probably a dumb question...but...do resistors connect to the ground wire or the live wire?

Question

see, i'm building a dance pad (for any of you that play pump it up, im building one of those bc they dont sell any metal ones from reputable stores online). in case you dont know how it works, you step on the arrow shown, and thats how the button is activated. i've taken all the instructions on how to make a ddr pad, and im just going to alter them to fit pump it up.

and my friend decided he wants it to light up like in the arcade

so i said that's cool, but i can't seem to find any instructions on how to light a pad, at least not any that i understand.

so my questions are...
1. where would i put the resistor? live wire or ground?
2. do these lights need their own power supply ? (the rest of the pad is supplied by power from the ps2, im only planning on using a 25w bulb with a 10 ohm resistor)
3. can i wire the lights directly into the wires that trigger the arrow step? cuz otherwise i wont know how else to set up the lights to light up when you step on the arrow.
thanks!

Answer 1

I understand what you want. This is how I go about building arcade type components.

1: If the power supplied is DC then put it on the supply side (+). If the power supply is AC it don't really matter.

2: I say YES the lights need their own supply of power. I would suggest using LED's for a safer pad but either way.
(a) A supply power to the pad of 120v ac to distribution blocks (Supply one and a Return one)
(b) Supply side goes to each light place a diode then connect to light socket.
(c) You need a relay to be able to be triggered by the PS2 power supply. Once you trigger the switch the switch will also trigger the relay to close and light the light.
(d) So from the return side of the 120 vac block you go to each relay. On the other side of the relay you connect it to the other side of the light socket.
I hope you can understand that, sorry if not.


Note I have done such pads before myself, I used a spdt (Single pole double throw) relay in mine and put two lights in each pad. One light was a black light and all pads where lit all the time with this light and would light green (green bulbs used) when you steep on the arrow pad.

Good luck and congrats on your project. There are so many things you can upgrade to like a computer controller board that can light up random lights when the pad is not used to you being able to program it to know what lights to light up during an dance sequence.

Answer 2

If your bulbs burned up about as soon as you turned the light on, then you probably have a short ciruit somewhere, meaning you have a positive wire connected to a negative wire or you connected a wire to the wrong screw. I'm not sure where you are from, but here in the United States I'll list how they are normally connected. Normally, you will have two - three different colored wires. Black will normally be the positive wire and white will normally be the negative wire. The green wire or bare copper wire is the ground wire. The ground wire normally gets connected to a green tinted screw or another ground wire. The positive wire gets connected to the bronze colored screws and the negative wire gets connected to the silver colored screws. Also, always make sure you do any wire connections while the power is off so that you don't get electricuted. Normally there will be a diagram that shows how to connect the ceiling light that comes with the light kit. If you have a really old house with old electrical wiring, there may be the chance that your house does not have a ground wire. Normally you connect the ground wire to a screw on the junction box in that case, although some people will cap it off in that case.

Answer 3

I don't know what power the dance pad has from the ps2 but it's probably 5V. Just use LED's and wire them in series with foot switch.

Answer 4

With no schematic link Its a guess -- PSx systems pads are TTL devices with a max current less than 30mA...

A 25w light bulb will fry your power supplies fuse (if you're lucky.)

Contact you local EE or Physics instructor for help,