led drive 16 (5V) + LEDs (12V) ?

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Unfortunately I don't know much about electrophysics, so I figured I'd ask before ordering: Can I use the LEDdrive 16 that MaLa utilizes (output voltage 5V)

http://www.arcadeshop.de/Beleuchtung-LEDdrive-16_650.html

with these LEDs

http://www.arcadeshop.de/Ersatzteile-LED-5-mm-Widerstand-12-V_519.html


? WIll I have to solder the accompanying resistors to the LEDs?

(Bonus question: do you think that it makes sense to put these LEDs under white Sanwa buttons or are they too opaque to get a glow effect?)

Cheers.

[DillonFoulds]

Those look like standard 5v LEDs to me, i don't see it being a problem.

If you put those resistors in, you're looking at some VERY dim bulbs.

Dunno about the sanwas, never seen one. I've seen happ's buttons lit up with them, the color somewhat shows through in the dark, but you get kind of a neat glowing ring effect. Play with an LED and see for yourself

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Those look like standard 5v LEDs to me, i don't see it being a problem.

It says operating voltage ("Betriebsspannung", I had to run this through a translator) 3,1V in the description... wouldn't there be the danger of destroying them if I simply connected them to the 5V LEDdrive?

[DillonFoulds]

Whoops, oversight on my part then. I too am not an electrician

Maybe you'll need a different resister to step down the 5v signals to the 3.1 if that's what the LED needs.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Whoops, oversight on my part then. I too am not an electrician

Maybe you'll need a different resister to step down the 5v signals to the 3.1 if that's what the LED needs.

No worries, I don't expect anyone to read German after all...

[Ed_McCarron]

http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

Fill in the LED specs and it'll tell you what value resistor to use.

[Franco B]

(Bonus question: do you think that it makes sense to put these LEDs under white Sanwa buttons or are they too opaque to get a glow effect?)

You could use some of [these] to light up Seimtsu PS-14-K/KNs. That's what my friend did to light up his panel:



I'm going to use the same method for my Neo Geo panel:



Its personal preference but I MUCH prefer Seimitsu buttons to Sanwas.

EDIT: Obviously all of the buttons will be lit at once with that method. You can mount 3-5mm LEDs in the bottom of the buttons but you tend to get spotting as the LEDs have to be mounted either side of the microswitch and they shine directly between the button and the bezel.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

(Bonus question: do you think that it makes sense to put these LEDs under white Sanwa buttons or are they too opaque to get a glow effect?)

You could use some of [these] to light up Seimtsu PS-14-K/KNs. That's what my friend did to light up his panel:



I'm going to use the same method for my Neo Geo panel:



Its personal preference but I MUCH prefer Seimitsu buttons to Sanwas.

EDIT: Obviously all of the buttons will be lit at once with that method. You can mount 3-5mm LEDs in the bottom of the buttons but you tend to get spotting as the LEDs have to be mounted either side of the microswitch and they shine directly between the button and the bezel.

Interesting idea, but I think I'm gonna go with the LEDdrive. MaLa has an attract mode where you can program the sequences in the LEDs/ your buttons to light up in a certain order, which is a damn swell thing really.

I used transparent Seimitsus in my joystick, but I chose to buy more classic single-coloured pushbuttons for my arcade machine. Plus I seem to be one of the persons around here to favour Sanwa buttons.... for bullet hell shmups, anyway. 

[Franco B]

Yup, the LED WIz's are some good shizzle, I have eight of them myself 

I have another Naomi project on the go at the moment which I was planning on RGB lighting the buttons. The main problem with the standard Jap San/Sei buttons is that you get really bad spotting due to the location of the LEDs. I came up with a solution which would solve it but there would be far too much work involved to offer it as a potential product so I gave up on the idea.

Since reading this post the other day I have had a bit of a brainwave and a little 'out of the box' () thinking has given me a potentially really good idea which should give really solid lighting and easy installation which I am going to prototype this week

[drventure]

I read once on a guys blog about ways to reduce the "pinpoint effect" of many LED's.

He tried a variety of things but in the end, he too a hot iron and basically "flattened" the round dome on the LED. That cause the light to spread out much more and dramatically reduced the spotlight effect.

Or so he says.

I haven't tried it out yet.

[Franco B]

Cheers dude. That may help a little but you still need at least two if not four LEDs to evenly light a Jap button but you would still get some pretty harsh spotting.

I need to do some R&D but I think this method should turn out pretty nice, possibly even with one LED. Even if its more than one LED the results should be far superior than multiple LEDs in the standard fashion.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

From gathering what I've read, the spotting seems a lot less of an issue with nontransparent buttons... after taking a good look at the (transparent) Seimitsu buttons I'll use as function buttons I don't see why I shouldn't be able to cram in LCDs below the plungers (where they don't get in the way). This way, less spotting & more of a "ring of light effect". We'll see how it works out, I'll pester you all with pics of my finished arcade machine anyway...