Coin door and trackball lighting (wiring)

[isucamper]

It's time for me to light my Happ trackball and coin door returns.  I'm done a bit of searching to figure this out but I was hoping someone could double check my thinking so I don't blow something up.

First, the coin door.  My coin door has 14 volt bulbs in it.  I'm going to hack a molex connector to get 12 volts from my PC as described in this thread:  http://joelsgadgets.com/CoindoorPage2.HTML.  According to that link, it dosen't matter which side of the bulb goes to the 12v and which goes to ground because the bulbs are reversible .  I realize the 14V bulbs might be a little dim with only 12V powering them, but I figured I would see how it looks before replacing the bulbs. 

For the trackball, I've got a trackball lighting kit from Divemaster (thanks DM!).  Unlike the coin door bulbs, this LED has +5V and -5V labeled on the connectors.  I plan to connect these up to the +5V out and ground of my GPWiz40.  Does it matter which goes to which in this case?  Maybe I should ask if this will even work.  I'm a total electrical noob here. 

[bkenobi]

Yes, LED's can only take power in 1 direction.  The difference between +/- in DC is a relative value between the two legs.  So, if you put +5 and ground on one way, you will get +5, but if you switch the contacts, you get -5.

[Drakin]

It's time for me to light my Happ trackball and coin door returns.  I'm done a bit of searching to figure this out but I was hoping someone could double check my thinking so I don't blow something up.

First, the coin door.  My coin door has 14 volt bulbs in it.  I'm going to hack a molex connector to get 12 volts from my PC as described in this thread:  http://joelsgadgets.com/CoindoorPage2.HTML.  According to that link, it doesn't matter which side of the bulb goes to the 12v and which goes to ground because the bulbs are reversible .  I realize the 14V bulbs might be a little dim with only 12V powering them, but I figured I would see how it looks before replacing the bulbs. 

For the trackball, I've got a trackball lighting kit from Divemaster (thanks DM!).  Unlike the coin door bulbs, this LED has +5V and -5V labeled on the connectors.  I plan to connect these up to the +5V out and ground of my GPWiz40.  Does it matter which goes to which in this case?  Maybe I should ask if this will even work.  I'm a total electrical noob here. 

I had done the same thing with my cabnet as far as lighting the coin doors but I had used 12V 194 bulbs that are used for the side markers of an automobile....Evidently though the bulbs draw too many amps because it would shut down my PSU, so I went ahead and used LED's from ratshak and everything works great now.

Just an FYI.

[isucamper]

Yes, LED's can only take power in 1 direction.  The difference between +/- in DC is a relative value between the two legs.  So, if you put +5 and ground on one way, you will get +5, but if you switch the contacts, you get -5.

So do I hook the +5 up to +5 on the bulb and ground up to the -5 on the bulb?

[Drakin]

I had used the 3.3V wires from my power supply for the led's, here is a site I used to get the pinout and voltages from the power supply.

http://www.smpspowersupply.com/connectors-pinouts.html

Juswt pick the correct voltage you need (being the +) any COM will work for the ground.

Hope that helps

[Drakin]

Yes, LED's can only take power in 1 direction.  The difference between +/- in DC is a relative value between the two legs.  So, if you put +5 and ground on one way, you will get +5, but if you switch the contacts, you get -5.

So do I hook the +5 up to +5 on the bulb and ground up to the -5 on the bulb?

as long as there rated for the voltage the'll only work connected one way...so if they don't light try switching the wires.

[isucamper]

I got it working.  +5 to +5 and -5 to ground.  Thanks guys.

[isucamper]

New question.

Can I wire the coin door lights and the coin door microswitches to the same ground on the molex?  Or do I have to send the ground for the switches all the way up to the encoder in my control panel?

[theob42]

New question.

Can I wire the coin door lights and the coin door microswitches to the same ground on the molex?  Or do I have to send the ground for the switches all the way up to the encoder in my control panel?

yeah id like to know the same thing

[cyapps]

New question.

Can I wire the coin door lights and the coin door microswitches to the same ground on the molex?  Or do I have to send the ground for the switches all the way up to the encoder in my control panel?

You would have to run the microswitch ground back to the encoder as that would complete the circuit. At least I think so, my brain is on stand by at the moment...

[bkenobi]

The switch is just a way to close/open the circuit on the encoder board.  If you connect the encoder board to PC ground, it probably won't work, but why would you even try.  Just hook it up to the encoder's ground the correct way and move on.