Question about IPAC controlled LEDs

[Jedi Master Matt]

I'm getting close to the end of my cab's construction and I'm going to start working on the LED lighting for it.   I'm going to attempt to light all the pushbuttons, the trackball, and the coin door.  It ends up being around 32 LEDs or so.

I've worked out the wiring issues for the most part and I'm trying to design the circuit board to hold all of the resistors and terminal blocks.   I'm hoping to pick up an external 5V AC power supply from Radio Shack to run them all.

My only question is if I should put in PNP transistors for the IPAC to control some of the buttons (it seems like both coin ups are the ones that do anything)?   By going with an external power supply (since my IPAC and Opti are USB I didn't want too much draw over the USB supply), I don't have to have to IPAC connected to my circuit board; but, if it's worth doing, it's better to plan on it now.

If memory serves me correctly, there were games (mostly Atari) that would cause these buttons to flash when coins were inserted and at various times during games (level up?).

So my questions are if most of you think it's worth it to wire up this control ability or if the LEDs are better left always on?

Do suggest wiring up more than just the coins and player 1 and 2 start to this?  What about the trackball and the other player buttons?

What games take advantage of LEDs and when do they get used?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[Tiger-Heli]

I'm getting close to the end of my cab's construction and I'm going to start working on the LED lighting for it.   I'm going to attempt to light all the pushbuttons, the trackball, and the coin door.  It ends up being around 32 LEDs or so.

I've worked out the wiring issues for the most part and I'm trying to design the circuit board to hold all of the resistors and terminal blocks.   I'm hoping to pick up an external 5V AC power supply from Radio Shack to run them all.

My only question is if I should put in PNP transistors for the IPAC to control some of the buttons (it seems like both coin ups are the ones that do anything)?   By going with an external power supply (since my IPAC and Opti are USB I didn't want too much draw over the USB supply), I don't have to have to IPAC connected to my circuit board; but, if it's worth doing, it's better to plan on it now.

If memory serves me correctly, there were games (mostly Atari) that would cause these buttons to flash when coins were inserted and at various times during games (level up?).

So my questions are if most of you think it's worth it to wire up this control ability or if the LEDs are better left always on?

Do suggest wiring up more than just the coins and player 1 and 2 start to this?  What about the trackball and the other player buttons?

What games take advantage of LEDs and when do they get used?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Well, the games in MAME that do this are most of the Atari Vector games (Asteroids, Battlezone) and most of the Pac-Man games.  OutRun also flashed the Caps Lock when the braked is depressed, Ajax flashes the scroll lock when a power-up is collected, and (I think Victory) flashes the LED's in sequence during  attract mode.

The way these worked in real life is Atari used lighted start buttons (volcano buttons) which would flash when a coin was inserted and the game was playable.  I think some of the Pac-Man games had an LED mounted above the start buttons, but I haven't found an example of this.

Personal preference whether you want to add this to your cab.

Someone (Zakk ?) was adding LED's under the Start buttons which looked pretty cool.