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LEDWiz, basic LED and RGB LED questions

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unclet:

I am thinking about getting a LEDWiz from Randy so I can make lights dance to the music being played in my jukebox but I do not quite understand everything about it.   I am not going to light up pushbuttons, but would like to have lights dance from underneath my cabinet (near the floor) if possible.  I am not sure whether I want LED or RGB LED lights on it as well.  I have no knowledge regarding lighting stuff or buying lighting supplies to make this work (ie: I am pretty much clueless).

I have some questions:

1) I believe I can connect 10 RGB LED lights to "one" LEDWiz since each RGB takes up 3 ports and one LEDWiz has 32 ports.   Is this correct?  If so, then there will be two ports "left-over", so can I plug in two regular one-colored LED lights each?

2) Where is the best place to buy affordable LED (one colored lights)?

3) Where is the best place to buy affordable RGB LED lights (three lights in one)?

4) Lets say I connect one RGB LED light to 3 ports on the LEDWiz.  The LEDWIz can then control the voltage going to each of the 3 ports, which will then control the color emitted by the RGB.   Now, if I wanted to have two RGB LED lights to display the exact the same colors, can I simply daisy-chain the RGB lights together so I do not have to use up 3 more ports on the LEDWiz?

5) Where do I get power to light the LED and RGB LED lights ... or perhaps I just need to power the LEDWiz hardware only?  Perhaps I can use the 5V line from the computer's power supply?

6) What is really needed for me to make lights dance to the music?  LEDWiz, LED/RGB lights and some software Randy made .....  is this it?

7) How do you wire up LED and RGB LED lights?   Do I solder wire to them or do they pop into some receptacle I need to get? 

8 ) Do LED and RGB LED lights get "warm" or "hot" to the touch?   Do I have to worry about burning something if the lights are mounted to close to something?

9) How do most people "mount" there LED lights in a cabinet so the light shines where they want it to?

10) I am looking at trying to get lights dance from underneath my cabinet onto the floor beneath.  Basically, have the lights shine on the floor where the cabinet is so the cabinet looks like it is sitting in lights.  How many LED lights would you think I would need to light up the underneath part of my cabinet .... just a general idea would be great.   I am trying to gauge how much all the supplies are going to cost me.

11) Do LED lights last pretty long?   I would hate to have to replace them frequently from the inside of my jukebox.


Crazy amount of questions I know ..... thanks for your input.




Jouster:

Ok, I can knock a couple of these off for you anyway...


--- Quote from: unclet on November 19, 2007, 01:08:18 pm ---1) I believe I can connect 10 RGB LED lights to "one" LEDWiz since each RGB takes up 3 ports and one LEDWiz has 32 ports.   Is this correct?  If so, then there will be two ports "left-over", so can I plug in two regular one-colored LED lights each?
--- End quote ---
That is correct...10 RGB's to the LEDWiz and then 2 single clolred LEDs with the two remaining sopts.


--- Quote ---2) Where is the best place to buy affordable LED (one colored lights)?
--- End quote ---
Not sure about the 'best'...but GGG isn't bad when you consider that you also get the resistor.
or...
http://superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm


--- Quote ---3) Where is the best place to buy affordable RGB LED lights (three lights in one)?
--- End quote ---

Same as above.


--- Quote ---4) Lets say I connect one RGB LED light to 3 ports on the LEDWiz.  The LEDWIz can then control the voltage going to each of the 3 ports, which will then control the color emitted by the RGB.   Now, if I wanted to have two RGB LED lights to display the exact the same colors, can I simply daisy-chain the RGB lights together so I do not have to use up 3 more ports on the LEDWiz?
--- End quote ---

Check this out for general wiring issues for LEDs  http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html


--- Quote ---5) Where do I get power to light the LED and RGB LED lights ... or perhaps I just need to power the LEDWiz hardware only?  Perhaps I can use the 5V line from the computer's power supply?
--- End quote ---

Either would work.


--- Quote ---6) What is really needed for me to make lights dance to the music?  LEDWiz, LED/RGB lights and some software Randy made .....  is this it?
--- End quote ---

There was a thread on this somewhere, you might want to try a search...


--- Quote ---7) How do you wire up LED and RGB LED lights?   Do I solder wire to them or do they pop into some receptacle I need to get? 
--- End quote ---

See link under #4


--- Quote ---8 ) Do LED and RGB LED lights get "warm" or "hot" to the touch?   Do I have to worry about burning something if the lights are mounted to close to something?
--- End quote ---

They can get hot...however they are nowhere near other light bulbs.


--- Quote ---9) How do most people "mount" there LED lights in a cabinet so the light shines where they want it to?
--- End quote ---

I used some perf board to make stands...also gave me an easy way to solder in the resistor...you can check the 'Irish Luck' bartop in projects to see mine...second page I think of the thread.


--- Quote ---10) I am looking at trying to get lights dance from underneath my cabinet onto the floor beneath.  Basically, have the lights shine on the floor where the cabinet is so the cabinet looks like it is sitting in lights.  How many LED lights would you think I would need to light up the underneath part of my cabinet .... just a general idea would be great.   I am trying to gauge how much all the supplies are going to cost me.
--- End quote ---

Hard to say honestly...I think it will partly depend on what effect you are really going for...a daytime bright, colorful display may require more than if it is going to be in a lowly lit arcade game room...but that should go without saying.


--- Quote ---11) Do LED lights last pretty long?   I would hate to have to replace them frequently from the inside of my jukebox.
--- End quote ---

LEDs last for years longer that a normal bulb...if they are given the correct amount of electricity, they can last 10 years!!


Hope that helps.

Jouster

RandyT:


--- Quote from: unclet on November 19, 2007, 01:08:18 pm ---1) I believe I can connect 10 RGB LED lights to "one" LEDWiz since each RGB takes up 3 ports and one LEDWiz has 32 ports.   Is this correct?  If so, then there will be two ports "left-over", so can I plug in two regular one-colored LED lights each?

--- End quote ---

I just want to add on this topic to the good answers already given;

You can connect more than 10 RGB's to an LED-Wiz, but you may have only 10 individually addressable "banks" of RGB LEDs.  The drivers are rated sufficiently to power about 20+ RGB LED's per 3-outputs (controlled as a group).  This means that upward of 200 RGB LED's may be connected to a single LED-Wiz.

They are not all individually addressable, but a lot more than 10 can be attached and driven by the hardware.

RandyT

unclet:

Hey Randy ..... so your response kind of answers my question 4) than ... correct?   You are saying I can connect multiple RGB LEDs together in a series and then only connect this "group" of RGBs to 3 ports on the LEDWiz.   I just wanted to confirm I understood what you said.

I just looked at your site and saw you sell something called a "RGB-drive pushbutton lighting module".   Is this the RGB thing I need to allow the LEDWiz to produce any color I want and which can be connected together to each other as a group?

One more question:  Lets say I just want to have blue LEDs "dance to the music" where the blue LED lights would be on at a very low level when no music is playing and would gradually get brighter the louder the music gets.  I believe this would have an effect of blue light dancing to the music.   Would this be possible with your software, an LEDWiz and just blue LED lights?   


bfauska:

 I think that you would actually connect them in parallel not series, but I think you have the general idea.

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