Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: RandyT on January 12, 2006, 09:57:34 pm

Title: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 12, 2006, 09:57:34 pm
Here's a little something else to go along with the LED-Wiz
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RetroACTIVE on January 12, 2006, 10:16:26 pm
Thats EXACTLY what I've been waiting for!
Awesome!
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: MYX on January 12, 2006, 10:30:27 pm
AAAAAKKKKKKK !!!!!!  Too many choices, everytime I center and say ok, this is what I am gonna buy, something cool comes along and messes me up.  ;)

Hey Randy,
Sorry, perhaps you should expect this question from us by now, but more pix?

How are these different for the standard white buttons? Is it actually a different material?
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: MYX on January 12, 2006, 10:32:01 pm
Unlit... Is that the actual reflection or a photoshopped reflection?
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 12, 2006, 10:40:29 pm
Hey Randy,
Sorry, perhaps you should expect this question from us by now, but more pix?

These are very difficult to take pictures of when lit.  The blue one in the title was one of the better photos.  I'll see if I can collage a few others of different colors.

Quote
How are these different for the standard white buttons? Is it actually a different material?

They are different in that they aren't the same?  I don't even know how to answer this :)

YES it's a different material!!!  The white ones don't even come close to these! (heh)

Unlit... Is that the actual reflection or a photoshopped reflection?

What reflection are you referring to?

RandyT
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Knievel on January 12, 2006, 10:48:59 pm
Man I go away for a few days and come back to yet ANOTHER new product from you Randy, looks great.

Is there a Spinner anywhere on your to-do list? I've had it with Slikstik and it doesn't look like Oscar is into it anymore. Please help us :)
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 12, 2006, 10:53:42 pm
Man I go away for a few days and come back to yet ANOTHER new product from you Randy, looks great.

Is there a Spinner anywhere on your to-do list? I've had it with Slikstik and it doesn't look like Oscar is into it anymore. Please help us :)

Thanks.

Email me with your woes.  I might be able to help.

RandyT
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: siropa on January 12, 2006, 10:58:05 pm
when are they going to be available? I was looking on the site and couldn't find a link for them.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: MikeQ on January 12, 2006, 10:59:05 pm
And something else to go with the LEDWiz!!!

Beta LEDWiz Client Driver available for download

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=48495.0
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Wienerdog on January 12, 2006, 11:27:28 pm
Ahhhhhh, nothing on your site, come on Randy!  I'm in for some.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: pointdablame on January 13, 2006, 01:04:59 am
wow...

You're really starting to spoil us Randy.

I look forward to another new product announcement in.. what..... 18 hours or so??  :P

I'd definitely like to try some of these out on my next panel.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Level42 on January 13, 2006, 03:22:33 am
mwahhhhhh, no leafs....




  ;)


Still...nice !!!!
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: loadman on January 13, 2006, 05:24:29 am
Ahhhhhh, nothing on your site, come on Randy!
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: zzsprade on January 13, 2006, 07:50:28 am
Ok I have been out of the loop of this for way to long and briefly trying to filter through all the posts has me confused.

Is the intention of this, coupled with the talk of some drivers/programs being developed in an effort to enable us to light up which buttons are to be used for each individual game. Similar to what dinoroger was working on some time ago.

This coupled with a great attract mode.

I am glad that RandyT has done this... I can remember all sorts of hacks way back in trying to fit a led under a normal white pushbutton.

-Alex
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Wienerdog on January 13, 2006, 09:05:48 am
Yes, much has changed....

You'll want to catch up on this thread: So, it's blinky lights you like, eh? - ALMOST READY! LEDWiz (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=37190.240)
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: JoyMonkey on January 13, 2006, 09:12:18 am
Nice!
By any chance, are you planning on having Electric ICE
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Warborg on January 13, 2006, 09:21:52 am
And every time I feel as though I've settled on what I'm going to do in my cab...
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: edge on January 13, 2006, 10:00:03 am
FYI.
Looks like Randy ran into some problems last night with his online store.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: whatzcrackn on January 13, 2006, 11:33:11 am
Nice!
By any chance, are you planning on having Electric ICE
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: versapak on January 13, 2006, 11:38:40 am
Nice!
By any chance, are you planning on having Electric ICE
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: whatzcrackn on January 13, 2006, 12:36:02 pm
yes sir!
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: JoyMonkey on January 13, 2006, 01:08:24 pm
What would be AWESOME, would be to have black player start buttons, where the white "Electric ICE" was the player symbols, and possibly the bezel.

You could always take the regular Electric ICE
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: walls83 on January 13, 2006, 01:28:48 pm
Right you could get some of the plastic acrylic paint.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: versapak on January 13, 2006, 02:00:49 pm
Right you could get some of the plastic acrylic paint.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: nostrebor on January 13, 2006, 02:56:33 pm
NICE!

I have some plans for these...
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: JoyMonkey on January 13, 2006, 02:56:57 pm
Right you could get some of the plastic acrylic paint.  stencil it off and paint.  maybe put a coat or two clear coat and your would be good to go.  You could also tape off the base(you know the circle part that sits on the CP) and you could have the button black with a circle glow at the base. I dont know if I explained that very good but I know what Im talking about. ::) Black player start buttons that glow ummmm...


Now I just have to start sweet talking the wife so I can buy "MORE" things for an arcade machine that has been done for 2 years.  But as we know its never done, almost everymonth Im buying something new for it.



Well...

You wouldn't have to mask the bezel. You could just pull the button/plunger out of it, but I wouldn't think painting a button would be all that good in the first place though.

The plunger has to glide smoothly. I would think paint would interfere with that, and just painting the very top wouldn't look anywhere near as nice.

I dunno how one would actually go about getting the button that I am visualizing in my head, but would sure be damn cool if one were to find a way. :)

I don't think a coat of high-gloss enamel would make a difference to the plungers glide. Maybe if it was a button that gets frequent use, but it's not like anybody has a reason to pound a start button. I might give it a try with a regular white button and a black bezel.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: versapak on January 13, 2006, 03:46:28 pm
I don't think a coat of high-gloss enamel would make a difference to the plungers glide. Maybe if it was a button that gets frequent use, but it's not like anybody has a reason to pound a start button. I might give it a try with a regular white button and a black bezel.


That is a good point.

Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: shawnzilla on January 13, 2006, 06:46:58 pm
Cool buttons! Glad to see more button options getting out there.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 13, 2006, 11:19:42 pm
Ahhhhhh, nothing on your site, come on Randy!  I'm in for some.

The new site is up and so are the buttons.  You can be the guinea pig :D

RandyT
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: JONTHEBOMB on January 13, 2006, 11:54:04 pm
A full line of LEDs will also be available.  These LEDs have been specially selected for maximum performance with the Electric ICE
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 14, 2006, 12:04:17 am
A full line of LEDs will also be available.  These LEDs have been specially selected for maximum performance with the Electric ICE
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: JustMichael on January 14, 2006, 12:52:26 pm
Why does your store want to charge NY sales tax for orders not in NY?
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: erictrumpet on January 14, 2006, 02:19:08 pm
Please forgive me if this is one of the primary purposes of this whole button-lighting craze, but it just occurred to me that it would be cool as heck if when you load a certain game, the buttons you are supposed to use on that game light up. Could they even light up different colors depending on the game? That way your FE just says red button = fire, blue button = jump and the user needs only look for the lit up red and blue buttons, while all others are unlit. Again, forgive me if DUH THATS THE POINT, but if not, can something like that be done?

Eric.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE™ Lightable Arcade Pushbuttons
Post by: Tiger-Heli on January 14, 2006, 02:29:11 pm
Please forgive me if this is one of the primary purposes of this whole button-lighting craze, but it just occurred to me that it would be cool as heck if when you load a certain game, the buttons you are supposed to use on that game light up. Could they even light up different colors depending on the game? That way your FE just says red button = fire, blue button = jump and the user needs only look for the lit up red and blue buttons, while all others are unlit. Again, forgive me if DUH THATS THE POINT, but if not, can something like that be done?
Eric.
DUH THAT'S THE POINT.

Not only that, but what if the button in SpyHunter lit up when the weapons van was available.  What if the second button in most shooters only lit up when you actually had the MegaBomb avaialble.  What if the button in Top Gunner lit up red, or blue, or green, or yellow depending on the level or rockets that you had available.  THAT'S what we're talking about!  (Well, someday . . .)
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 14, 2006, 03:47:29 pm
Why does your store want to charge NY sales tax for orders not in NY?

Good question.  I'll see what is causing that and fix it.

Nobody outside of NY will be charged sales tax, so you can disregard it if it happens before I get it dealt with.

Thanks for the heads up.

RandyT

*EDIT*

FIXED!  Let me know if any other issues arise.

Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 21, 2006, 01:21:32 pm
Just got mine in the mail today. When I get the RGB-drives, I'll install and post some pics.

I'll post some first impressions later today.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: XtraSmiley on January 21, 2006, 06:16:42 pm
OK, excuse my laziness, but what would I need to get some buttons lit?

1.  New pushbuttons of course.
2.  What else?

I'm just looking to build a panel for my computer that has a joystick and 8 buttons.  I'd like the buttons to light up when clicked.  Can you give me the dummy explanation of what I need to buy and how hard it will be?

Also, will I be able to power it off of my USB port on my computer, or is this only good for using in full cabs that can drive more power?

Thanks man, and great job on the parts, you are a true arcade lovers hero.  Keep up the good work.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 21, 2006, 06:50:36 pm
XtraSmiley;

1. of course
2. generic LEDs to shove up in the pushbuttons.
or
2. 1 RGB-drive pushbutton lighting module per button you want
3. if you want them solid on, you could wire them up to a keyboard encoder's power with a few resistors.
or
3. Buy the ledwiz lighting board from GGG.

The full setup, buttons, RGB-Drive, and led-wiz will set you back abouit $100 for an average set of lights.

Well worth it as far as I'm concerned. :D
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: XtraSmiley on January 22, 2006, 12:21:32 am
Well worth it indeed, but will I be able to power it all via USB or is this a full cab only thing?  (which isn't a problem as I'll have another MAME cab down the road a bit) but this is for my small desktop, USB controller.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: loadman on January 22, 2006, 05:05:15 am
Quote
OK, excuse my laziness, but what would I need to get some buttons lit?

1.  New pushbuttons of course.

FYI I used super Bright LED's in my existing standard buttons. Worked for me. :-)

Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Hockeyboy on January 22, 2006, 07:57:09 am
Okay, so let me ask the "not so sure if this is dumb or not" question:

If I bought these to use in my project, say 6 per 'player' for a total of 12, and then got some red, blue, and clear (or yellow even) LEDs to slide in underneath, I would need...what to complete them? Can you make them light up as the buttons are pressed? Can someone here give me some examples of how this would accentuate a project? Don't get me wrong - I think these are totally awesome, just wondering how I would insert them into my CP and get the benefits.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: markrvp on January 22, 2006, 09:40:47 am
Do a search for the LED-WIZ thread and the Translucent Pushbutton threads and you'll see examples and even videos of how people have implemented lighted buttons and controls.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 22, 2006, 12:19:28 pm
It's all still kind of new... with the Led-wiz and stuff, so there aren't many examples yet.

For years though, people have been using LEDs... just stead-on most of the time. With the led-wiz, it's pretty simple to program a lighting animation. Doing things based on an event (button pushing, game selection) gets a little more complex.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 23, 2006, 01:30:51 pm
Just got my stuff from GGG today.

Haven't installed yet, but here are my first impressions.

Buttons; The buttons are very white / slighly pearlescent in color. They don't look like white player 1/2 start buttons.  They're cooler in color and less milky colored. They have a similar look to those white soap / shampoo bottles that are white and slightly hazy / pearly. The look like pretty much any other button otherwise, except for the tiny hole in the bottom that just barely accomodates an RGB led. I did notice that a few of my buttons were a bit finicky about putting the button nut on. On a few of them, the positioning of the lead-in thread on the button was unfortunately located in such a way that the microswitch mounting bracket made it difficult to get the nut on. At first I thought they were screwed up completely, but it just turned out that I had to be a little careful about installing the nut. I wouldn't even mention it except that sometimes these things have to be installed in tight spaces, and I forsee some cursing during basic installation. They look to have the same build as regular buttons, though, so this may be a problem with other buttons that I've been fortunate enough to have missed over the years. On a whole, they're just buttons and are of excellent quality.

RGB-drive LED boards;
The boards are very tiny. For some reason, I just didn't expect them to be this big. I mean... the picture shows them to be about 3 inches across ;) They're QUITE tiny as you can see in the picture. The perspective with the quarter is a bit misleading... they're about the same length as a quarter. When you install them in the pushbuttons, they fit VERY snugly. Impressive really. I installed all of them with no problems. None were too tight, or too loose which says a lot for the execution of the build tolerances on both the RGB-drive and the buttons. Not that they need to be, but the RGB-drive boards are held in place by the microswitch. You will definitely not find frustration working with these in odd / dark spaces. They take almost no space beyond the button, so you should be able to install these anywhere that you can fit a microswitch. The boards can be installed in either direction... going WITH the microswitch or facing away from it. That doesn't seem like a big feature, but there are a few places on my machine where that will come in very handy.

One thing I would suggest is to definitely buy these prewired and resistored. It's not that cheap (2.xx extra each) but worth it as far as I'm concerned. The harness (as you can see) is absolutely solidly macine wired and perfect. You can see the 4 consumer wiring holes, labeled 1,2,3,4. They are VERY small. They look like they require 23 guage or smaller wire. Since I usually use 21 guage everywhere, I would have had to run out to The Shack to install myself. Anyway they're rock solid and I have no doubt that they will withstand more abuse than anything I could solder in. For you solder pros... you may not need them. I'm pretty decent with an iron, but those are just too small for me to feel comfortable with. One more bit of info... the preinstalled harness is about 2 feet long. If you have a frankenpanel... that might not be long enough to get where you need to go.

Anyway, I'm going to begin wiring up today. Screw it... I'm taking off work :D

I'm going to program a rough app today to set the behaviour of the led-wiz based on the game called. It's not going to be some amazing program, but I'll share it when I'm done. To begin with... it'll probably just check an ini file against the name of the game. I don't PWN @!! T3H R()MZ to I'm only going to be worried about it running less than a few hundred lines. If I get ambitious, it may check the mame .cfg file but I doubt I'll get that far. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 24, 2006, 07:01:43 am
I've got them installed and wired up.

You can watch the video here (http://mahuti.com/arcade/bledwiz.avi)

The files 9mb, though. Sorry.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: RandyT on January 24, 2006, 10:47:23 am
I've got them installed and wired up.

You can watch the video here (http://mahuti.com/arcade/bledwiz.mov)

Can't find proper CODEC.   :'(

Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 24, 2006, 10:55:13 am
I'll make it an mpeg. (was a mov...)
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 24, 2006, 10:59:43 am
Updated. Now an AVI. A nice, outdated, old-fashioned AVI.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: Santoro on January 24, 2006, 07:58:40 pm
Good stuff, I think you convinced me to order some goodies.  Thanks Mahuti.
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: MYX on January 24, 2006, 08:25:26 pm
Updated. Now an AVI. A nice, outdated, old-fashioned AVI.
Tripod ;D
Title: Re: New Product: Electric ICE
Post by: mahuti on January 24, 2006, 10:41:37 pm
Yeah, when you're walking back and forth to control the games and shoot at the same time, you can't be Scorsese. Too cheap for a tripod :P