LED walk through video?

[Rossman]

Hey, I liked the control panel wiring video, but was wondering how the LED wiring differs from it, and things I have to watch out for. Does anyone have a video or a walk through on LED control panel wiring?

[mdcoblentz]

just remember that each led can potentially pull 20ma  and an RGB led could potentially pull 60ma because it actually has 3 different colors it uses to make up the different colors in its spectrum. If you are going to use the usb power, keep in mind that it can only provide 500ma.  I just got done wiring my arcade panel and have about 38 rgb led's driven by 4 LED Wiz's. I had to run a 5volt wire from the power supply to supply power to the LED wiz's because the usb ports couldn't provide enough power to run them all the way i wanted to. 

If you are using RGB led's from groovy game gear, resistors and everything are already attached.  3 wires go to an LED wiz and the other is attached to the 5volt wire. With wiring individual led's I believe a resistor is needed so you don't pop your LED's.  Others may be able to chime in about that. hope this helps a bit.

[Rossman]

That helps a lot. Do you know if you can use a powered USB hub instead of a 5v wire? How exactly does the led wiz connect to power?

[drventure]

A powered hub will give you 500ma to each port, whereas an unpowered hub will be 500ma to all ports.

BUT, look at your power supply that comes with. Many hubs are packaged with ps's that only have, say, 2500ma or so, which would only be enough to power 5 ports at the max rate. If you pick up a 7 port hub, and connect all 7 devices, you could very easily overload the PS which won't hurt anything, but the devices won't work right either (Believe me, I found out the hard way on that  ).

Running a 5v line off one of the hard drive power lines from you PC PS is usually a better idea if you have a LOT of leds to power. Some people even use a separate PS (you can get 5v ps bricks cheap all over the place).

[Don]

I'm thinking of getting 2 illuminated buttons to act as coin buttons (nice ones available from Ozstick), what is the easiest way to wire just two LED's?

[RobbyMac]

THis is good to know, as its the next step with my cp and I was unaware of this.
I've 30 single LEDS which will barely go over the 500ma limit

I vaguely recall seeing something about external power instructions with my LED Wiz, and looking at the instructions again now i wonder if it is possible for my led wiz to control my happ trackball which came with a 12v incandescent bulb... Or perhaps I will need to wire a bunch of leds under it instead... or leave it powered all the time instead...

[Gamester]

THis is good to know, as its the next step with my cp and I was unaware of this.
I've 30 single LEDS which will barely go over the 500ma limit

I vaguely recall seeing something about external power instructions with my LED Wiz, and looking at the instructions again now i wonder if it is possible for my led wiz to control my happ trackball which came with a 12v incandescent bulb... Or perhaps I will need to wire a bunch of leds under it instead... or leave it powered all the time instead...

If you want RGB effects, there's this option from GGG: http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=273

Or if you want to keep your existing ball, you can use something like this: http://www.nicemite.com/LightmiteTB/LightmiteTB.htm

[painterinfo]

I'm thinking of getting 2 illuminated buttons to act as coin buttons (nice ones available from Ozstick), what is the easiest way to wire just two LED's?

The ones from Ozstick have a built in resistor, I put one in my build, you connect these buttons directly to 12v from the computer's powersupply (the yellow and black wire) You wont damage it if you wire it up the wrong way.

Edit - LEDs need a resistor in line with the LED, a different value resistor depending on voltage supplied to the LED and the type of LED itself. (this is to limit the current) It's mentioned on the LED.WIZ doco

[CyberTech]

I'm thinking of getting 2 illuminated buttons to act as coin buttons (nice ones available from Ozstick), what is the easiest way to wire just two LED's?

The ones from Ozstick have a built in resistor, I put one in my build, you connect these buttons directly to 12v from the computer's powersupply (the yellow and black wire) You wont damage it if you wire it up the wrong way.

Edit - LEDs need a resistor in line with the LED, a different value resistor depending on voltage supplied to the LED and the type of LED itself. (this is to limit the current) It's mentioned on the LED.WIZ doco

That will come in handy alot when i finish up the control panel on my showcase cabinet. Thanks

[kronic24601]

I haven't purchased my LED-Wiz yet, but I'm planning out the wiring now.

Now, pardon my ignorance, I'm young and not an electrician... but does the LED-WIZ come with a ground input? ... more to the point, I would wire all the positive ends with the resistors to the LED-WIZ, but where to I wire the ground? I was going to daisy chain it all and come out of the cp ... my assumption was that there is a ground input on the LED-Wiz, but I cannot confirm until I get it.

Like I said ... if this seems like a no brainier I apologize. Most of this stuff is new to me.

Thanks!

- Jason

[BobA]

The LED wiz is a common anode arrangement.  This means you provide 5V to each LED and the control terminal on the LED wiz provides the ground.   This is shown in the wiring info on the LED wiz http://groovygamegear.com/PDF/LEDWIZ_INSTALL.pdf. If you are going to use more than the 500ma provided by a USB connection then  you can provide your own 5V supply and remove the jumper for the USB power.

[kronic24601]

wait ... so ... the diagram you sent shows that the resistor in on the ground side? is this right?

I just spent all night wiring things wrong      

Let me ask this question. I have 16 LEDs that need lighting. I was going to just use the USB 500ma to power them all. However, I thought that 5V came from the LED-Wiz (frick!).

1) Since I'm apparently an idiot, can someone tell me if 16 LEDs will be fine with 500 total ma? Is the "Forward Current rating" what qualifies the MA for the LED? If so, then it's 30 on my LEDs, which 16x30 is 480 ... so that's under 500 I should be good right?

2) Does the LED-Wiz provide any 5v source, or does it need to be provided outside of the LED-Wiz? (I have a USB tap I can use, but I just thought I'd ask). The diagram does not show a 5v source coming from the LED-Wiz, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Man ... I even heat tube/wrapped everything ... so pissed at my idiocy right now.

EDIT: I read somewhere that it doesn't matter what leg (anode or diode) the resistor is tied to ...

[kronic24601]

remove post

[BobA]

Resistor is shown on the ground side of the circuit but will work on the +5V side.  Your ma max is pretty close to the 500 ma max for a USB port.   Remember that 500 ma is shared by USB circuits if you do not have a powered hub. A separate 5V source can be used with the led wiz.  An unused drive connector can provide more power.

[kronic24601]

hmmm ... well, I'm going to have remove the heat shrink and re-solder all my leds ...  lame ... I think I'll use the 5V coming from the power supply (vs USB) just to be safe. Thanks for all your help.