Clear thumbsticks and leds : DIY ?

[dogeatdog]

Hi,

Couldn't find a set of these nor instructions how to wire this for the DIY-guys on your website. Only the Ragnarok (and a legacy) chip for modding your own controller.

Since you guys provide these options when the customer selects them in the shopping cart, I'm sure you have the parts and instructions in your shop. Do you also sell these so we DIY-ers can buy and install them.
Also a wiring diagram for the leds would be nice then

If you won't or can't sell them as a set, could you let us know the partnumbers of the components needed and the wiring instructions ?

Thanks !

 

[1tonpete]

I am not sure if your Rag chip came with the clip attached or not, but I can tell you the rgb LEDs have to be common cathode (-) and on the rag chip the (-) is the 4th and 8th pin looking left to right. I do not know which is r,g,b etc yet. This from my own testing and is not backed by Viking.

 

[dogeatdog]

No clip (I'm thinking you're meaning a clip for the main IC on the Ragnarok ?). I just ordered a couple of chips as is, with the mod switch and the usb 3.5mm jack. Are you saying I have to solder a few wires to the IC pins ? (no problem, but just wondering). Would you happen to have any pictures of your own install/testing ?

I was also referring to this : http://www.vikingdigital.com/media/wysiwyg/xbox360_ragnarok_quick_instruction_card_1_of_2.jpg. As you can see on the lower pic, Change led thumbstick color and Toggle LED thumbsticks on or off suggest these are functions implemented in the chip. Now, from your explanation I gather that these are capabilities embedded into the software of the chip, but not 'out to the public'. Is it possible that Matt or Odingalt could shine a (led) light (bad joke..) on this ? I hate to ruin a perfectly good chip by causing a short in attempting to get some nifty leds going

Thanks for the reply Pete, also keeping a close eye on your custom button controller.. nice work so far

 

[1tonpete]

"Thanks for the reply Pete, also keeping a close eye on your custom button controller.. nice work so far"
Its sold , before I could get the parts in I got an offer on it so I sold it. I will be doing 1 more Rag install with some more button options. Next one will be even better.
As for your issue. The clip I am referring to was part of the chip but was taken off . I am guessing yours is not there. If you look just to the left of the pad for the LB , you will see a row of 8 tiny solder points. These are for the leds. form left to right #4 and #8 are grounds. the others are the + for the led colors.

 

[dogeatdog]

Ah ok, now I understand what you mean :

I figured there used to be (or planned in the future) some kind of a connector because of the shape and the two big grounding pads to either side, but had no idea what it was for. How did you find this out ? Took apart a premodded controller from Viking ?

 

[modded matt]

The led add on was long ago discontinued. The software is still embedded in the programing, but without the led drivers that were on the rings, this is mostly useless, unless E wants to release his ring of light design to the public.

When this chip was first designed, it was made for the Matrix2 only. The revision you guys are getting now has been revised for the CG series controllers. when this was done, the rings had already been discontinued therefor the connector was left off to cut cost.

 

[dogeatdog]

The led add on was long ago discontinued. The software is still embedded in the programing, but without the led drivers that were on the rings, this is mostly useless, unless E wants to release his ring of light design to the public.

When this chip was first designed, it was made for the Matrix2 only. The revision you guys are getting now has been revised for the CG series controllers. when this was done, the rings had already been discontinued therefor the connector was left off to cut cost.

It would be nice to be able to turn off/on the leds, were we inclined to install transparant thumbsticks, but I see your point. You're saying the pinout of the connector is still correct as per Pete, and the code running on the Ragnarok will still send or cut power to leds if we were to solder to it.
I have two chips left here and a couple of leds from other projects... hmmm..

I've seen other led kits like this : http://www.modjunkiez.com/7-Color-LED-Light-Up-Thumbstick-Mod-Kit-V2_p_767.html
But I'm thinking we just wire that to the part highlighted on my previous post, since we'd want the Ragnarok to control the leds ?

(disclaimer: I might be talking out of my ***, but I'm just an eager learner I guess.. sorry if I'm coming over as pushy.. just trying to squeeze as much technical info as possible..)

 

[modded matt]

The pins are power, ground, SDA, SCL. The LED thumbsticks have an I2C LED driver on them. (Actually each LED thumbstick has two I2C LED drivers on it). In total there are four I2C LED driver cheaps each with a different I2C address. The good news if you buy one of those LED drivers you can hook it up to our modchip and then run any kind of lights you want/put the lights where you want them

PCA9632DP2,118

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/302/PCA9632-62099.pdf

The bad news is this is the largest chip in the PCA9632 and it's really tiny you would need to buy a schmart board probably as it's pretty hard to solder onto the little legs of this chip itself. Basically the pattern repeats twice and that's why it's an 8-pin header. power, groud, and the I2C comm lines go to each thumbstick ring PCB.

So no, the link you provided uses a different driver and will not be compatible with the rag, but you could install both the Rag, and modjunkiez chip into the same controller. but it would be a power hog.

 

[1tonpete]

I stand corrected. Thanks Matt. Sparkfun sells a rgb led driver breakout 12c I am curious if it is compatible. This product here.

 

[dogeatdog]

Good find, I'm curious about this too. Will see if I can pick one up here in Europe..

http://www.alibaba.com/product/us108809485-113294759-0/ThingM_BlinkM.html

Just checked, but the shipping cost would be around 35$. Any kind soul would be willing to send one or two to me with regular air mail. Will take a couple of weeks, but not in a hurry

Or - provided this works (feedback from Matt needed on that one) - maybe Viking could add it to its inventory and I can include some on my new Ragnarok order ?

 

[modded matt]

I would think those would work. however it would probably be cheaper to but the rgb led and the i2c separately. Space could also be an issue buying that. Maybe Odingalt can find the actual pin out in his files somewhere.