How to power coin door lights?

[Odonadon]

Either the search feature sucks, or I'm just blind.  I explicetly remember several posts answering this question, but can't find any of them.  Anyway, I'll ask it again:

Best way to power coin door LEDs?  I know it's probably from one of the molex connectors from the PC's power supply that would hook into the hard drive, right?  Which wire is what voltage. and what do I need?    Do I need to wire from a black and a red?  Black and a yellow?  Any help would be awesome.

Thanks guys,
Odonadon

[johnpurs]

I did a write up and posted it here http://www.pennsauken.net/tech_beta/pursglove/

[RandyT]

Red should be +5v (I only saw one instance where it wasn't and it was a long time ago. Even then it was probably a manufacturing screwup), and black is ground.  A voltmeter helps to make sure.

A bright LED is definitely the way to go.  Just make sure you have the right resistor in place to limit the current going to it.

RandyT

[Brad Lee]

Mine is a standard Happ's coin door with 2 bulbs(not LEDs). The bulbs are 14v, so I just hacked apart one of my spare molex's from the power supply, used the yellow for 12v and the black for a common.

They're a tiny bit dimmer than a real 14v supply, but when I get around to repalcing the reject covers with red(amber are the default) I'm going to find some superbright white LEDs, ideally that take 5v, but since most seem to be 3v I'll need some resitors, for which I'll probably check out some examples and/or the link above(I haven't yet)



Hooking up 3v leds to a 5v source, such as from the pc power supply WILL light them, but they'll burn-out pretty fast. I wired an atari-type start button/led using 5v and it lasted about a week Thankfully Ive got 3 more that the leds are still good

[Brad Lee]

Something I just thought of- most pc batteries(the quarter sized ones right on the mobo) are 3.3v. You could use that for your power source- that's all i use to test leds in the shop. Ive got no idea how long that would last for a constantly powered light like the coin door though
Just a thought

[_Iz-]

My cabinet was a converted arcade cabinet. It had the original coin door and the bulbs were 6v each. I wired them in series to 12v from one of my molex connectors on the computer's powersupply.

[Odonadon]

I did a write up and posted it here http://www.pennsauken.net/tech_beta/pursglove/

Perfect.  Thanks man.  That's exactly what  I was looking for.

Odonadon

[StephenH]

Several Ways:

The first step is to note the voltage and the current draw of the lights.    Then, from there, see below.


1) Use the PC Power Supply If the voltage is +5V-6V or 12V-14V, and under 700ma, you can probably run them from a PC supply, using the +5V, or +12V wires from an extra disk drive connector.   Just build an adaptor for this.

2) You can buy a transformer from radio shack, or the like, with the appropriate voltage and the proper current rating.  It does not matter if the voltage is AC or DC.

3) The last way, is to look at adapters that you have laying around, from devices you no longer use (such as toys, adding machines, answering machines, etc), and see if one matches the required voltage and current draw ratings.

[alphasqorner]

thx for this thread!!! I couldn't find these answers anywhere else!

[Sephroth57]

good writeup john, i gotta fav place that =)