For those who have Electric Ice Buttons...

[Visitor Q]

...how do you like them?

[arzoo]

For an RGB solution, they are great. The color distribution is excellent - although some don't care for the pearl color when they're not lit up. Their shape matches that of a standard concave button, but the material is a harder plastic so it's not the same as older buttons. They are expensive. Some have complained that the button tends to vibrate when pressed. Randy has advised that this can be corrected by manually stretching the spring a bit to remove any play. My only complaint is this - I purchased a bunch of ICE buttons, then some more at a later date, so some of the colors don't match. Also, one of the LEDs went bad and again, there's no easy way to replace with a matching color. But this is really a RGB LED issue and not specific to the ICE buttons.

[Hoopz]

I'm one that doesn't like the pearl white when not lit so I bout the GGG Novagems.  They are great.  I have red and blue and think they look better when not lit than the white.  They also look great when lit!

[Visitor Q]

For an RGB solution, they are great. The color distribution is excellent - although some don't care for the pearl color when they're not lit up. Their shape matches that of a standard concave button, but the material is a harder plastic so it's not the same as older buttons. They are expensive. Some have complained that the button tends to vibrate when pressed. Randy has advised that this can be corrected by manually stretching the spring a bit to remove any play. My only complaint is this - I purchased a bunch of ICE buttons, then some more at a later date, so some of the colors don't match. Also, one of the LEDs went bad and again, there's no easy way to replace with a matching color. But this is really a RGB LED issue and not specific to the ICE buttons.

You mean the actual white colors of the buttons don't match or when they are lite?

Have you had the vibration issue yourself?

[Visitor Q]

I'm one that doesn't like the pearl white when not lit so I bout the GGG Novagems.  They are great.  I have red and blue and think they look better when not lit than the white.  They also look great when lit!

I have heard this as well, that a lot of people do not like the look of them when they are not lite but really, I am more concerned as when they are lite... More or less the whole point really of lighting up buttons.

The Novegems do look great, I admit but you can not configure them in the way you can the ice.

Do they have the vibration issue as well?

[Hoopz]

I have heard this as well, that a lot of people do not like the look of them when they are not lite but really, I am more concerned as when they are lite... More or less the whole point really of lighting up buttons.

The Novegems do look great, I admit but you can not configure them in the way you can the ice.

Do they have the vibration issue as well?

Not sure what vibration others have but mine feel like "regular" buttons.  No issues whatsoever.

Are you wanting to change colors on the Ice buttons so they change from red to green to blue etc?  Using the Led-Wiz and Headkaze's plugin, the Novagems can do eveything except change colors.

[Visitor Q]

I have heard this as well, that a lot of people do not like the look of them when they are not lite but really, I am more concerned as when they are lite... More or less the whole point really of lighting up buttons.

The Novegems do look great, I admit but you can not configure them in the way you can the ice.

Do they have the vibration issue as well?

Not sure what vibration others have but mine feel like "regular" buttons.  No issues whatsoever.

Are you wanting to change colors on the Ice buttons so they change from red to green to blue etc?  Using the Led-Wiz and Headkaze's plugin, the Novagems can do eveything except change colors.

I want to have the most flexibility I can with the color change and most possibilities of colors.

I see that the Novagems do come in clear, is it not possible to have the clear ones change into the same amount of colors as the ice buttons? 

[solderguy1]

I see that the Novagems do come in clear, is it not possible to have the clear ones change into the same amount of colors as the ice buttons? 

Randy might have something to say, but I'll add my thoughts about color mixing.  I have P1 blue novagems (with inserts for P1 and Credit buttons) and P2 red novagems.  In the middle I have a lighted purple trackball and wanted lighted purple novagems with inserts for admin buttons. Wouldn't all that look cool?

Swapped the LED unit from an electric ice to a clear novagem and wired up blue and red to get purple.  It halfway did the job, but the colors weren't mixed enough, kinda splotchy.  I do plan to take another stab at it, maybe grind down some electric ice plastic to mount a diffuser above the leds.

So long story short, novagems may not mix up the color from two lighted LEDs enough.

[arzoo]

Swapped the LED unit from an electric ice to a clear novagem and wired up blue and red to get purple.  It halfway did the job, but the colors weren't mixed enough, kinda splotchy.  I do plan to take another stab at it, maybe grind down some electric ice plastic to mount a diffuser above the leds.

So long story short, novagems may not mix up the color from two lighted LEDs enough.

That's why the ICE buttons have the pearl color - they diffuse the RGB LED so that the resulting colors are evenly distributed (solid).

[arzoo]

You mean the actual white colors of the buttons don't match or when they are lite?

When they are lit. For example - the yellow does not match.

Have you had the vibration issue yourself?

Not that I've noticed.

[Visitor Q]

So if I want the most color options it seems like ice is the route I want to take.? 

[arzoo]

So if I want the most color options it seems like ice is the route I want to take.? 

The only other option would be clear buttons with RGB LEDs - maybe file down the top of the LED to help with color diffusion. I'm not sure if anyone has had success with this. So I would say yes, the ICE buttons are your best choice for variable color.

You may want to do some additional searching on the forum for LED threads to see what others are doing.

[Visitor Q]

Ok, thank you.

[ultrageek]

The difuser disks that RandyT sells work great for the novagems, IMO.  I have 24 of them on my cab.

just an idea.
Ultrageek

[Visitor Q]

The difuser disks that RandyT sells work great for the novagems, IMO.  I have 24 of them on my cab.

just an idea.
Ultrageek

Any pix of your setup?

[solderguy1]

Any pix of your setup?

And do they work with the graphic inserts?

[Franco B]

Im using the 'happ' translucents with GGG diffusers/inserts. Friggin awesome if you ask me.

[arzoo]

Im using the 'happ' translucents with GGG diffusers/inserts. Friggin awesome if you ask me.

Didn't know that GGG had diffusers. So ICE are not the only option. Good to know!
Thanks!

[headkaze]

About half of my electric ice buttons have the vibration issue and I really don't like the feel of them compared to my old happs ones. Plus they are very expensive, but AFAIK the only buttons you can use with the LEDWiz and RGB modules. I'm not sure if I got a bad batch or what, but I am dissapointed with them. If your picky about your buttons I would probably give them a miss.

One thing I would recommend though is to get yourself a "button wrench" along with your order as it really sucks not having one.

[RandyT]

About half of my electric ice buttons have the vibration issue and I really don't like the feel of them compared to my old happs ones.

HK, have you tried giving the springs a little stretch as I suggested?  This comment continues to puzzle me as the EI buttons are exactly the same as the old HAPP buttons.  Different material, yes, but not differently shaped in the slightest.

RandyT

[Jack Burton]

So Randy if I switched out the springs from my Happ buttons and put them into the Novagems I should have the *exact* same performance as the old ones, correct?

[RandyT]

So Randy if I switched out the springs from my Happ buttons and put them into the Novagems I should have the *exact* same performance as the old ones, correct?

No.  The NovaGems are a different button entirely.  They are based on an IL button, so they will feel a bit different no matter what.

RandyT

[Jack Burton]

Well, actually the buttons I am using are IL horizontal pushbuttons.  I should have been more specific in my post.  Is this the button that the novagems are based on?

[RandyT]

If you are using IL Horizontals, it's more than likely that the NovaGems came out of the same mold.

RandyT

[headkaze]

HK, have you tried giving the springs a little stretch as I suggested?  This comment continues to puzzle me as the EI buttons are exactly the same as the old HAPP buttons.  Different material, yes, but not differently shaped in the slightest.

The first time I heard about trying to "stretch the springs" is in this thread. And no I haven't tried it yet because it would take alot of time to remove all the RGB modules and unscrew all the buttons to get the springs out. Unless there is an easier way to get them stretched that I don't know about?

[Visitor Q]

About half of my electric ice buttons have the vibration issue and I really don't like the feel of them compared to my old happs ones. Plus they are very expensive, but AFAIK the only buttons you can use with the LEDWiz and RGB modules. I'm not sure if I got a bad batch or what, but I am dissapointed with them. If your picky about your buttons I would probably give them a miss.

One thing I would recommend though is to get yourself a "button wrench" along with your order as it really sucks not having one.

Those Nova buttons are about twice as much!

I am not the one building my CP, well I am but only on paper.

ps. RandyT... Could you please address my post here?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=74483.0

I would really like to place an order so if this is not possible, please just say so.

[Portnoy]

I think the ice buttons are great and when they light up.....OH MY!  The material the Happs are made of just feel...I don't know...thicker? Almost to the point where if there were a twang from the spring it would be muffled. When it comes to game play though I don't find a bit of difference. You definitely get the occasional twang sound with the EI's when smashing buttons during a heated Track and Field bout, but it really doesn't bother me one bit.  Did I mention when they light up....OH MY!!?

P

[Jack Burton]

you know, about the twang.  I switched the buttons in my cab from competition buttons to IL horizontal buttons and the very first thing I noticed is that I could hear the spings inside when I hit them.  So I think this is a factor of the orignal IL buttons and not limited to the Novagems. 

After I started playing however, I completely forgot about the noise. 

When you guys are talking about regular Happ buttons, which ones exactly are you talking about?  The older ones with the taller plunger and vertical switch position?  Or the ones that are horizontal and the threads on the buttons arent' as long as the IL ones?   

[DeLuSioNal29]

Mine do feel different compared to the normal Happ  pushbuttons on my panel.  However, I only use them as coin buttons, so they don't get as much use as the normal buttons.

However, now that I have coin doors, I plan to remove them and recycle them on my next project.  So I'd be able to tell you then how they feel in gameplay.  But that won't happen for a while.

But I do notice a slight twang.  A small tradeoff for the beautiful look of them when they are lit.

You can see how they look both "lit" and "unlit" on my panel here:


~ DeLuSioNaL

[Visitor Q]

They certainly do look nice and so does this. ^^^

 

[ivwshane]

I have some EI buttons and the twang was annoying me as well, so I did what randy suggested and stretched the spring (I've only done it on one though) and it pretty much eliminates the twang and makes the button feel more "natural" if that makes sense.

[Visitor Q]

I heard these buttons were updated since the original release, was this problem address at that time? Maybe different springs or something?

[RandyT]

I heard these buttons were updated since the original release, was this problem address at that time? Maybe different springs or something?

No.  This isn't a "problem" and there was / is nothing to "address".

I just pulled one of the older "pre-Suzo" HAPP buttons from my shelf.  They "twang" in exactly the same way.  Because the standard material (Nylon) is softer and less resonant than the IL Translucents (Polycarbonate) or the special material used in the EI buttons, you just can't hear it as well.

Extending the spring creates more tension on the button, which will deaden that sound, but it also adds a bit of extra resistance that some, who are used to the standard HAPP buttons could find objectionable.  It's simple to make a spring longer, but more difficult to shorten it, so they are left mimicking the original HAPP variety when shipped.

RandyT

[Visitor Q]

I think when I get mine I am just going to leave well enough alone.

[DJ Infinity]

Just my 2 cents. I have Electric Ice buttons in damn near every cabinet I have. I love em. Even without the LED-Wiz the colors are easily hardwired and run offa 5v. I need to outfit 3 more of my cabs when I get the money. Randy do you have any lighted joysticks? I prefer perfect 360's but I only have lighted Supers atm. 

[DeLuSioNal29]

How about this?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=85490.msg896596#msg896596

[DJ Infinity]

Cool! if;
a) they come out of prototype stage 
b) if they fit the Perfect 360 

[DeLuSioNal29]

They are on the verge of release, as the product just needs the price to be determined.

[Cero21]

Mine do feel different compared to the normal Happ  pushbuttons on my panel.  However, I only use them as coin buttons, so they don't get as much use as the normal buttons.

However, now that I have coin doors, I plan to remove them and recycle them on my next project.  So I'd be able to tell you then how they feel in gameplay.  But that won't happen for a while.

But I do notice a slight twang.  A small tradeoff for the beautiful look of them when they are lit.

You can see how they look both "lit" and "unlit" on my panel here:


~ DeLuSioNaL

Wow Delusional!  How did you make that cool startup video?  I'd love to do the same thing!!!

[thatitalian]

Wow Delusional!  How did you make that cool startup video?  I'd love to do the same thing!!!

Using Abode after effects. I asked exactly the same thing! You need to be quite good at using this and DeLuSioNaL is the man at it!