Hardware Button LED wiring

[ABigRock]

I'm currently trying to mod a GBC with some LEDs for the buttons, but I'm a noob at this and I'm a little lost because there aren't any build guides. The way I have it now, the LEDs are on any time there's power to the console regardless of if it's on or not, which I don't want. How can I wire them so that they only turn on when the console is powered on? Obviously, I'm really not great with electronics yet, so if you can answer me with baby-simple language, that'd be great!

 

[Navonod]

What pins did you wire to? Can you show a picture?

 

[ABigRock]

What pins did you wire to? Can you show a picture?

Sure! This is what I have so far.

 

[Navonod]

Sure! This is what I have so far.

I attached an image. Wire it to the pins circled. Red circle being positive and black circle negative.

 

[ABigRock]

I attached an image. Wire it to the pins circled. Red circle being positive and black circle negative.

Oh, my gosh, thank you! How did you know to use these pins specifically?

 

[Navonod]

Oh, my gosh, thank you! How did you know to use these pins specifically?

I have a speaker amplifier mod on my GBC. I use those pins. It's 5 volts and ground. The pins you are using are connected to the batteries so even if you didn't have the console on the leds still took drew power from your batteries.

 

[ABigRock]

I have a speaker amplifier mod on my GBC. I use those pins. It's 5 volts and ground. The pins you are using are connected to the batteries so even if you didn't have the console on the leds still took drew power from your batteries.

Oh, okay! Thank you so much for your patience with me!

 

[Navonod]

Oh, okay! Thank you so much for your patience with me!

No problem. Let me know when you got it all set up. I'd like to see the finished product.

 

[ABigRock]

No problem. Let me know when you got it all set up. I'd like to see the finished product.

Will do! I actually wanted to do two LEDs, is there another set of points you might know of that would provide the same power? Also, the first two worked, so endless thanks for that!

 

[Navonod]

Will do! I actually wanted to do two LEDs, is there another set of points you might know of that would provide the same power? Also, the first two worked, so endless thanks for that!

You can wire your extra leds to the same pins.

 

[ABigRock]

You can wire your extra leds to the same pins.

Oh, wow, okay! I was wondering if that was possible. I really wish I knew more about the boards and their pins, but I'm entirely self-taught, so it's all sort of confusing!

 

[Navonod]

Oh, wow, okay! I was wondering if that was possible. I really wish I knew more about the boards and their pins, but I'm entirely self-taught, so it's all sort of confusing!

We all start somewhere. I started out watching youtube videos. Search Voultar on youtube. He'll give tips and tricks on good soldering techniques. It'd probably be smart to learn some basic electronics also.

 

[FAST6191]

Oh, wow, okay! I was wondering if that was possible. I really wish I knew more about the boards and their pins, but I'm entirely self-taught, so it's all sort of confusing!

Everybody has to start somewhere and if projects are what keeps it interesting then so it goes.
However some of the comments you have made thus far makes is sound like you might want to go back and look at some of the more basic electrical engineering courses, particularly analogue electronics.
The "wondering if it was possible" for pins means you are either tripping yourself up with concerns about current draw* or more likely had not taken to heart the whole serial vs parallel loads thing that most analogue electronics courses will spend a fair bit of time hammering into you.

*welcome to the wonderful world of transistors if so. They are things that allow you to take a signal level current draw (which might be tiny) and allow components like LEDs that might need a bit more power to take power from somewhere else that can deliver more power and that is constantly on (be careful about leaving batteries in) or on when the main switch is on.

If you can get an oscilloscope then get one, though a multimeter will do a lot if you lack one of those. Can use such things to find pins, pads and points that are only on (or low resistance) when a switch (which includes the buttons themselves -- what is a button on a controller if not basically a switch?) is flipped.

I am not sure what I have these days for basic analogue electronics as far as websites go but it is the sort of thing they teach most, if not all**, high school kids every year for the last... probably 80 years and I have books going back further still so bound to be a lot out there. I am not necessarily a fan of some of it -- so many times now I have had new (and some old) car mechanics and university students not appreciate Ohm's law (V=IR) as far as it applies to the real world and have it instead be some arcane formula they learned alongside capacitance or something so there is some disconnect somewhere.

**your physics classes will tend to give you the basics of electronics but electronics might also be an optional technology class course (usually options alongside woodwork, tech drawing, metalwork, cooking/sewing/home economics and whatever else) that sees those kids learn more about things.

 

[ABigRock]

Everybody has to start somewhere and if projects are what keeps it interesting then so it goes.
However some of the comments you have made thus far makes is sound like you might want to go back and look at some of the more basic electrical engineering courses, particularly analogue electronics.
The "wondering if it was possible" for pins means you are either tripping yourself up with concerns about current draw* or more likely had not taken to heart the whole serial vs parallel loads thing that most analogue electronics courses will spend a fair bit of time hammering into you.

*welcome to the wonderful world of transistors if so. They are things that allow you to take a signal level current draw (which might be tiny) and allow components like LEDs that might need a bit more power to take power from somewhere else that can deliver more power and that is constantly on (be careful about leaving batteries in) or on when the main switch is on.

If you can get an oscilloscope then get one, though a multimeter will do a lot if you lack one of those. Can use such things to find pins, pads and points that are only on (or low resistance) when a switch (which includes the buttons themselves -- what is a button on a controller if not basically a switch?) is flipped.

I am not sure what I have these days for basic analogue electronics as far as websites go but it is the sort of thing they teach most, if not all**, high school kids every year for the last... probably 80 years and I have books going back further still so bound to be a lot out there. I am not necessarily a fan of some of it -- so many times now I have had new (and some old) car mechanics and university students not appreciate Ohm's law (V=IR) as far as it applies to the real world and have it instead be some arcane formula they learned alongside capacitance or something so there is some disconnect somewhere.

**your physics classes will tend to give you the basics of electronics but electronics might also be an optional technology class course (usually options alongside woodwork, tech drawing, metalwork, cooking/sewing/home economics and whatever else) that sees those kids learn more about things.

Oh, wow, this is all super cool! I'm well beyond the age of school, and I never learned electronics because I have a crippling learning disorder based in math. I'm not even sure I know what serial versus parallel means. I remember trying to learn Ohm's law but I couldn't ever wrap my head around the math, so I was moved out of all my electronics courses because I couldn't keep up. That's why when I say I'm a complete beginner, I mean it! Do you have any sites or resources you'd recommend I use as a complete beginner? I was thinking Khan Academy, but I don't know if I'll even have the background for that. I do have a multimeter, but to be honest, I have no idea how to use it.

 

[FAST6191]

Serial. Things in a line. Means one thing drops some voltage, then another, then another. If you ever had a set of Christmas lights go out and had to spend time finding the dodgy bulb this is that.
Parallel. Things split off. Means they all get the same voltage but the current splits as many ways as is necessary (this will lead to something called Kirchoff's current law but can hold back there for now). If one bulb goes or one line gets cut the rest should stay working, however more complicated to wire up.


V=IR. If maths is going to be a problem then might want to kick it really simple and go back to the triangles where you put a finger over the thing you want to find and it tells you the equation.
You can get into fun maths quite quickly (capacitors tending to be this) but you can do an awful lot without it. Most things are simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using straight numbers.


Multimeters. Good practice for serial vs parallel then.
There are likely four modes you care about at first.

1) Voltage mode. This you measure as parallel (you put the probes either side of what you want to measure). Volts tends to be the order of the day, if doing the water in a hose analogy then this is how much pressure there is. Usually the first thing you check (no voltage, not much going to happen after all)
2) Current mode/amps mode. This you measure as serial (that is to say you break the line and put your meter in the middle). If also doing water in a hose this is how much water is flowing.
3) Resistance mode. Also parallel (as in stick it across what you want to measure). Ideally you would have a separate component to measure (in circuit gets tricky*). Water in a pipe starts to get tricky here but more resistance is much as it sounds and is like what might happen if you put sand in there and forced it to go through.
4) Continuity. Also parallel. This will be what people use to tell whether two points on a circuit are joined (either when figuring it out in the first place or when figuring out whether something got cut). If you see people probing things and it making a beep then this is probably that.

*if sticking with pipes and water. If you had two pipes in a y junction, put rag in one and fired some water down it then the water would go mostly through the other one and you might not have an idea how much the rag (or sand if you want to go back to that) really would restrict it if it was just a single pipe. Same idea when trying to measure resistance with it on the circuit. It is not the worst thing in the world to measure in circuit but something to be aware of. Also if you are comparing two identical circuits (say you have a known good board) then also a good plan.

If doing water in a pipe then you can have pressure enough to cut glass but if only a tiny stream is coming out then nobody cares. Likewise you can have a pipe as wide as you are tall gushing all the water it likes but if said water is barely trickling out then yeah.
To that end both pressure and flow are needed for power. Also why power = voltage x current or P=IV.
Resistance is usually your enemy (it is literally your useful power being turned to heat) but occasionally you might want some of it if it would otherwise blow something up -- pressure wash hard enough to strip paint and might want to stop that and get a hose instead. This is why you will probably be told to put one in with the LED so even if the LED represents no real impediment to the flow of the current the resistor is in the path (why it will be in series) of the current as it will still limit things and maybe drop some voltage across it while it is at it.

Transistors as mentioned above as basically little switches. They don't normally conduct but if you apply just a tiny little bit of power to the third leg of them then they suddenly start conducting.

Without going through whatever the Khan academy has on electronics I don't know. Most of the rest of anything I have ever seen from there has been pretty decent though and they have a rep for a reason.

If going from basics and in video form then I might also suggest




Text form I have not tried the utter basics of https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/direct-current/ but their more advanced stuff I have been using when discussing things with someone and that does very well.
https://www.electronicshub.org/tutorials/ has some good stuff but again skews a bit more advanced.
https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/ is much the same.

Most people I have taught in recent years though have come to me with a fair understanding of things already so I am a bit short on back to basics type things -- both those channels above have some truly in depth stuff as well, and the more in depth stuff is what I spend my time watching.

If doing links then in addition to the two above
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/mikeselectricstuff/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/jjward/videos is more domestic sparkery but still very very good. If you want domestic stuff then there are also loads there ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6EJTy6p58ZW16PEljSn4Qw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6pc8dcxZreeQxln00G_BIQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1Taao1ibEdUqPtFPpb4Pg )
http://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids is more about blowing stuff up but still has good things.
https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil?feature=hovercard does not play with so much electronics these days but still has a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/user/julius256/videos is good.
https://www.youtube.com/user/SwitchAndLever seems to skew more mechanical right now but also has some stuff you might like to consider in this.
https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup/videos used to do a lot more repair videos but still has some.


For electrical parts you can buy stuff from amazon and ebay if you want, kits are quite nice there but have my ancient and decrepit links list full of probably 3 or 4 dead companies and somewhat UK centric (though most will have US branches or be US based to begin with)
http://www.scan.co.uk/
http://www.sparkfun.com/
http://proto-pic.co.uk/
http://cpc.farnell.com/
http://www.element14.com/community/index.jspa
http://www.jaycar.co.uk/
https://www.adafruit.com/
http://uk.mouser.com/Home.aspx
http://www.rapidonline.com/
http://www.anglia.com/product_search/product_search/index.asp
http://uk.farnell.com/
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/
http://www.digikey.co.uk/
http://uk.futureelectronics.com/en/Pages/index.aspx?OL=GB&Language=en-GB
http://www.maplin.co.uk/
http://www.pamir.com/
http://bitsbox.co.uk/
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001
http://octopart.com/
http://www.findchips.com/
http://ebluar.com/
http://discoazul.co.uk/
http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=50_74
http://www.whitedog.co.uk/catalog/xbox-360/c-161.html
specific parts and guides
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=346022
http://hackaday.com/2010/11/20/beginner-concepts-powering-your-projects/#comments
http://glosbe.com/en/hi?q=Hang+out
http://glosbe.com/hi/en?q=ऑनलाइन

 

[ABigRock]

Serial. Things in a line. Means one thing drops some voltage, then another, then another. If you ever had a set of Christmas lights go out and had to spend time finding the dodgy bulb this is that.
Parallel. Things split off. Means they all get the same voltage but the current splits as many ways as is necessary (this will lead to something called Kirchoff's current law but can hold back there for now). If one bulb goes or one line gets cut the rest should stay working, however more complicated to wire up.


V=IR. If maths is going to be a problem then might want to kick it really simple and go back to the triangles where you put a finger over the thing you want to find and it tells you the equation.
You can get into fun maths quite quickly (capacitors tending to be this) but you can do an awful lot without it. Most things are simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using straight numbers.


Multimeters. Good practice for serial vs parallel then.
There are likely four modes you care about at first.

1) Voltage mode. This you measure as parallel (you put the probes either side of what you want to measure). Volts tends to be the order of the day, if doing the water in a hose analogy then this is how much pressure there is. Usually the first thing you check (no voltage, not much going to happen after all)
2) Current mode/amps mode. This you measure as serial (that is to say you break the line and put your meter in the middle). If also doing water in a hose this is how much water is flowing.
3) Resistance mode. Also parallel (as in stick it across what you want to measure). Ideally you would have a separate component to measure (in circuit gets tricky*). Water in a pipe starts to get tricky here but more resistance is much as it sounds and is like what might happen if you put sand in there and forced it to go through.
4) Continuity. Also parallel. This will be what people use to tell whether two points on a circuit are joined (either when figuring it out in the first place or when figuring out whether something got cut). If you see people probing things and it making a beep then this is probably that.

*if sticking with pipes and water. If you had two pipes in a y junction, put rag in one and fired some water down it then the water would go mostly through the other one and you might not have an idea how much the rag (or sand if you want to go back to that) really would restrict it if it was just a single pipe. Same idea when trying to measure resistance with it on the circuit. It is not the worst thing in the world to measure in circuit but something to be aware of. Also if you are comparing two identical circuits (say you have a known good board) then also a good plan.

If doing water in a pipe then you can have pressure enough to cut glass but if only a tiny stream is coming out then nobody cares. Likewise you can have a pipe as wide as you are tall gushing all the water it likes but if said water is barely trickling out then yeah.
To that end both pressure and flow are needed for power. Also why power = voltage x current or P=IV.
Resistance is usually your enemy (it is literally your useful power being turned to heat) but occasionally you might want some of it if it would otherwise blow something up -- pressure wash hard enough to strip paint and might want to stop that and get a hose instead. This is why you will probably be told to put one in with the LED so even if the LED represents no real impediment to the flow of the current the resistor is in the path (why it will be in series) of the current as it will still limit things and maybe drop some voltage across it while it is at it.

Transistors as mentioned above as basically little switches. They don't normally conduct but if you apply just a tiny little bit of power to the third leg of them then they suddenly start conducting.

Without going through whatever the Khan academy has on electronics I don't know. Most of the rest of anything I have ever seen from there has been pretty decent though and they have a rep for a reason.

If going from basics and in video form then I might also suggest




Text form I have not tried the utter basics of https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/direct-current/ but their more advanced stuff I have been using when discussing things with someone and that does very well.
https://www.electronicshub.org/tutorials/ has some good stuff but again skews a bit more advanced.
https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/ is much the same.

Most people I have taught in recent years though have come to me with a fair understanding of things already so I am a bit short on back to basics type things -- both those channels above have some truly in depth stuff as well, and the more in depth stuff is what I spend my time watching.

If doing links then in addition to the two above
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/mikeselectricstuff/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/jjward/videos is more domestic sparkery but still very very good. If you want domestic stuff then there are also loads there ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6EJTy6p58ZW16PEljSn4Qw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6pc8dcxZreeQxln00G_BIQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1Taao1ibEdUqPtFPpb4Pg )
http://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids is more about blowing stuff up but still has good things.
https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil?feature=hovercard does not play with so much electronics these days but still has a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/user/julius256/videos is good.
https://www.youtube.com/user/SwitchAndLever seems to skew more mechanical right now but also has some stuff you might like to consider in this.
https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup/videos used to do a lot more repair videos but still has some.


For electrical parts you can buy stuff from amazon and ebay if you want, kits are quite nice there but have my ancient and decrepit links list full of probably 3 or 4 dead companies and somewhat UK centric (though most will have US branches or be US based to begin with)
http://www.scan.co.uk/
http://www.sparkfun.com/
http://proto-pic.co.uk/
http://cpc.farnell.com/
http://www.element14.com/community/index.jspa
http://www.jaycar.co.uk/
https://www.adafruit.com/
http://uk.mouser.com/Home.aspx
http://www.rapidonline.com/
http://www.anglia.com/product_search/product_search/index.asp
http://uk.farnell.com/
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/
http://www.digikey.co.uk/
http://uk.futureelectronics.com/en/Pages/index.aspx?OL=GB&Language=en-GB
http://www.maplin.co.uk/
http://www.pamir.com/
http://bitsbox.co.uk/
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001
http://octopart.com/
http://www.findchips.com/
http://ebluar.com/
http://discoazul.co.uk/
http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=50_74
http://www.whitedog.co.uk/catalog/xbox-360/c-161.html
specific parts and guides
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=346022
http://hackaday.com/2010/11/20/beginner-concepts-powering-your-projects/#comments
http://glosbe.com/en/hi?q=Hang+out
http://glosbe.com/hi/en?q=ऑनलाइन

Oh, my gosh, what an incredible trove of information! Thank you so, so much for all of this! This will make a huge difference to me going forward! Is there some way I can thank you for taking the time to do this?

 

[FAST6191]

Don't worry. Most of that was already in my bookmarks and easy enough to dash out quickly.

 

[ABigRock]

Don't worry. Most of that was already in my bookmarks and easy enough to dash out quickly.

Working with handhelds is something I've really fallen in love with, and I think a ton of these are going to help me get better! Thank you again!

 

[vastneon]

very helpful links in those tutorial videos. thanks!