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DIY LED Bat Top joy sticks

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RandyT:


--- Quote from: tylerwerrin on March 18, 2014, 02:49:47 am ---ahh, dammit -- nothing lit up! ugrrgghhhhh!!!

I got the LED wired to my LED blinky and no go -- not sure what the issue is. I checked for voltage at the LED itself (probed the cathode) and it was getting 5v from my PSU. What could the problem be? The LEDs i purchased are 20ma 5mm diffused RGB type. I have the correct resistors in place. Is there something that I could be missing? I did the "Simple LED" test in LED blinky -- all my buttons came on as they should but no dice on the LED intended for the joystick....

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RGB LEDs come in two varieties: Common Anode and Common Cathode.  You need Common Anode for most controllers, including the LED-Wiz.  You can check this by reversing the polarity of your connection (I.e. connect the common to Ground and connect the positive to one of the colors.)  If it lights up, you have the wrong kind.



tylerwerrin:

I finally got my new LED's and hooked them up -- very disappointed with the brightness! I am not sure if it is due to the diffused nature of the LED lens, or my resistors are keeping the brightness too low, but either way, the joystick barely lights up at all, and even out on their own, the LED's are very weak.

Randy, I was wondering what type of LED's you use for your ICE buttons, and the resistor pellets -- i asked you via email once about the resistors, and according to LED Calculator i purchased and installed the correct ones -- but perhaps I just need brighter LEDs. Can you help me source something to make this project work?

armi0024:

Can you take a picture of the results.  The light will diffuse poorly if it's too high in the stick and intensity won't help that. 

The prototypes we did with the 5mm leds we have lit up well, but only the top half of the bat.

RandyT:


--- Quote from: tylerwerrin on April 24, 2014, 12:41:56 am ---I finally got my new LED's and hooked them up -- very disappointed with the brightness! I am not sure if it is due to the diffused nature of the LED lens, or my resistors are keeping the brightness too low, but either way, the joystick barely lights up at all, and even out on their own, the LED's are very weak.

Randy, I was wondering what type of LED's you use for your ICE buttons, and the resistor pellets -- i asked you via email once about the resistors, and according to LED Calculator i purchased and installed the correct ones -- but perhaps I just need brighter LEDs. Can you help me source something to make this project work?

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A brighter LED may help, but when you are talking about RGB and a small footprint, the amount of light you will be able to produce will be limited.  The LED on your phone (the one you tested with earlier) is not a run-of-the-mill type, rather a high output one (like you would find in a small LED flashlight).  Getting that intensity is probably not possible from a standard, small RGB LED.

I hate to say this, but you may have to try making another knob.  Getting that ratio of white to clear "just right" is extremely tricky.  When we first developed translucent white parts, having no samples to simply send off to be used as a reference, it took many iterations to find the right density.  Then there is the issue of naturally occurring color filtering properties of both the material and the pigments used.  If it's uniformly dim, regardless of the color, then that's probably not a big issue.

I had some special high output RGB LED units produced for our RGB balltops.  They are pre-wired, already have resistors, very bright and direct the light differently than what you are probably using.  Whether they will fit, I can't say, but if they work, molding them right into the knob might be something to consider.  If you want to buy a couple to play with, drop me an email.

armi0024:

I do agree with Randy, that mix is important.  If the mix is done correctly on the RGB tops they won't require high intensity outputs, we have not required these for ours.

As stated earlier position of the end of the metal tubing is important, but also the amount of the led protruding into the plastic is important.   If the LED is sitting in your tube shining up into the bat top, it will not be as effective as if you move the LED up into the plastic you are illuminating.

Anyhow I found our prototype bat top, here is a picture with a regular 5V Led running about 40mA


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