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New Electric ICE Trackball Ver 2 - Announcement - GroovyGameGear
Level42:
OK, I just dropped in the ball, with the same LED I already had in there:
Obviously, the single LED is not enough to properly light this one up...however, as Randy mentioned, the light coming from the ball is MUCH more even than that of the "orange/red" ball I had before. It's a really nice glow, and even when spinning the ball you don't see any changes.
Here's an "unlit" shot. It is dark over here now, so I can't take any daylight pics....this one is without flashlight.,,,
To compare with the original (dirty and yellowed) ball:
This ball feels heavier (in playing) that the orange/red ball I had before, and it plays a LOT nicer because of that !!!!! Not only is control more precise, when I give it a good swing it keeps rolling longer because of the bigger mass.....I really really like that !
Sadly I have other things to do tonight, so I can't wire up the other lighting stuff yet (nor the button), but I'm sure happy how it looks so far....
OK, it will never be the 100% original look. The ball is a bit milky white while Centipede originaly had an off-white ball. So it will always be a compromise. But I like it 100 times better than that orange/white thing I had before !:
Level42:
Randy, are the Led's resistor meant for +5V ?
And that Nova -LED assembly ?
O and thanks about my "special request" :cheers:
RandyT:
--- Quote from: Level42 on February 15, 2008, 11:17:52 am ---Randy, are the Led's resistor meant for +5V ?
And that Nova -LED assembly ?
--- End quote ---
Yes to both. Just hook the Red wire to +5v DC and the Black to GROUND.
And don't look straight into the Nova-LED ;D
RandyT
Level42:
No kidding ! These are VERY bright !
I just installed the Nova-Led on the trackball. Yes there is a lot more light coming from the ball now, exacly like I want it ! :cheers: :cheers: :applaud: :applaud: It is not TOO bright, but a nice, very even red glow.
I also hooked up the ICE button.
First a "naked" compare to a "real" white leaf button. Of course the ICE is a little milkier looking, still close enough !
Then the button installed with one of the LED's, what are they called button blaster LEDs I guess.....:D
Looks very nice. The spread of light is not as even as with the ball however. When you look on top, you can clearly make out the LED. But overall, the effect of this is very nice, and being it white when turned off is the real bonus and goal for me.
It would be great if the same even look could also be accomplished with the button (material ?) but it's fine as it is. It looks a lot better than the red-translucent leaf button that was in there before, with regards to the same "look" as the ball.
The overall feeling of the button is fine. However, the spring inside seems to be "loose" or something, or too light, I don't know, but it is resonating like hell. That really has to be fixed. I hope it's just my button. I will give some other springs a try tomorrow.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUXfS-Csl_U[/youtube]
I also ordered the much discussed micro-leaf switch, which still is a micro-switch. First: the people who claim that the click is almost unhearable are either lying or deaf. Maybe it's because it's on a metal panel, but I can clearly hear the clicks when playing. They are not the loud clicks of some of the cheap MicroSwitches, they are more civilized, but they are there, of course, because it's still a micro-switch :D
The feeling is very very good. Yes you can feel the click, but it is very very light. I _MIGHT_ consider keeping it in, if it wasn't for the click sound.
Let's call this the "best micro-switch for feeling and sound" and not the micro-leaf :)
I will try one of ponyboy's real leaf buttons tomorrow, and I guess I will settle for that.
In all honesty, I think the Midway leaf switches are the nicest I've ever played with (the one's on my Galaxian). A MS button with Ponyboy's leafs are nice, but not coming close to the feeling,mostly because of the sheer mass of the leafs on the Midway's....
But I'm running away..... I'm very very pleased with the results. Needs a bit of tweaking but we'll work that out tomorrow....
Level42:
I said I could hear the click when I'm playing. That is not really true, I meant I could here it when it was silent. Of course game sounds, and other surrounding sounds will mask the click sound. Bottom line is that a leaf is still quiter.
One excellent thing about the ICE ball (V2.0):
When I look at the machine where my eye is at (or about) the same level as the CP, I can clearly see the nice, even red glow coming from it. With the orange/red translucent (happ) ball I had before, the lighting was hardly noticeable, because of the lens-effect that Randy already explained.
You can cleary see this in the reflection of the ball in the bezel on this pic: