Zero delay connecting led buttons only 2 wires included in kit

[W44dde]

Hi, I've searched and searched and can't find an answer so I'm hoping someone could shed a bit of light on an issue I'm having.. I bought an arcade set up from eBay consisting of Led buttons, 2 joysticks, 2 zero delay encoders and all wires etc.. My problem (which is my own fault) is that even though they are sold as an led arcade kit, the zd's only have 2 pin connector wires on the board yet the actual buttons have 4 pins.. I've seen that most kits (that work) have 3 pin connectors on board with 4 wires.. That's what I need but is there a way to connect the kit up which I already have? Otherwise I'm left with led buttons that I can't light up.. Thanks :)

[TMNTturtlguy]

@w44dde first, can you share the product you bought, second you should contact the seller.

Third and most important, you should not run LED buttons directly off of your pi. You should either get a powered USB hub, pi hut has a good one i use, or you should power the lights with a separate power supply.

I do both in different setups. To power off of a separate power supply you need to buy two 30 connector daisy chains and a 5v 2amp power supply. Cut the connector of the power supply off and cut the end of each daisy chain off. I like to buy 1 red and 1 black daisy chain. Strip the wires to the daisy chain and the power supply and use a wire nut to properly connect the wires. Now connect the positive chain to the positive pole on you button and your neutral to the nuetral pole. That should be all there is too it.

[W44dde]

@tmntturtlguy hi, thanks for your reply.. The kit I bought was this
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-DIY-LED-Arcade-MAME-Buttons-2-Joysticks-2-USB-Encoder-Kit-Game-Parts-Set-/122598433465?hash=item1c8b6fa2b9%3Ag%3AMH0AAOSwhilZaHz0&_trkparms=pageci%253A1a7d5c44-7cfe-11e7-aa13-74dbd1804792%257Cparentrq%253Ac6f6c1d415d0abc6637c82f6ffffe32b%257Ciid%253A1

I have a USB powered hub as I plan to use an external hdd as well and realised the pi wouldn't be able to power it all..

I'm no electrician so as regards to a separate power supply, the usual pi type one? 5v 2.5 amp.. I assume there's just 2 wires within the power cable which you would use to connect to the button and then daisy chain one wire from that to the same pin on another button and so on for the other wire?
Thanks

[TMNTturtlguy]

@w44dde yeah, it says right in the listing that they do not provide cables to power the lights.

as for the power supply, you don't need a pi supply and you don't need 2.5 amp. Any 5v 2amp supply will work. There are a ton of them out there to choose from. When you cut the adapter end off (The end that you would plug into the pi or whatever you are charging/powering there are 2 wires. Buy 2 separate daisy chains: ebay

Here is a picture of what i do - 1 red set and 1 black set:

Power supply:

Cut end:

Connect red to red and black to black. Use a wire nut and electrical tape, you can youtube how to do this.

[W44dde]

@tmntturtlguy you've just saved me a whole lot of hassle, thanks everso much! :)

[TMNTturtlguy]

@w44dde You bet, let me know if you have any questions, you shouldn't have any issues, it is straight forward.

Another thing to note when using the zero delay encoders. Both your player 1 and player 2 buttons needs to be wired exactly the same. Meaning your A button needs to be wired to the same pins for both players. If your buttons are not wired exactly the same on both players, they will not work correctly in retroarch.

[W44dde]

@tmntturtlguy OK great, cheers, :)

[eddie72]

@tmntturtlguy hi there. Hoping you may be able to help me. I know this was 8 months ago you were talking about it. I hope you can help.
Re: Zero delay connecting led buttons only 2 wires included in kit

Hi there. I read a answer to a question I was thinking of asking about having to power led buttons from another power supply as a raspberry pi would not have enough power to do this. I have 4 connectors on each button and only the red (positive) is labelled. I have researched a bit and found out that the connector across from it is also positive and the one next to it is negative and the same opposite. Now I bought the kit and it came with wiring for connection to the usb encoder but only 2 connections per button. I understand I can daisy chain the other positive and negative to all the buttons and then to a seperate power supply to power up the led side of the buttons. As was shown by tmnt on here. My buttons in the advert say 12v. As they are led is this correct? Would a 5v seperste power supply not power the led's seeing as the usb is powering the button side of it? I do not want to buy and rig up the wrong power supply and also do not want to put 12v to it if 5v would do. I am trying to find this out now before I start my build. Many thanks in anticipation for any help anybody can give. I have messaged the seller telling them my concerns, especially seeing as nothing is mentioned on their advert about having to power the led side of the butons. I am not holding out much hope of an answer that I can understand or that is helpful enough as they were bought from china. A wiring diagram would of been helpful with it.

[Dominus]

@TMNTturtlguy I realize this is a pretty old topic, but it is exactly what I was looking for and it came up on Google. I am just wondering if I can power 2 LED Joysticks this way with the same power supply? or would I need 1 for each?