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Poll: Buddabing's LED controller
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Kremmit:

--- Quote from: Buddabing on July 06, 2005, 10:32:41 am ---Since it will take three controller outputs to drive one RGB LED, one controller can drive only 13 RGB LEDs. So to drive a full two-player panel with fourteen RGB LEDs, 16 directional indicator LEDs and a couple of start buttons, it will take 60 controller outputs.

--- End quote ---

Am I missing something?  If one controller can only drive 13 LEDs, and each LED requires 3 outputs, then I take it one controller has 39 outputs?
13x3=39 outputs

A full two-player panel as described above, with 14 buttons, 16 directions, and two start buttons, only takes 60 outputs? 
14+16+2=32
32x3=94 outputs, not 60!  That's three boards by my count.

Oh, answered my own question- the 16 directional LEDs and the 2 Start LEDs will not be RGBs, but rather single fixed-color LEDs? 
14x3=42
42+16+2=60 = two boards.

Can three boards be daisy-chained for full RGB support on all LEDs?

Oh, and you forgot the Coin Reject button LEDs!
Franco:

--- Quote from: Kremmit on July 07, 2005, 01:54:18 am ---Oh, and you forgot the Coin Reject button LEDs!

--- End quote ---

Hey, have you been reading my mind?

Now all we need is some clear coin rejects. Shawnzilla..........
ddockery:
I need full details on both this board and randy T's before I decide, so I voted that I was unsure.  However, if I go with this board, I would just need one.
Buddabing:

--- Quote from: Kremmit on July 07, 2005, 01:54:18 am ---
Can three boards be daisy-chained for full RGB support on all LEDs?


--- End quote ---

The hardware limit is eight boards. So it can be done. But I will not support more than four boards, due to other hardware considerations.

A PCB change to support four boards will be easy. I would just need to make a four-position jumper.

Popular demand seems to be in favor of more than one controller. It's probably easier and cheaper to add the 4-way jumper than it is to add a SPDT switch for 2-controller operation.

Four boards would give 160 outputs, enough to light 53 RGB LEDs.

FYI: each board, when all 40 ports are at full output, can draw a full amp of current from the PC's power supply. That may seem like a lot, but this shouldn't be a problem, the power supplies I've looked at can supply much more. 1 amp times 5 volts=5 watts. For comparison, I pulled a random disk drive manual from Seagate, this rather typical hard disk pulls 9.5 to 13 watts depending on its state. CPUs can pull much more power than that, especially the Prescott Pentium 4s.


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