PC Power Splitter

[pboreham]

If I get a power split cable to take the power out of the case for the LEDWiz and Marquee light, can I use the one adapter?

I.e. take the 5V wire from the adapter to the LEDWiz and the 12V wire from the same adapter to the marquee light? Would I daisy chain the ground from the marquee, to the LEDWiz and back to the adapter?

Thanks for any help - I'm only asking as I have one sat in my work PC under the desk - so I could whip that out and take it home!!! 

[DaOld Man]

Yes that should work.
Im just not too crazy about powering a lot of things off the computer power supply.
I have always used a 12 volt wall-wart adapter to power such things as coin door lights.
Also even though daisy chaining the grounds is probably ok, you might want to bring the grounds back to the adapter. (Yell & black are 12 V and Red & black are 5 v.)

[pboreham]

Cheers - I assume the Black is the ground?

[Malenko]

Cheers - I assume the Black is the ground?

on a PC Molex connector, yes.  What he means is use the Red with the black next to it, and then use the yellow with the great next to it....ie pair them off. ( R B )  (B Y )

[fatfingers]

Im just not too crazy about powering a lot of things off the computer power supply.
I have always used a 12 volt wall-wart adapter to power such things as coin door lights.

Or, if you have a spare power supply sitting around like I did...

[DaOld Man]

pboreham: yes, blacks are ground. Also know as negative (-). Red and yellow are positives (+). By the way, what kind of marquee light are you using?

Malenko: thanks for clearing that up, I should have been more clear in my post. Working midnight shift seems to make me a little fuzzy headed.

fatfingers: Good idea on the spare power supply. I used a 12 volt 1 amp wall adapter because all I needed was the coin door lamps (about a half amp) and track ball led (about 20 milliamp), so the 1 amp "wall-wart" worked out good, plus it is easily replaced and takes up very little room.
What type power supply did you use? AT or ATX? If ATX, how do you turn it on?

[pboreham]

pboreham: yes, blacks are ground. Also know as negative (-). Red and yellow are positives (+). By the way, what kind of marquee light are you using?

Thanks for the reply - I'm using the new GGG LED based marquee light - I forget the name!

[pboreham]

I will be extending my PC power supply tonight to where I need it.

Is it ok to twist the PC Splitters wires and 18 gauge together then cover in (electrical) tape - or is solder better, or solder/tape etc...

Just dont want it to all set on fire!!! 

Thanks!

[DaOld Man]

Its been a while since ive been on here, so excuse the late reply. Twisting and taping should be fine, just twist tightly and use good quality electrical tape.
Solder is better, but if it is a low current twisting is OK.
How did it turn out?

[pboreham]

No worries OldMan - came out ok - like you say, a good twist and plenty of tape.

Got a short video in my blog of all the lights in MaLa attract mode - and the marquee light is working too! Just got to get 2 more splitters for the coin door lights, then I'm sorted! 

[DaOld Man]

You do know you can wire the coin door lights in parallel with the marquee lights?
It would save you the cost of two more splitters.
Just run a wire to one of the lamps terminal, then to the other lamp's same terminal.
repeat the process with a different wire to connect the other two terminals.
Then connect the two wires to the wires going to the marquee light. Polarity doesn't matter, unless you are using LED's for the coin door lamps.
Like me express again that I do not like using the computers power supply for such things as coin door lamps, but if you really want to do it, it should be ok.
Why do I not like doing this?
(1) The chances of something shorting and messing up your computer's power grow exponentially with each device you add.
(2) You are adding more current demand to a precisely regulated, switching power supply. More current means more heat. If you are using a PC in its case, the heat adds to the PCs heat.
But that's just my opinion. And that will buy you a coke, if you put a dollar with it..
Good luck on your project!

[pboreham]

You do know you can wire the coin door lights in parallel with the marquee lights?
It would save you the cost of two more splitters.
Just run a wire to one of the lamps terminal, then to the other lamp's same terminal.
repeat the process with a different wire to connect the other two terminals.
Then connect the two wires to the wires going to the marquee light. Polarity doesn't matter, unless you are using LED's for the coin door lamps.
Like me express again that I do not like using the computers power supply for such things as coin door lamps, but if you really want to do it, it should be ok.
Why do I not like doing this?
(1) The chances of something shorting and messing up your computer's power grow exponentially with each device you add.
(2) You are adding more current demand to a precisely regulated, switching power supply. More current means more heat. If you are using a PC in its case, the heat adds to the PCs heat.
But that's just my opinion. And that will buy you a coke, if you put a dollar with it..
Good luck on your project!

Really sorry, but I dont quite follow your instructions - I'm a bit confused!!!

For the marquee light, I am using the Nova Matrix LED based light from GGG. This requires a 12V feed, where as the coin door lights - the Nova Gems again from GGG, require 5V each.

If this can still work, could you please explain again for me!

Thanks, Paul

[DaOld Man]

Oh, I am sorry. I thought you had regular coin doors with the incandescent 12 volt lamps.
I am not familiar with the Nova Gems. They look really neat though.
If you go to the GGG website it has instructions for wiring the novagems to the ledwiz.
Here is a snip from the website:

Connection:

The buttons have 2 wires attached to them. One is RED and the other is BLACK. The BLACK lead goes to the LED-Wiz™. The RED wire goes to +5v. Be sure that the power requirements for the device are met properly, otherwise damage may occur to the components the power is being drawn from. GroovyGameGear / IDVT Inc. will assume no responsibility for damages caused by improper use.

If you look at the wiring diagram for the led wiz, I would say the two blacks from the novagems both connect to terminal 16 of the ledwiz.
Both the reds from the novagems connect to the same red wire that feeds the ledwiz.
The novagems require 5 volts, so DO NOT CONNECT THEM TO THE 12 VOLTS YOU ARE FEEDING THE MARQUEE WITH!!!!


If anyone else here can explain this better (Randy?) please do so..

[DaOld Man]

I was just reading more on the ledwiz.
If you are already using the terminal 16 for one of your buttons, you may just want to connect the novagems black wires to the black wire feeding the ledwiz.
Or if you want, just buy another splitter and connect both red wires from the novagems to the red wire of the splitter, and both blacks from the novagems to the black of the splitter.
This may be the easiest way for you. But I dont think you will need two splitters.

My apologies for confusing you.
I just got around to checking out your blog.
Very impressive control panel!!

[pboreham]

Thanks, that makes sense!

So you can connect the 5V Red from the splitter to BOTH red wires from the LEDs? So its a bit like this...

From LEDs Switch

    RED       BLACK
    |   |         |   |
    |   |         |   |
    |   |         |   |
    ----         -----
      |             |
      |             |

To splitter in PC

Thanks for the props for the control panel - very pleased with it!

[DaOld Man]

Yep, that should work.

So are you happy with the marquee light from GGG? Im thinking of trying one on my next project.

[pboreham]

Yea, its fab - I've not got much to compare it too though, but its small, neat, easy to fit (and power) and most importantly, gives off a LOAD of bright light.

For the price, definately worth it 

[Malenko]

a little off topic, but I was quite impressed with your speaker hole drilling. the LED looks nifty, how do the buttons feel to you?

[pboreham]

a little off topic, but I was quite impressed with your speaker hole drilling. the LED looks nifty, how do the buttons feel to you?

Thanks Malenko! The hole drilling was one of those jobs that was painfully slow to do and took about an hour or more each side (and plenty of arm/wrist cramps), but I'm glad I did it now. Saying that, I've not heard the sound through it yet so...

The buttons feel ace actually - anything specific?

Thanks for the comments anyway, its been great to get so many positive comments from the respected guys on here 

[fatfingers]

fatfingers: Good idea on the spare power supply. I used a 12 volt 1 amp wall adapter because all I needed was the coin door lamps (about a half amp) and track ball led (about 20 milliamp), so the 1 amp "wall-wart" worked out good, plus it is easily replaced and takes up very little room.
What type power supply did you use? AT or ATX? If ATX, how do you turn it on?

Sorry for the late reply...

ATX.  I turned it on by cutting a paper clip to the appropriate length, then inserting the paper clip into the board connector in the appropriate spots (a web search should tell you which ones).  Then, I put electrical tape over the board connector so as to protect that from hitting anything else.

 

[DaOld Man]

OK, thanks..
I wasnt sure about turning on an atx like that. I would think it would cause problems because the PS really gets a pulse to power up (pressing power on button then releasing it.)
I have heard of people wiring a capacitor in the same spot you put your paper clip.
But, hey, if it works for you then thats good!

[unclet]

I have an extra ATX power supply and I would like to have it turn on when the power supply box receives power.   Since this is an ATX power supply then it currently does not turn on automatically so I was thinking I would do what "fatfingers" did (except instead of using a paper clip I would use some thick wire).

Here is the pinout of the Dell ATX power supply I have:

http://pinouts.ru/Power/dell_atxpower_pinout.shtml

Will someone please tell me where to connect the ends of my wire?

[DaOld Man]

Looking at your drawing, it looks like the gray wire (/PS_ON) should go to ground.
But I could be wrong. Most power supplies have a green wire for PS_ON, but Dell has got to be different.
Also, some power supplies will go into sleep mode if the power button is held in. If yours does this, you will need to use a small capacitor to give you a pulse which is like pressing and releasing the power button.

I saw a site where someone did this, and Im sure there are many threads on this subject on this site.
I suggest you search for the threads, or if you feel adventurous, you can try touching the gray to a black.
But note that some power supplies need to see a load, so it may not come on if its not connected to anything.
If its not connected, and it does come on, you will be able to tell by the fan powering up.

Here is a site with a little info on this:

http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps1.htm

Hope this helps...

[unclet]

OK, I connected gray to black and the fan came on ..... thanks !