LED Control Panel Check List?

[Rossman]

I'm trying to make a multi coloured LED, USB 4 player control panel, with trackball, buttons, and joysticks all being lit up. I'm trying to find the best parts, both for quality and LED capabilities. I'm a big Street Fighter player, so it needs to be high quality shiznit.

So far I've found the 32-port LED-Wiz controller, of which I think I'll need two for the amount of things that are being lit, the electric ice e-switch with RGB drive for the buttons, and the electric ice t for the trackball. All from groovygamegear.com

From this I'm thinking I'm going to have 3 USB cords coming out the back of the controller, is this correct?
Also, I cannot find a joystick that is Street Fighter quality with LEDs.
Lastly, would I need any other parts? Does the LED-Wiz substitute for the other controllers, or will I need one of them as well?

Thanks!

[BobA]

The LED Wiz is an output controller.    You will still need an input controller such as a key wiz or gp wiz and a controller for your trackball unless you buy one that has one built in.  Sorry do not know a source for your lighted joystick.  You search the board as I think this topic has been covered a few times.

Edit: the Ice T trackball has an optiwiz built in so no TB interface is needed.

[arzoo]

A 4 player cp with all RGB buttons will likely need 3 LEDWiz controllers; each can handle 10 RGBs.

[Rossman]

Thanks guys. So the list is as follows:

32-port LED-Wiz output controller x 3
Electric Ice w/ RGB Drive and E-Switch buttons
Electric Ice T Trackball
some input controller... not sure... is I-Pac an input controller? The LED add on confuses me...
a joystick with LED capabilities, not sure...

Nothing else other than the arcade?

[arzoo]

The LEDWiz only controls the signals to the LEDs. You'll also need a keyboard encoder - the I-Pac4 is a good choice for a 4 player cp. So for the EE buttons, you wire the 4 leads from the LED RGB drive to the LEDWiz and the 2 wires from the button switch to the I-Pac.

As for lighting up the joysticks - you have limited options and it may be better to base your decision on the stick functionality rather than if it can light up or not. For example, many like the u360 - but there's currently no production version that can light up.

[BobA]

If you are ordering all your parts from GGG I would use one of their controllers for input.

[Rossman]

Is there a reason to go for one input controller over another? Also, How are other people doing LED lit joysticks? Buy a normal joystick then replace the ball? That's assuming that the stick is hollow...

[HaRuMaN]

Is there a reason to go for one input controller over another? Also, How are other people doing LED lit joysticks? Buy a normal joystick then replace the ball? That's assuming that the stick is hollow...

The 'normal' shaft is solid.  You have to buy hollow shafts as well.

[Rossman]

Any idea who sells hollow shafts?

[HaRuMaN]

Any idea who sells hollow shafts?

For what type of joysticks?

[arzoo]

Any idea who sells hollow shafts?

Not much choice these days. GGG and SlikStik sold illuminated sticks at one time, but no more. Rumors are that GGG will offer an RGB stick some day. There's also a possibility that Ultimarc could offer a LED and/or top-fire version of the u360 - but not a reality as of yet. This may be your only option for now:
http://www.thludwig.de/arcade/led_sticks.html

[Rossman]

Thanks for the link. I wonder how long I'll have to wait to get the professional ones, and GGG is sold out of the LED buttons right now! Makes you think that they don't want me building an LED control panel!

[marksteehler]

If you check on mameroom.com, it looks like they still make LED joysticks similar to the old SlikStiks as part of their signature series. Their work looks pretty good. I wonder where they get their sticks and balltops from...

[Rossman]

That's what I was wondering. If I could get those parts, it would be way cheaper, but they may even custom make everything...

[marksteehler]

Wow... Bravo, North Coast! Hopefully this inspires you for the CP youre building.

[Rossman]

Um, this is what I was originally going for, but they charge way too much says most of the people in this forum. But finding the parts is near impossible...

[HaRuMaN]

I have 4 hollow Sanwa JLF shafts I can sell you if you want them. 

[bkenobi]

I didn't see it mentioned, but you don't need to have 3+ USB cables sticking out the back of your CP.  What you should do is install a USB hub (non-powered should be fine) inside the CP and connect that to the PC.  It will look much cleaner that way.

[HaRuMaN]

You shouldn't power multiple LED-Wiz's off one USB hub.

[bkenobi]

Oh yeah, I forgot that the LED-Wiz has a higher power requirement.  I was thinking that they would only need a similar power input to the keyboard/GP encoders. 

In that case, can't he just use a powered hub since a passive one obviously won't be sufficient?  2 wires (USB, USB hub power cord) is still better than a bunch of USB cables (which will all plug into the same internal hub on the computer anyway).

[Arcades R Fun]

They don't show it on their website but Groovy Game Gear does sell ball top LED joystick handles. They fit the Happ Competition joystick bases which is a good stick for Street Fighter style games.

Your issue with the numerous USB ports is easily solved by buyng a dedicated PC power supply in lieu of the powered hub ( providing that you are building a cabinet as well to house it). A low cost PC power supply can be much cheaper than an AC powered USB hub.
I buy them for about $15 from xoxide.com. We use them for powering the 5 volt LED Buttons, joysticks, 80mm 12 volt PC exhaust fans, 5 volt trackball light etc.

Jack

[Arcades R Fun]

Sorry, Just realized I messed up the last post. That's what I get for posting at the day job! 


 Of course you need a AC powered USB hub.
Try NewEgg.com. A good one is about $30. The cheaper ones tend to fail and have bad reviews.

As far as parts go you can go to the "Buy/Sell/Trade" section of this site and look up "Divemaster". He stocks almost everything Happ sells at the best prices.


GroovyGameGear does sell single color and RGB LED ball top joystick handles. Just e-mail him. Also ask him when the Electric Ice buttons will be back in stock.

[Rossman]

I emailed GGG, no response in 2 weeks! Sent another email, still nothing... I like how GGG has those white looking buttons and trackball, allows the LED light to come through. The clear ones look a little tacky I think. I know GGG used to sell the same type of joystick ball, but they don't seem to anymore. I hope they email me back soon.

[DeLuSioNal29]

You'll probably have to ask Randy T over at GGG for the RGB stick replacement shaft.  He doesn't have them in the store on the website.  I reviewed one a while back.  You can read about it here (I even have a video review):  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=85490.0

I had a Super Joystick installed with a 4-way restrictor plate underneath.  The joystick worked well, but I ended up replacing it with a true 4-way joystick (unlit) from Tornado Terry's.  So now it's in my parts bin awaiting another cabinet build. 

DeLuSioNaL29

[Rossman]

Those are exactly what I was looking for, I saw your thread before, and that's why I was looking around for it. Do you know how to get a hold of Randy T? The contact us page is just a simple form, and they never got back to me when I filled it out...

[DeLuSioNal29]

I'm guessing it gets filtered out in his spam folder?  Perhaps trying to e-mail him from a different e-mail account?  Also, I have 2 e-mail addys for him:  customerservice@groovygamegear.com and randy@idvtinc.com.  I would try both.

D

[Rossman]

Still no luck getting the parts, but I'm not giving up.

Here's a question that's been bugging me: If I have 27 LED buttons, 5 LED joysticks, and 1 LED trackball, wouldn't this (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=239) be enough, since it has 32 ports, I would just be 1 short, correct? I got confused because the electric ice buttons that are on the same site with the RGB overdrive says they only have 1 LED, 1 connection. I though 1 button = 1 connection, 32 connections on LED wiz. Is this right, or am I missing something?

[DeLuSioNal29]

A rule if thumb.  All RGB LEDs have only 1 led but they ALL have 3 inputs.  R, G & B.  This allows them to change to any color by using only one LED (Special RGB LED).  So you'll need 27 x 3 ports for the buttons and 5 x 3 ports for the joysticks.  An RGB trackball (Electric Ice) would be an additional 3 ports (99 inputs total).

D

[Rossman]

Thanks a lot for the info. Now I need to decide if I want the two buttons next to the spinner, and the three next to the 4 way, or just get rid of all those extra buttons and arrange things another way, so that I can use the other buttons that are already there.