Translucent Buttons & LEDs

[TalkingBull]

My CP has some standard black pushbuttons for the 1 & 2 player positions and I was thinking of putting some translucent buttons in with LEDs and something like an LEDWiz to control them.  Only problem, I can't find any clear/translucent buttons anywhere online.  I normally buy from HAPP or off eBay but nobody seems to have them.  Anyone know of a site I can order some from.  Also, I haven't done the LED thing before so tips on that would be helpful as well.

[spacies]

Hi,

Ponyboy is where I got mine. Great service!

Have a look here:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=19356211&uid=10876724

You can see how I did mine.

Good luck. They really make a game look cool.

[Franco B]

I bought mine from www.arcadeshop.de

As for tips I would say :

Get some ultrabright LEDs of ebay (mine are about 13,000MCD) you can easily turn them down but you cant turn them up. You can get 50 LEDs with 50 resistors for about $10. Just make sure you specify the resistors are to be used with a 5v source as they tend to give you ones for a 12v source by default.

Use a LED Wiz over a Pac Drive if you are just lighting 5v LEDs. You cannot control the intensity of the LEDs with a Pac Drive and so you cannot do any fades etc, you are Limited to on/off.

Get some of GGG diffuser discs or use some kind of diffusing material to diffuse the light to the rest of the button and to avoid being blinded by the LEDs.

If you have any questions just ask! 

Il post a video later of the above setup, I cant access my youtube videos from here (work PC)

[arzoo]

You can get 50 LEDs with 50 resistors for about $10. Just make sure you specify the resistors are to be used with a 5v source as they tend to give you ones for a 12v source by default.

I recently purchased one of those 50 LED/Resistor deals off eBay. I've yet to try them so I can't speak to the quality, but just be aware that you're ordering from overseas (the package had a Hong Kong address) so it takes at least two weeks to receive the order. I will say this, the service was pretty good - quick response to emails.

[RandyT]

Also be aware that if you are looking for a lot of brightness, some of those LED's might not do it for you.  As a point of reference, the lights in the NovaGems we sell are about 5x the brightness of the standard "superbright" LED's.  The really high MCD rated "superbrights"  usually have very narrow view cones, which isn't what you will want for your buttons.

When selecting LED's, look for "luminous flux", which is calculated based upon view angle and MCD.  Some lower MCD LED's put out just as much light, just at wider angles.

Also, a quick note on the GGG diffusers.  The  product has just been updated with new material that works incredibly well, is thin and very durable.  And because they are now quicker to manufacture, the price has been lowered as well.

RandyT

[Franco B]

I recently purchased one of those 50 LED/Resistor deals off eBay. I've yet to try them so I can't speak to the quality, but just be aware that you're ordering from overseas (the package had a Hong Kong address) so it takes at least two weeks to receive the order. I will say this, the service was pretty good - quick response to emails.

So far I have bought two packs of 100 blues and a pack of 50 RGB and I cant complain about the quality at all. Mine too were from Hong Kong but each packet only took about three days to arrive to the UK.

Also be aware that if you are looking for a lot of brightness, some of those LED's might not do it for you.  As a point of reference, the lights in the NovaGems we sell are about 5x the brightness of the standard "superbright" LED's.  The really high MCD rated "superbrights"  usually have very narrow view cones, which isn't what you will want for your buttons.

When selecting LED's, look for "luminous flux", which is calculated based upon view angle and MCD.  Some lower MCD LED's put out just as much light, just at wider angles.

Also, a quick note on the GGG diffusers.  The  product has just been updated with new material that works incredibly well, is thin and very durable.  And because they are now quicker to manufacture, the price has been lowered as well.

RandyT

Yeah you definitely need the diffusers, as you say the super brights (especially the blues) LEDs do have a very narrow angle and are almost painful to look at directly without some kind of diffuser.

Just out of interest what was the material before and what is it now? I have bought a load of the old diffusers but I may need some more. Will there be a comparable difference between the two?

Here is that video I was speaking about. Its just some LEDs mounted in a mock CP i made to test the LED WIZ etc.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwPkp8YLPV4[/youtube]