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Author Topic: Illuminated Arcade Buttons  (Read 3470 times)

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AHsta

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Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« on: November 21, 2017, 05:19:49 am »
I am making a MAME cabinet and I want the control panel I'm designing to have 10 RGB LED illuminated buttons on it. Does anyone know if it's possible for me to wire these LEDs up to my PC and be able to control the colours and brightnesses of them from my PC?
And what kind of board is best for controlling them as well? (PacLED64, Ultimate IO, etc)

Thanks a lot

Niels Arcade

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2017, 05:55:14 am »
I am making a MAME cabinet and I want the control panel I'm designing to have 10 RGB LED illuminated buttons on it. Does anyone know if it's possible for me to wire these LEDs up to my PC and be able to control the colours and brightnesses of them from my PC?
And what kind of board is best for controlling them as well? (PacLED64, Ultimate IO, etc)

Thanks a lot

Did you already take a look at Ledblinky? http://www.ledblinky.net/ledblinky.htm If you follow the link it also mentions the boards that are supported.

Not sure if the following will work for RGB leds as well (specifically the color changing part), but I wired my cab's single colored leds to the adapter base of an discarded LED strip that originally came with a IR remote dimmer which allows me to adjust the brightness of the button leds at any given moment.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2017, 06:01:06 am by Niels Arcade »
I built a Star Wars themed arcade cabinet
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147851.0.html

05SRT4

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2017, 06:45:29 am »
Yes, you are headed in the right direction with your examples.

PacLED64 if you already have a encoder for the sticks and buttons.

Ultimate IO will be an all in one (Joystick, button and LED controller) which helps save room. If you get the wire harness make sure to confirm the connector sizes on your buttons.

There are other brands like the LED-Wiz from Groovy Game Gear.

As far as the RGB control software on the PC. Get LED Blinky

You can setup just about anything with it. Stuff like that, well worth it!

AHsta

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2017, 01:00:49 pm »
Did you already take a look at Ledblinky? http://www.ledblinky.net/ledblinky.htm If you follow the link it also mentions the boards that are supported.

Not sure if the following will work for RGB leds as well (specifically the color changing part), but I wired my cab's single colored leds to the adapter base of an discarded LED strip that originally came with a IR remote dimmer which allows me to adjust the brightness of the button leds at any given moment.

I've just looked at it for the first time, what I'm gathering is that with it I can pretty much program different LEDs to do what I want them to do in my controls, I don't understand if there's a specific advantage of RGB LEDs to this though? Other than the wider range of colours.

Your solution to controlling the brightness of the LEDs with the discarded strip control is clever as well though, I'll see if I can make that work, thanks.

Yes, you are headed in the right direction with your examples.

PacLED64 if you already have a encoder for the sticks and buttons.

Ultimate IO will be an all in one (Joystick, button and LED controller) which helps save room. If you get the wire harness make sure to confirm the connector sizes on your buttons.

There are other brands like the LED-Wiz from Groovy Game Gear.

I'm not sure what you mean by encoder, could you explain? I'm a bit new to this...

Thanks

Niels Arcade

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2017, 01:06:46 pm »
An encoder is the board that connects the buttons to your computer, for instance the Ultimarc Ipac: http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac.html

Although I don't own it myself, I suppose the Ultimarc Ultimate (which is also an ecoder) provides you with all the RGB led features you might desire: http://www.ultimarc.com/ipacuio.html

What is mentioned above is the hardware part. In combination with this hardware you can use software like ledblinky.

I built a Star Wars themed arcade cabinet
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147851.0.html

AHsta

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2017, 02:17:42 pm »
An encoder is the board that connects the buttons to your computer, for instance the Ultimarc Ipac: http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac.html

Although I don't own it myself, I suppose the Ultimarc Ultimate (which is also an ecoder) provides you with all the RGB led features you might desire: http://www.ultimarc.com/ipacuio.html

What is mentioned above is the hardware part. In combination with this hardware you can use software like ledblinky.

Ah okay I understand now, I had already looked into to this piece of technology but I didn't know that was a name for it. I will likely end up getting the Ipac Ultimate IO, and with that I should be able to connect all the LEDs, buttons and joysticks with no problem?
By the connector sizes on the buttons do you mean the terminals on the microswitches?

Thanks again

Niels Arcade

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2017, 02:21:01 pm »
The remark about the connector sizes was from another poster, just make sure you orderer the right connectors/wires when you place your order for the buttons and encoder (so make sure you don't just have wires for the button/cherry switch signal, but also for the LED power.
I built a Star Wars themed arcade cabinet
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147851.0.html

Mike A

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2017, 02:36:20 pm »
Why don't you try something different and don't light your control panel up like a Christmas tree? LED lit buttons are the worst. Check that, Stupid LED T-molding is the worst. This is close.

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2017, 02:46:31 pm »
Why don't you try something different and don't light your control panel up like a Christmas tree? LED lit buttons are the worst. Check that, Stupid LED T-molding is the worst. This is close.

***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

AHsta

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2017, 09:33:01 am »
The remark about the connector sizes was from another poster, just make sure you orderer the right connectors/wires when you place your order for the buttons and encoder (so make sure you don't just have wires for the button/cherry switch signal, but also for the LED power.

I see, right. So is that 5 wires in total? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but will I need 7 wires per button? 4 for the RGB LEDs, 1 for positive, 1 for negative, and the daisy chain? I am using these buttons https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/Chrome-Ultralux-Illuminated-Arcade-Button.html if that helps

Thanks

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2017, 09:46:57 am »
The button you posted is not RBG. (Might of been a typo)

RBG LED = 4 Wires each
Actual push button 2 wires (Negative and Daisy chain are the same thing)

AHsta

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2017, 09:57:25 am »
The button you posted is not RBG. (Might of been a typo)

RBG LED = 4 Wires each
Actual push button 2 wires (Negative and Daisy chain are the same thing)

Haha sorry, yeah I posted the wrong link, this is the one I meant https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/ultralux-rgb-illuminated-arcade-button.html

Sorry for the confusion, and is the ground wire something different or would I be right in thinking that that's the daisy chain?

Thanks

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Re: Illuminated Arcade Buttons
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2017, 10:03:34 am »
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but will I need 7 wires per button? 4 for the RGB LEDs, 1 for positive, 1 for negative, and the daisy chain?
You'll need 6 wires.

4 for the common anode RGB LEDs
- Operating voltage (5v)
- Red channel ground
- Green channel ground
- Blue channel ground

2 for the switch
- Encoder input
- Daisy-chain (ground)


Scott