RGB Drive wiring - some questions for a newbie!

[pboreham]

My quest of learning about cabinets continues as I start to do the wiring!

I have got an LEDWiz, 12 Electric-Ice Buttons, a Electric Ice-T trackball and 2 lightable Novegem credit buttons on the front of the cab.

My plan is to have 3 buttons for each player a fully changeable colour, the trackball full RGB too, the other 3 buttons for each player a solid colour and obviously the 2 coin door buttons lit.

That makes (I think), 29 inputs needed on the LEDWiz?

My questions now!

1) How do I connect the RGB Drives to the LEDWiz? Do I have to seperate the 4 wires on the ribbon, strip back and then add to the right terminal?

2) What terminals do I add too on the LEDWiz? I'm guessing it doesnt matter what goes where, just that if you want RGB then you need to add the 3 wires (not 5V wire) to the Wiz, if you just want red, then just connect the 'red' wire? What I am saying is that it doesnt matter which terminal number the wire goes in? (or is this used in the software?)

3) How do I do the ground? Do I just daisy chain all the 5V wires together using disconnects then plug the final one into the LEDWiz?

Thanks for any help guys! 

[Red 5]

Did you read this ? http://groovygamegear.com/PDF/LEDWIZ_INSTALL.pdf

I would start at term # 1 . If doing RGB the you should keep it Red, Green, Blue. It is just easier that way.

If you only want one color of the RGB LED the just hook up that color's wire.

You might want to consider an external 5vdc supply to power this, see instruction sheet.

Have fun.

Jon

[pboreham]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the reply - yea I have the instructions, but as I mentioned, I'm a complete newbie and I dont really understand much of it (I keep reading and re-reading them!).

I know alot about computers and technology, but wiring, ohms, amps, ground, volts etc - dont have a clue!!!

So from what you've put, let me just clarify...

P1 - Switch One (RGB), put the R, G, B wires to term 1, 2 and 3.

P1 - Switch Two (RGB), put the R, G, B wires to term 4, 5 and 6.

P1 - Switch 4 (Red), put the R wire to term 10 (or whatever) and leave B and G off.

Is that right?

Also, for the power supply, can it not take the USB power for the amout of LEDs I have? If I need an external source, what would you recommend, PC supply? If so, where does that go? The LEDWiz board currently has a little brown loop of wire from EXT. 5V to USB 5V - do I remove this and put the PC supply to EXT.5V? What about EXT.Ground?

 

Anyway, thanks again - would appreciate any answers to the above!! 

[Green Giant]

You have it right on how to hook up the rgb wires.  Each color gets its own input.  The fourth wire is the 5V power line.

The usb power is only enough for maybe 5 led's, so you will need outside power.

The best option is from your pc power supply.  The below picture is what you need.  Just get one of these extension cords from radio shack or wherever, and cut it up to supply 5v.  Extend the red and black for ground and 5v power to the ledwiz and you are good to go.

[headkaze]

My website might help out http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~freeaxs/arcade/ledwiz.htm

[buks]

Paul,

apologies for the late reply - got your PM then went down with a terrible cold !

Anyway, you may have advanced somewhat but I thought I'd throw this in :

I have the first 3 buttons for each player as RGB then the next 3 either red or blue (to match the joystick colours).

So my Ledwiz is wired thus :

PL1 Button 1 - Ledwiz sockets 1, 2 and 3
                  2 -                         4, 5 and 6
                  3 -                         7, 8 and 9
                  4 -                         10 - just the "red" wire - all others taped off and loose (except 5V)
                  5 -                         11 - ditto
                  6 -                         12 - ditto
PL2 Button 1 - Ledwiz sockets 13, 14 and 15
                  2 -                         16, 17 and 18
                  3 -                         19, 20 and 21
                  4 -                         22 - just the "blue" wire - all others taped off and loose (except 5V)
                  5 -                         23 - ditto
                  6 -                         24 - ditto
Trackball                                  25, 26 and 27
Mouse Left                               28
Mouse right                              29
Admin 1                                   30
Admin 2                                   31

All the "5V" wires are twisted together and go into the +5V hole on the ledwiz. I have the jumper attached and no wires at all in the GRND hole. Connected via USB.

Hope this helps - hopefully no one posts that I'm putting my life in danger by touching the buttons .....

Seen some other posts from you regarding your hunt for wires - I got all of mine from Ultimarc but then I got the Ipac and Optipac from there too.

Good luck !

Buks

[pboreham]

Cheers Buks - over the last few days I've got most of the answers I need...

The LEDWiz info is most helpful! Whats the best way to connect the 5V? I've just brought a soldering iron, some solder and some electrical tape! If I twist all the wires and dab a bit of solder on them, will they connect into the board, or is that going to be too large?

Anyway, thanks for the help - will give you a shout if I get stuck.

Sorry to hear about the cold too! 

[pboreham]

Waaahoooo! Wired up the first LED control tonight and it works no problems!

The look on my girlfriends face when I presented her my pulsing coloured ball! 

Seriously, it looks fab - so cool. Got to get the hand of the LEDWiz software now - any tips, or just stick to MaLa plug-ins?

Thanks again guys! 

[buks]

Paul,

The ledwiz software from ggg is just for creating your own animations. It sort of works but you cant edit what you've saved so its a bit of a pain. All my animations and button lighting come from the mala plugin by loadman and edge - theres another one called ledblinky but I dont use that one. Its dead easy to setup - you tell it which loedwiz terminals are associated with each button and what colour each terminal is. That way you can "force" it to only light up a single colour for your player buttons - PL1 are all red, PL2 are all blue on my setup - this doesnt seem to affect the animations as all my rgb's seem to "pulse" like they should.

Randy at GGG has posted a "dancing to music" ledwiz thingy which is on the software forums somewhere.

As for the 5V's  - I wrapped about 5 or 6 together and wrapped that to a single wire (covering in tape). Ended up with 3 or 4 wires which is mucho easier to put in the +5V terminal thingy. One day I may go back to it a use solder - not sure about my skillz though

Buks

[pboreham]

Cheers Buks - I'll look out for the Plugins.

Think the wire will be ok - its so thin, but I've not twisted any together yet, so cannot see if it will 'grow' - sure it will be fine! I've got the solder stuff, so may as well use it!

[arzoo]

The ledwiz software from ggg is just for creating your own animations. It sort of works but you cant edit what you've saved so its a bit of a pain.

If you're interested in creating your own animations - check out my animation editor...
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=70866.0

[pboreham]

The ledwiz software from ggg is just for creating your own animations. It sort of works but you cant edit what you've saved so its a bit of a pain.

If you're interested in creating your own animations - check out my animation editor...
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=70866.0

Thats fab Arzoo! Just watched the video on that link - is exactly what I'm looking for.

Should be finishing all the wiring over the weekend, so will defo download this and use it sometime then.

Thanks!