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Explain LEDs to me...( CarolAnne...come to da Light!!!)

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garnerb350:

I want to have lights in my Mame cab...I've never messed with LEDs and I'm interested in having my pushbuttons light up....

My cab is one that i built from stratch and I have a Tankstick  for the cp.
I want to have the pushbuttons and trackball to light up...

What steps would a noob have to do....

I know that i would have to change out the pushbuttons and trackball for translucent ones...but other than that , I have no idea where to go from there....



fatfingers:


Well, you'll have to run power to everything, of course.  I went with this for my trackball -- it's very nice and easy to use.



1UP:

Super-Bright LEDs will illuminate normal buttons (except for the black ones) so you don't necessarily need translucent ones.  Just make sure your LEDS are either white or matched to the color of the buttons--blue light won't penetrate red buttons very well, etc.  White buttons work really well, and can be lit with any color LED.

HaRuMaN:

For my current project, I'm using a bunch of RGB LED's and 4 LED-Wiz's to drive them all.  Hooked up player one of my panel last night, and man... it is pretty...   :afro:

RandyT:


--- Quote from: 1UP on June 16, 2009, 03:50:38 pm ---Super-Bright LEDs will illuminate normal buttons (except for the black ones) so you don't necessarily need translucent ones.  Just make sure your LEDS are either white or matched to the color of the buttons--blue light won't penetrate red buttons very well, etc.  White buttons work really well, and can be lit with any color LED.

--- End quote ---

I'm going to disagree here.  Standard "opaque" buttons will glow, but only in a very dark setting, and then not very brightly.  If you are looking for the effect you are likely seeing plastered around on web sites and YouTube, then you absolutely need to get some translucent buttons. 

What type you need and the type of controller depend on quantity, whether you want full RGB capability, etc...

RandyT

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