Main > Main Forum
Translucent trackball lighting.
<< < (4/9) > >>
walls83:
I got my Tans Blue Trackball today and boy is it pretty.  Im making a New CP this week so I dont know how it looks or rolls yet.  
CthulhuLuke:
I used a super bright blue LED from Radio shack, used a little 9v wall adapter with resistor and what not.  *portable phone adapter thingy, just cut the wires off one end*  I'm actually making a resistance calculator program as we speak in Visual C++ .NET, I'll post it when I'm done for any LED enthusiasts, its actually just a direct rip of the website:
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng
just converting all the equations from javascript to C++, put some doubles and rounds in there, and I'm good to go.
The only hard part of the entire LED thing is finding the correct resistance, but if you have a program or website to do it automatically it saves you a headache of having the wrong calculations.
OSCAR:
Oops, sorry Hulkster, I didn't notice your reply.


I'm sure you've seen this already, but my LED driver page has some info regarding how to figure the correct resistor to use with an LED, as well as links to some other LED projects.

An easy way to tap into your power supply is to use a cheap power supply "y" splitter, http://www.qvs.com/sata/images/cc2125y.JPG, and cut off an end (not the end that will plug into your ps!).  The red is +5V, which is more than enough for a super bright LED.  Radio Shack will have some super brights if you don't want to order something online.

An LED should have one leg long than the other, that is the leg that you connect to the +5V source, putting the correct resistor between the LED and the +5V wire.  HTH.

Zakk:
I'm pretty sure the canon LED's are just superbrights in a plastic housing, although Oscar was right, they were a bit too bright...however, they come with a little swivel stand, and if you change the angle on the led, it drastically changes the light going through the ball, so it's a pretty good alternative.  I've retrofitted a few of my other projects for people, since the most common complaint with the old bulb arrangement that I had used was that it made the ball warm on one side, and cool on the other, which felt funny when you played.  Of course the new light puts off no noticeable heat, so they are a good solution.  One thing, I HIGHLY reccomend matching the LED color to the color of the ball.  The 12V auto bulb I used made the blue ball a sickly green, where a blue LED made it glow properly.  Perhaps a superbright white would give a good color too, but blue was definitely best.
hulkster:

--- Quote from: OSCAR on April 19, 2004, 08:45:41 pm ---Oops, sorry Hulkster, I didn't notice your reply.


I'm sure you've seen this already, but my LED driver page has some info regarding how to figure the correct resistor to use with an LED, as well as links to some other LED projects.

An easy way to tap into your power supply is to use a cheap power supply "y" splitter, http://www.qvs.com/sata/images/cc2125y.JPG, and cut off an end (not the end that will plug into your ps!).  The red is +5V, which is more than enough for a super bright LED.  Radio Shack will have some super brights if you don't want to order something online.

An LED should have one leg long than the other, that is the leg that you connect to the +5V source, putting the correct resistor between the LED and the +5V wire.  HTH.



--- End quote ---

well oscar, your method sounds easy, yet when you say connect to the end of a superbright LED, does that require soldering?!? *cringes and hides in the corner*....or can you use quick disconnects?  

Zakk:
do they have blue LED's at radio shack?  im also going to get some blue coin rejects for my happ coin door, and light them with blue...or white?....led's?
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version