USB Output Driver Board
Low-cost driver board for devices such as LEDs, solenoids, lamps etc
Ideal for use with our UltraLux illuminated pushbuttons
When used with the MALA front-end, the easiest way to add illuminated
buttons to your panel.
- Will drive up to 16 standard
LEDs with no additional power.
- Up to 4 boards can be used
(more by request). Different IDs
available.
- 500mA per channel
- 500mA total current without
external power supply. Higher
current draw will require additional power.
- 5 volt outputs without
external power supply.
- Up to 48 volt outputs with
external power supply.
- Open-Source software. No
driver required.
- Downloadable example VB
application.
- C++ code on request.
- Support as a LED driver for
several MAME front-ends soon.
- Linux Support
Click for Order Page
Basic
Connection Method
The picture below shows a schematic representation of 3 LEDs connected.
These are 5 volt LEDs as used in our UltraLux buttons
In actual usage the connections would be made using quick-disconnects
to the button lampholder.
up to 16 can be connected in this way. No external power required.
To simplify connection, for the power "daisy-chain" you can use our
pre-made daisy-chain harness.
Advanced
Connection Methods
For connecting devices requiring a higher total current than 500mA for
all devices, or devices requiring more than 5 volts,
Instead of connecting the red power "daisy chain" to the "+" connection
on the PCB, simply connect to an appropriate voltage source.
For example a PC disk power connector will provide 12 volts through the
yellow wire.
When powering from a PC, there is no need for a ground wire since the
ground return is via the shield of the USB cable.
The diagram below shows how to connect 12 Volt LEDs
When
using 12 Volts DO NOT CONNECT THE 12 VOLT SUPPLY DIRECT TO ANY OF THE
BOARD TERMINALS
IMPORTANT: When connecting solenoids you must connect a diode across
each coil to eliminate "back-EMF" discharge through the driver board.
The diode is connected with the end marked with a line to the
power-supply end of the coil. Diodes are not required when connecting
LEDs.
APPLICATION
SOFTWARE
Ultimarc LED and output controllers have great software support,
including PC and Linux software and our own SDK which enables easy
addition of output control to your own programs.
Also a Linux library is available. See our
Programming
Page
For Windows
For Linux
Using
the Pac-Drive with LEDBlinky
Open the LEDBlinky
Configuration and select the LEDBlinky
Tools tab. Select the Generate Input Map button.
Enter your control and input
port maps to your Pac-Drive using
the controls as below.
LEDBlinky
LED Animation Editor
The LEDBlinky Animation Editor
is a program that allows you to
create complex LED animations with your Pac-Drive controller board. The
program includes a layout editor for designing your arcade control
panel and a timeline for creating LED Animation files (called LWAX
format).
Using
the Pac-Drive board with MALA.
MALA is a front-end menu system for MAME and other
emulators. It can be found
Here.
This front-end supports the
Pac-Drive board without the need for any
plugin.To see how easy it is to add illuminated-button LEDs using this
front-end and the Pac-Drive, see below:
First, right-click on the MALA screen and select "options"
Then, in the menu, select "Hardware".
You should see the window below:
In this window, the detected Pac-Drive board should be shown. Click on
"set" to use this board.
Then click the LED tab and the window below should be displayed:
In this window, in the left-hand area, you can click in the tick-boxes
to test each LED. (the tick-boxes are for testing only and don't affect
the saved configuration). Then, for each LED, click on the description
text (which will be "not used" if you have not yet configured). Assign
each LED to a button in the resulting drop-down selection.
In the right-hand area, the tick-boxes enable the LEDs to be
illuminated for controls which are used in each game. If you enable
these, you will see the LEDs change as you scroll through the game list
in the main MALA game menu.
In addition, you can set up an "attract-mode (idle mode) LED flash
display. Click on the Attract Mode tab and you will see the window
below:
Here, you can choose to have a random LED flash pattern during idle
mode. Or you can use a pre-defined flash pattern. You can define and
save patterns for use here, using the MALA Attract Mode Editor which is
a separate program. The screen is shown below:
Using
the Pac-Drive board with GameEx.
GameEx is a front-end for MAME
and other emulators. You can
download it from http://www.gameex.net/.
GameEx supports the Pac-Drive
using a plugin that is available
in the official GameEx download. To setup your PC to use the plugin
follow these instructions.
First select Start >
Programs > GameEx >
Plugin Manager.
The Plugin Manager will now
open on screen.
Select the LCD/LED Plugin from
the list and put a tick next to
it to enable the plugin. Then select Configure.
Go to the LED Input Map page
and assign the inputs associated
with your PacDrive including the Input Codes for use in MAME. You
should see the LED's light in realtime as you configure your ports.
That is all you need to
configure the plugin for use with the
Pac-Drive in GameEx. This plugin also support's Arzoo's LED Animation
Editor which is used to create LWAX files which are animation files for
the Pac-Drive.
For more information visit
here.
Using
the board with your own application.
the SDK and other programming
software is detailed on our PROGRAMMING PAGE