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Easy Led Buttons
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rlehm:
If any other newbs like me read this and are looking for an easy way to illuminate your buttons, please don't think buying NovaGems+ a LED-Wiz is plug and play. It is not. You will still need to hack your comp for +5v and all tht, so may as well go with much cheaper buttons.
RandyT:

--- Quote from: rlehm on August 01, 2007, 12:53:46 am ---How. How are these to be hooked up. And please leave out the LED-Wiz, I am not going to use it. I keep hearing what not to do, but what am I to do?

--- End quote ---

First of all, I want to apologize to all who are reading this for the destruction of this thread with a GGG support issue.  In an attempt at atonement, I'll provide some food for thought relative to the topic while answering the above question.

While lighting projects are fun and not terribly complicated, I cannot stress enough that they require some basic electronics skills.  They are not the same as wiring up a KeyWiz or other input only device. 

The abilities one should at minimum possess :


* read and understand instructions
* use and understand a multi-meter
* read simple wiring diagrams
* understand the power requirements of a device / devices
* understand the power delivery capabilities of a given power supply
* safe and neat wiring practices.
* patience.
Even something as simple as connecting 12v LEDs to a PC power supply needs to have the quantity of the LEDs, the power requirements of those LEDs and the power delivery capabilities of the supply taken into consideration.  If you have a huge power supply with very few devices / drives attached and are connecting only a few LEDs, then this becomes less important.  But connecting 20 NovaGems to a power supply will draw approx. 2 amps of current!  You must know that you have this available and that your wiring methods can support it, or you risk a lot of problems.  This is not the type of project where one can just "wing it" and everything will be fine.  A case in point is where one fairly well-known panel manufacturer caused a whole panel full of RGB-Drives to be destroyed through a wiring error.  We did what we could to ease the burden on the very distraught customer, but it illustrates the fact that not even those who often build control panels are fully up to speed with some of the work required.

So, the simple answer to "How do I light a NovaGem without an LED-Wiz" is that the Cathode side (the side with the heat shrink covered resistor that would normally go to the output of the LED-Wiz) goes to Ground.  The other side (Anode) goes to a well-regulated 5v DC power supply, such as the one in your PC.  With this information, one must then consider the number of NovaGems to be connected, the best and safest method of making those connections (jumpered euro-style terminal blocks in many cases) and whether the power supply has enough 5v DC current left to drive that quantity of devices after the motherboard, video card, processor, USB Devices, Hard Drives, DVD Burner, etc. are considered.

In conclusion, this is not a project to fear as some fantastic looking panels with enhanced functionality will result when done properly (as we continually see.)  But no-one should think for one moment that  any method of lighting a panel is just going to be "plug and play" with no knowledge or ability required from the user.  This is specialized fabrication, no different than what kiosk manufacturers do.  It stands to reason that some skills will be required.

RandyT
bfauska:
Which buttons are you referring to that will be much cheaper that won't also be more work?

NovaGem + 5v = lit button.
LedWiz + 5v(if lighting more than 5 buttons) + USB + NovaGem = controllable lit button.

Cheaper button + drill + LED + resistor + solder + wire + 5v = lit button


While not being the cheapest option for illuminated concave pushbuttons, the NovaGems look good to me.  Using other sources you could save less than maybe $2.50 a button if you were willing to shop several sources, cut and strip wires, drill holes, solder resistors and wires, and cover the resulting product w/ heat-shrink tube.  And even after all that work you would probably end up with a product that doesn't glow as evenly or as brightly.
Green Giant:

--- Quote from: rlehm on July 31, 2007, 11:15:37 pm ---
--- Quote from: RandyT on July 31, 2007, 10:51:57 pm ---
I don't see your power connections.  Don't even think about powering all those NovaGems from just the 5v on the USB port.  I'm going to need more info, but not here. 

RandyT

--- End quote ---


the piece of paper that came with the LED-Wiz and buttons directed me to use the USB cable that was provided. Now I am not supposed to use it?

use this link and refer to Figure 3
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=69351.0http://groovygamegear.com/PDF/LEDWIZ+GP_INSTALL.pdf


--- End quote ---

You are supposed to use the usb to drive the on-off control of the ledwiz.  The computer tells the chip on the ledwiz what buttons to light, but it only acts as a great big switch.

LED's, while efficient, still consume power.  The nova gem leds not only require 5V but also 100ma.  The document you are refering to specifically says, "It is pre-configured for USB supplied 5v DC power with a total current delivery of 500ma or less."  This is 500ma total through the usb cable.

This means no more than 5 nova gems can be hooked up with the usb cable alone.  Also on that document is directions on powering the full current load necessary.  Remove the jumper and add a simple 5V line from your computer power supply.  The thing about USB is that it can only supply .25watts.  Your computer power supply probably has 300watts.  Using a wall wart for the 5V power using the ledwiz could cause problems with the ledwiz and wall wart having different grounds.

You will not see anything on the LEDwiz if you don't give the onboard chip enough power to turn on.  Try removing all but two nova gem buttons from the ledwiz.  If you still don't see anything when you plug it in, you might have a problem.

Now if you need help or advice on supplying the 5V just let me know.
Green Giant:

--- Quote from: rlehm on August 01, 2007, 01:47:01 am ---If any other newbs like me read this and are looking for an easy way to illuminate your buttons, please don't think buying NovaGems+ a LED-Wiz is plug and play. It is not. You will still need to hack your comp for +5v and all tht, so may as well go with much cheaper buttons.

--- End quote ---

The funny thing about what you said is the innaccuracy.  "You will still need to hack your comp for +5V and all that,". 

You should have said "you still need to hack your computer for 5V and thats it."  Really, if you supply the 5V from your computer, using some really simple extension plugs, all you do is plug and play.

Connecting 5V to a computer power supply or external supply is much more complicated as you will have to regulate the power with resistors so you don't blow the diode.
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