Color of on/off button?

[theCoder]

Philosophical Question:

I've got a lit on/off button on my cab.  It will be one color when the cab is on, and another color when the cab is off.  Another way to say that it… it is one color when the pressing the button turns the cab on, and another color to turn the cab is off.

The question:  Should the color on the power button show the state of the cab (red when off / green when on) or should the color indicate the function to be performed when pressed (green to go/start, red to stop)?  So you walk into a room.  The machine is off, what color should the button be? 

[FrizzleFried]

The button should  NOT have a color when it is off else you are wasting energy needlessly...

...that massive .55 watts may have helped a neighbor heat some toast...after about 2 years.

[FrizzleFried]

But to answer your question .... it is more "natural" to me to have the button green while in operation and red while powered down.

[mountain]

I would say red when off, green when on.

[Kevin Mullins]

Should the color on the power button show the state of the cab (red when off / green when on)   

I'd go with that scenario if you were to have it lit at all when it is off.

Kind of like a indicator on a monitor that is green when on and red or orange when there is no signal.

[patrickl]

The Wii on/off button is red when off and green when on (and I think orange when it is in "standby").

[bfauska]

Sounds like you'll get fairly consistant results for this question.  I agree that most of my purchased electronics with lights on or near the power button are green when on and red/amber when off.  I do see where you are coming from with the idea that red is the stop button and green is the go button, but maybe the best solution is a power symbol and conventional colors.

[Spaz Monkey]

My PS2 has blue for standby and green for power.

[superbigjay]

I would go with this color code:

fushia when OFF
brown when ON.

The fushia will bring all the green of the timesink and brown is the first color that comes to mind when you say ON 

Since your cab is green, I would go with

ON : GREEN
OFF: Yellow

(These are the colors of my Dell power button)

Cheers
Jay 

[theCoder]

...but maybe the best solution is a power symbol and conventional colors.

Something like this?  I forgot to mention the light will pulsate. 

So the consensus seems to be the light is the machine state, not the function.  This is in line with my experience with production equipment, but the other seems more appropriate for the Nintendo generation. 

So... pulsing green when the cab is on, pulsing red (or blue or brown, I kinda like blue) when the cab is off.

[Kevin Mullins]

I would think more along the lines of a steady green when the machine is on and a pulsating red when off indicating that you need to do something with that button in order to turn the machine on. (the pulsation draws your attention to it)   

I guess you could say the same with a pulsating green indicating that you need to push that button to turn it off, but I think that's pretty much figured out once you've learned what to do to turn it on.

[patrickl]

This is in line with my experience with production equipment, but the other seems more appropriate for the Nintendo generation.

Well like I said, Nintendo choose the green=off and red=on machine state coloring so you should be safe there 

[Kremmit]

Pulse when off, steady when on.  It should draw attention when you need to turn it on, not while you're playing.

[superbigjay]

Pulse when off, steady when on.  It should draw attention when you need to turn it on, not while you're playing.

That a good idea.
Simple and match 100% your color scheme.

You already have a lot of light on that thing.  Having it steady when playing would be nice...

Jay 

[theCoder]

Pulse when off, steady when on...

It means more work, but that's a great idea.  Changing the code to work this way should be no problem.  The trick is going to be getting the signal/input to know the difference.  I do have a 12vdc signal tripping the power relay to work with.  And I thought I was almost done. 

Thanks for the input everyone.

[ratzz]

I don't want to sound controvesial, but seriosly, what is the point of this? I mean having a light when its off seems pointless.

And we are being advised to switch all things off when not in use.

Please don't think I'm preaching, but it does seem a little pointless. It almost seems like you're doing it just becase you can ...

err ... green on ... red off

ratzz ...   

[Green Giant]

I don't want to sound controvesial, but seriosly, what is the point of this? I mean having a light when its off seems pointless.

The machine off light is there to show you what to hit to power it on.  This cab might be in a poorly lit area and locating the power button could be a pain, especially for any visitors.  It will also act like a flame for a moth, drawing people in to play games.

Also, he is doing it just because, same reason I give people when they ask me why I built a cab in the first place.  They think playing those games on your computer is good enough.

[shardian]

Pulse when off, steady when on.  It should draw attention when you need to turn it on, not while you're playing.

For goodness sakes, no no and no. I had an emachines computer on which the pc and the monitor led's pulsed when off or in standy by mode. It was annoying as hell. I ended up taping off both lights just so I could sleep at night.

I vote for no light whatsoever on the power button.

[Kremmit]

Pulse when off, steady when on.  It should draw attention when you need to turn it on, not while you're playing.

For goodness sakes, no no and no. I had an emachines computer on which the pc and the monitor led's pulsed when off or in standy by mode. It was annoying as hell. I ended up taping off both lights just so I could sleep at night.

I vote for no light whatsoever on the power button.

Depends on where the cab is, I guess.  I wouldn't want a light if it were in my bedroom ore even living room.  My games are in a dedicated game room, so the light wouldn't ever bug me.

[ratzz]

I don't want to sound controvesial, but seriosly, what is the point of this? I mean having a light when its off seems pointless.

The machine off light is there to show you what to hit to power it on.  This cab might be in a poorly lit area and locating the power button could be a pain, especially for any visitors.  It will also act like a flame for a moth, drawing people in to play games.

Also, he is doing it just because, same reason I give people when they ask me why I built a cab in the first place.  They think playing those games on your computer is good enough.

He can't switch something on when its dark? Poorly lit area? Locating the power botton could be a pain (especially for any visitors)?

Sorry, but 

[Green Giant]

I don't want to sound controvesial, but seriosly, what is the point of this? I mean having a light when its off seems pointless.

The machine off light is there to show you what to hit to power it on.  This cab might be in a poorly lit area and locating the power button could be a pain, especially for any visitors.  It will also act like a flame for a moth, drawing people in to play games.

Also, he is doing it just because, same reason I give people when they ask me why I built a cab in the first place.  They think playing those games on your computer is good enough.

He can't switch something on when its dark? Poorly lit area? Locating the power botton could be a pain (especially for any visitors)?

Sorry, but 

All that and making stuff glow is fun.  I didn't need an ledwiz, but I am glad I bought it.

Also, maybe he is afraid of the dark and wants a little night light on his cab.... 

[theCoder]

I don't want to sound controvesial, but seriosly, what is the point of this? I mean having a light when its off seems pointless.

The machine off light is there to show you what to hit to power it on.  This cab might be in a poorly lit area and locating the power button could be a pain, especially for any visitors.  It will also act like a flame for a moth, drawing people in to play games.

Also, he is doing it just because, same reason I give people when they ask me why I built a cab in the first place.  They think playing those games on your computer is good enough.

You hit the nail on the head with both comments.  It will be in a dim area and I often have guests over that haven't played one of these in 15 years.  I know where the switch is, but they don't.  Many times I'm not even home to give directions.  It needs to scream out, "press me to start".  I'm doing all this lighting stuff just because I want to learn how.  I could have bought an LEDWiz and recommend it for anyone that doesn't have the time or desire to do this kind of project themselves.   For me, it is about learning new skills (you know, like numchuck skills and hacking skills), not necessarily the end product.

And about sounding controversial...  No problem.  Its all good.