the top left (because I couldn't get it in the shot) is the button from Paradise Arcade Shop.  If any more info is needed let me know.  I also included a picture of how dim the one button gets. The picture does not do it justice.  There is a major contrast IRL.




PL1:

The reason they are so different in brightness is that the CDR buttons are designed to draw about 4-5 times the current of the Paradise ones.

Picture putting a 20 or 25 watt light bulb next to a 100 watt bulb.


--- Quote from: jdbailey1206 on September 11, 2013, 08:06:41 am ---The LEDs are run in a series.

--- End quote ---
Umm, they're daisy chained in parallel.

To wire them in series, you would have the output of one leading to the input of the next.

There are three ways to balance the light level between the two styles of buttons:
1. Make the Paradise button brighter -- requires finding either an extra-bright or a cluster-type led similar to this one.



2. Make the CDRs dimmer by adding a current limiting resistor -- probably easiest to add it on the black wire side.



3. Find one LED that fits both types of buttons.


Scott

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