Backlit buttons are possible and can be seen on my site here. This is still a work in progress but I thought I would put up some pics for all to enjoy.

Brian

-See my empeg here-

Brian, that is so incredibly cool!

To anyone with the capability:
I will pay good money if you can cast translucent button and knob sets so I can do this properly!

(I'm sure others would, too.)

Brian/Hugo, what are the odds that (a) kernel control for this would become built-in to the official empeg code base, or (b) the LEDs could be wired directly to the car's headlight-sense line and simply be "on" when the headlights are on (bypassing the empeg electronics completely)?

___________
Tony Fabris

Too Cool!

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

That would take the empeg beyond my favourite piece of kit.

___________________________

Steve - 18GB Mk II Sssmokey

Holy @#$%@#$. Man, I'd pay ya to do that to my empeg with some Blue LED's. Wow. Now if we only had translucent buttons!!! Argh... so close! That's still a damn nice hardware hack. I'm jealous!!


|| loren.cox ||

Brian,

My hat's off to you! Very illuminating!

Jim

Toby will be very disappointed that his is no longer the only empeg in the world with illuminated buttons!

Rob

We had a few sets of translucent buttons made - Toby has one set on his player, and I think the rest got thrown out when I decided the misc scrap plastic bin was taking up too much real estate.

They don't look that great - they need a different structure and texture to illuminate evenly.

Rob

Hmmm. We could add a "button LEDs on when light sense active" function, as this would have absolutely zero effect on people without LEDs fitted.

It's quite easily done as a kernel hack, though. Just note when the headlight sense changes and send the correct command to the display board.

Hugo

It's quite easily done as a kernel hack, though.

Yeah, but I load new software onto the Empeg so frequently, I don't always have a hacked kernel.

What about the other idea? Skipping the empeg electronics altogether and wiring the LEDs directly to the headlight wire?

What resistor value would I use, and would it affect the Empeg's sense circuitry?

___________
Tony Fabris

I molded some translucent buttons a whie ago but I don't know where they went. I will try molding some new ones and maybe somebody with lights can test them. I was going to swap mine out but wimped out for fear of warranty voiding.

Alex Lear

Wiring the leds directly to the headlight wire is probably ok in terms of current drain, but the PCB tracks/holes are already there for the "proper" automatic control of illuminated buttons.

It'd be much more messy (possibly involving cut tracks on the display PCB) to wire them to the headlight line.

Hugo

Argl,

fix that site, two routers are playing ping-pong there:

27 190 ms 191 ms 200 ms lin-router-e0-0.inebraska.net [199.184.119.18]
28 200 ms 201 ms 200 ms lin-dsl.inebraska.net [199.184.119.22]
29 190 ms 201 ms 190 ms lin-router-e0-0.inebraska.net [199.184.119.18]
30 210 ms * 200 ms lin-dsl.inebraska.net [199.184.119.22]

etc. etc.

I want to see the buttons, too!

Till

Its fixed right now and will hopefully stay alive.

Brian

-See my empeg here-

I would love to check them out if you get around to making some more.

Brian

-See my empeg here-

Congratulation!

Maybe you have to start a joint venture with Darkstorm...He can produce the faceplates and you the illuminated buttons....!

Of course faceplate and buttons must have the same color...

So we can buy a out of the box solution!

CrazyMelki

Of course faceplate and buttons must have the same color...

Actually, that might be possible. If DarkStorm could make small inserts for inside the buttons, you might be able to fit them in. They would need to be real thin, though...

Perhaps some photographic filter material...

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)

Oh, and I wanted to say... if anyone does make translucent buttons...

If you can... make them mostly opaque, with only the slightest transparency. That way, the light distributes evenly, but they still look good in the daytime.

And you could make them gray, they don't have to be colored. If someone is hacking the LEDs into their empeg, they can choose the color of the LEDs (they don't have to be white).

___________
Tony Fabris

but the PCB tracks/holes are already there for the "proper" automatic control of illuminated buttons.

True, but then the buttons wouldn't light up unless the Empeg was turned on.

One of the things that's nice about factory car stereos is that their buttons are lit even when you've turned off the radio. This makes the unit blend into the dashboard more nicely, and allows you to find the buttons to turn it on.

Then again, if the buttons were lit even when the unit was on Standby, I guess that would be OK.

I'm actually getting excited about this. I wonder how hard/expensive it is to cast plastic buttons?

___________
Tony Fabris

The buttons would be lit during standby, yes.

You could hack the kernel to have the buttons on dimly during standby, and bright when the unit was on if you wanted, there is a dimming control.

Hugo

Hugo,

Can we get the info needed to replicate the above hardware hack? That's way cool. I see that a resistor pack of some kind is needed. What about the wiring diagram with polarity on the display board? I assume the button light signals are "off" by default?

Why didn't you move ahead with lit buttons for the production units?

Cheers!

______________________________________
Queue 351, Now Mk II #60000022 18gb, Blue

A resistor pack is needed, yes. I suspect something like 330 ohm would be fine.

Anode (small terminal inside led) goes to the resistor pack end. You need 3mm LEDs, this will fit (with a bit of bending) inside the buttons, there are holes for the legs to go through - you can actually buy the switches with LEDs in place, but they're just the normal switches plus a normal LED.

LEDs are normally on ISTR. We didn't go for them due to problems getting clear mouldings to look good with backlighting, the fact that the rotary control couldn't easily be lit (and just the buttons would look a bit strange) and the fact that they didn't make the buttons with white LEDs, which would be needed if we were going to have buttons that matched the display.

Hugo

I second that request... a wiring diagram and full instructions would be GREATLY appreciated by the non electrically/programming oriented of us who REALLY want to do this hack. I'm ancy just thinking about it!!! Exciting stuff.


|| loren.cox ||

by the non electrically/programming oriented of us who REALLY want to do this hack

Just looking at the size of the necessary solder points on the surface-mount resitor pack, I'd say that if you're not "electrically-oriented" (i.e., you're not a whiz with a soldering iron), then you shouldn't attempt it. Looks to be reasonably difficult. And since you're working around the display board (probably the most expensive single component in the empeg), the chances of making a fatal mistake are high.

___________
Tony Fabris

Yeah, i was looking at those solder points... thats just insane. I'd have to get someone handy with the soldering iron to do that bit for me, as there's no way i could do something that precise in my limited soldering experience. *sigh*




|| loren.cox ||

Oh, I'm sure you could do it with a little practice. I just wouldn't recommend practicing directly on the Empeg as your first project, that's all.

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Tony Fabris

In order to do some soldering, you had to bend back the VFD to gain access to the solder points. If I ever tried this, I would be worried that I would break one of the pins if I tried to bend them.

Can the VFD be slid off the pins & removed instead? I was one of the unfortunate ones that had the upper-left-corner-visibility problem & I ended up sliding the VFD down the pins more, which solved my problem. Does the display just slide off & on?

Mk2/40GB/Blue

I ended up sliding the VFD down the pins more, which solved my problem. Does the display just slide off & on?

Are you sure you were sliding and not just bending the pins?


___________
Tony Fabris

Good point. Not really sure.

-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue

So how many people out there actually have created backlit buttons and who is now trying it?

___________________________

Steve - 18GB Mk II Sssmokey

I'm not going to try it myself, but I may try and have a friend do it... I work for a company that has an electronics manufacturing floor & there are some very skilled solderers here.

I took of the face & checked it out. It seems pretty straight forward. There are two places for resistor packs. One of them (the upper one) seems a bit tricky. It is behind the VFD a bit. I'm not quite sure how the rotary LED fits into the picture though. That one seems a bit 'hacky'.

-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue