concave RGB buttons? (Alternatives to Electric Ice?)

[Beretta]

I've been sitting on my projects for years, I've finally started to get the ball rolling.. all these years I knew I wanted to use GGG's Electric Ice buttons..

However it seems they're being discontinued with the last batch being a little subpar in color. 

Im kicking my self for not just buying them and shelving them years ago but I just always expected them to be for sale so why dump money into something till Im ready to use?

Im wondering if there is anything else similar to them on the market?
I am going to work out my own light system but I need a button that can handle different colors, not single color.
(But even the single color concave market seems to be slim.  )

For one I think they will look nice but also I plan on having them controlled to only light up the buttons that are actually in use on a given game, so on a practical side it's kinda important.

Are there any alternatives in the electric ice concave buttons?

[Titchgamer]

Ultimarc Ultralux RGB classics
http://www.ultimarc.com/ClassicRGB.html

[Beretta]

Ouch, twice the cost.. although It comes pre-wired.. I was gonna work out my own system with WS2812 5050 addressable LED's.. but I should be able to hook these up to WS2811 instead.

How do these feel compared to the electric ice, they kinda remind me of a concave version of sanwa buttons.
I like the electric ice cause they're suppose to be similar to a Happ.

[Titchgamer]

Cant comment on the Electric Ice as I have never used them.

But they feel like a slightly heavier Happ button to me.

They are currently fitted to my mame cab.

[Arroyo]

If you are looking for concave Happ button’s that are clear for RGB that you can use your own LED’s for, then perhpas these are what you are looking for:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/il-industrias-lorenzo/il-psl-l-series/275_il-psl-l-concave-button-translucent-white

If you are going to use addressable LED’s curious to know what controller and LED’s you are planning on using.  I just went through that on a small control panel that I built not too long ago as well.  Interested in hearing your solution.

[Howard_Casto]

If an avr is used as the controller and you set it up as a serial device, mamehooker can control it.  Mind you it's advanced usage, but I did it for my old racing cockpit and it worked fine after I figured out the quirks that the avr wanted. 

[Beretta]

If you are looking for concave Happ button’s that are clear for RGB that you can use your own LED’s for, then perhpas these are what you are looking for:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/il-industrias-lorenzo/il-psl-l-series/275_il-psl-l-concave-button-translucent-white

Actually, that looks pretty interesting, has anyone tried lighting those up? the only thing that worry me is it might not capture the light very well, perhaps diffuser in the plunger might work? other wise looks like it might hit you right in the eye's.

If you are going to use addressable LED’s curious to know what controller and LED’s you are planning on using.  I just went through that on a small control panel that I built not too long ago as well.  Interested in hearing your solution.

Arduino, I was gonna use WS2812's.. it's a 5050 RGB with the controller integrated into it.
I was going to try to shove one up on a pylon  (probably a piece of tubing) similar to the Helios RGB
Seeing as they run on 5v it makes things easier.. just need the arduino to send data signals, don't need to deal with mosfets to handle 12v lines or anything.

I could use WS2811's which are the small IC version you can wire up your own LED to it.. that would work ok for the Ultramarc buttons just pushing my budget quite a big.. because I need a lot for later projects (around 100 buttons)

If I had bought those electric ice years ago I wouldn't be in this situation now, but I didn't think they would ever be discontinued.. pretty popular from what I could tell.
Im still leaning towards the electric ice but comm with Randy has been.. eh... slow.

The program to control it will be a autoit script using serial communications.

If an avr is used as the controller and you set it up as a serial device, mamehooker can control it.  Mind you it's advanced usage, but I did it for my old racing cockpit and it worked fine after I figured out the quirks that the avr wanted.

I messed with that years ago using the LPT port and it worked well, but it won't work for what I want here.
I just want to set the buttons to light up that are used on any given game.. iirc unless things changed mamehooker was to give output to things that where on the original machines like the T2 guns or chase HQ pursuit lights.

[Arroyo]

The only thing that worry me is it might not capture the light very well, perhaps diffuser in the plunger might work? other wise looks like it might hit you right in the eye's.

Yes they are mostly clear not much diffusion.  Which is why a lot of people (myself included opt for a black plunger style so the lit part is a  “ring” surrounding the button.  Here’s that one:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/il-industrias-lorenzo/il-psl-l-series/2309_il-psl-l-concave-button-clear-white-black-plunger

Arduino, I was gonna use WS2812's.. it's a 5050 RGB with the controller integrated into it.
I was going to try to shove one up on a pylon  (probably a piece of tubing) similar to the Helios RGB
Seeing as they run on 5v it makes things easier.. just need the arduino to send data signals, don't need to deal with mosfets to handle 12v lines or anything.

Ah yeah, I was guessing that’s what you were going to say.  Here’s an example of how I did the WS2812’s in mine (scroll 5 pics down):

The Grid....

And if you want to see them lit up, keep scrolling a bit.

I used a Ultimarc Nano LED so I could integrate it with LED Blinky (all the scripting for lighting per game is already done) as the coding you are describing sounded daunting.  It works well, only issue is each one will cover 60 LED’s, so for RGB that would be 20.  You can of course buy more to solve the problem of additional LED’s.

On the actual control panel I’m building I won’t go this route however as there are prebuilt RGB LED’s that are easy to pop on and off for these buttons here:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/electrical/pcbs-lighting/led-lighting-solutions/button-leds/100_il-lumination-rgb-5vdc-led-

Albeit expensive, they are a huge time saver, especially if you have to swap out a burnt LED.  If you want more DIY and cheaper then there’s these guys which I’ve placed at the bottom of a button and drilled holes for wiring:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/electrical/pcbs-lighting/led-lighting-solutions/button-leds/101_il-lumination-5vdc-rgb-led

I’m going to control them with Ultimarc iPac’s, in this case the iPac Ultimates.

If you end up going the Arduino route, you should post in either the Software or Automation sub-forum so people can learn from your exploration.  Good luck.

[Beretta]

Yes they are mostly clear not much diffusion.  Which is why a lot of people (myself included opt for a black plunger style so the lit part is a  “ring” surrounding the button.  Here’s that one:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/il-industrias-lorenzo/il-psl-l-series/2309_il-psl-l-concave-button-clear-white-black-plunger

Ah yeah, I was guessing that’s what you were going to say.  Here’s an example of how I did the WS2812’s in mine (scroll 5 pics down):

The Grid....

And if you want to see them lit up, keep scrolling a bit.

I used a Ultimarc Nano LED so I could integrate it with LED Blinky (all the scripting for lighting per game is already done) as the coding you are describing sounded daunting.  It works well, only issue is each one will cover 60 LED’s, so for RGB that would be 20.  You can of course buy more to solve the problem of additional LED’s.

On the actual control panel I’m building I won’t go this route however as there are prebuilt RGB LED’s that are easy to pop on and off for these buttons here:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/electrical/pcbs-lighting/led-lighting-solutions/button-leds/100_il-lumination-rgb-5vdc-led-

Albeit expensive, they are a huge time saver, especially if you have to swap out a burnt LED.  If you want more DIY and cheaper then there’s these guys which I’ve placed at the bottom of a button and drilled holes for wiring:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/electrical/pcbs-lighting/led-lighting-solutions/button-leds/101_il-lumination-5vdc-rgb-led

I’m going to control them with Ultimarc iPac’s, in this case the iPac Ultimates.

If you end up going the Arduino route, you should post in either the Software or Automation sub-forum so people can learn from your exploration.  Good luck.

Wow that CP is off the hook, Ya we're on the same thought page.
I definitely want the whole button to light up though.

Their RGB light would make things easier, Too bad I couldn't find a diffuser in their catalog, I wonder if standard paper would work? or maybe a thin plastic sheet.

Only thing people will learn from me is how to write sloppy barely functional code
I'd be willing to go a off the shelf route but it's going to do more than just control lights, It's gonna be the brain-stem of the computer I guess you'd say.

But I will post the project when it's done.

[PL1]

Too bad I couldn't find a diffuser in their catalog, I wonder if standard paper would work? or maybe a thin plastic sheet.

Back-lit paper shows the wood fibers.

Thin plastic is a better choice for a DIY diffuser.
- The flat parts of a milk jug work well for this.   


Scott

[Howard_Casto]

If an avr is used as the controller and you set it up as a serial device, mamehooker can control it.  Mind you it's advanced usage, but I did it for my old racing cockpit and it worked fine after I figured out the quirks that the avr wanted.

I messed with that years ago using the LPT port and it worked well, but it won't work for what I want here.
I just want to set the buttons to light up that are used on any given game.. iirc unless things changed mamehooker was to give output to things that where on the original machines like the T2 guns or chase HQ pursuit lights.

No mamehooker is primarily used for that, but it is the go to software for controlling all your do-dads.  You can map functions for game startup, shutdown, ect.  You can map them to button presses, and all sorts of things. 

[goalie4hire]

I picked up the Electric Ice buttons when they went back up for sale. They arrived on Monday. They don't look bad at all. I'm not sure what they looked like before (pure white), but they just seem to have a little light grey, or off white look to them. I'm ok with the look.