Quick question about RGB LEDs

[gies77]

I am working on building my first CP and decided to go with the Electric Ice buttons with RGB LEDs so that I could change the color scheme as needed (or when my wife wants pink buttons

I got everything set up in my test panel and I have noticed some strange effects on certain colors.  Obviously Red Green and Blue look brilliant as they are only using one of the 3 colors, however when I chose mixed colors (yellow or white for example) I get this banding effect on the top of the buttons...some buttons are worse than others. Please see below for an idea of what is happening (not the greatest pic, but it shows the banding well enough to get the idea)

This is the first time I have ever used RGB LEDs so I am not sure if this is how they are suppose to look, or if I have installed them wrong.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Also I just wanted to say that this is a great site and has been incredibly helpful!  Thanks everyone!

[H4CK3R]

That seems alittle ODD.. and Cool actually...  I have the ICe buttons as well, and I don't seem to suffer from that issue.. Maybe a defuser over the LEDS to help spread the light would help.  Also maybe the LEDS have been tampered with.

But I am no way an expert on this.

[RandyT]

Not exactly sure what could be causing this.  Make sure the board isn't angled and is seated properly. 

A quick fix would likely be to use some coarse sandpaper to grind the top of the LED flat.  This will have the effect of of diffusing (and mixing) the light before it gets to the underside of the button, which should greatly minimize any effects of this nature.  I just did a bunch of these for an individual who wanted RGB NovaGems in clear.  Worked great on those.

If you need any help, or want to send the RGB drives to me to make the top of them diffuse, drop me an email.

RandyT

[gies77]

Ya the effect is definitely interesting...just unexpected.

A few tech details may help.

As my soldering skills range somewhere from nonexistent to sucky I went with the preinstalled RGB LEDs on the GGG board with 2 ft cable preinstalled for the electric ice button.  I have attached each color cable to its own input (6 buttons, 3 colors, using a total of 18 ports on the LED-Wiz) and its all being powered from the 5v connection on the LED-Wiz board.

If this isn't the way these are suppose to look I will send a customer service request to GGG, I just didn't want to bother anyone if they just looked like this naturally.

Here is another example of the banding, this time the button is programmed to Yellow.

[gies77]

Randy

Ok, I'll give that a shot tonight and see what happens.  I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks again.

[arzoo]

Randy

Ok, I'll give that a shot tonight and see what happens.  I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks again.

gies77,
Just a heads-up, Randy is GGG (the owner). I don't think he realized that you were using his preinstalled RGBs for ice buttons when he suggested you sand the tops down. Either something is not installed or wired correctly or something may be defective.

edit: I just re-read his post and I guess he does know that you're using the RGB-Drive boards. They should work correctly with the ICE buttons without any modifications.

[gies77]

Just wanted to give an update.

I checked the LEDs and everything was seated properly so I gave the sanding a quick try and it worked out great and 15 minutes later I was back up and running, this time with no strange banding.

On a side note, Randy, any chance you will be offering the Clear RGB NovaGems as a regular item?  I would love to try a set of those out on my project.

Thanks all
G