Nanokontrol led help
Ok I recieved a Nanokontrol in the post today that i won on Ebay the other night. I’m planning on using this as part of a mod I’m doing.
I’ve just Fixed a broken usb socket and removed all the pots and faders which was straight forward enough. Next up I solder wires to the led’s under each button But when i activate the button the led (green one) is too dim?
Does anybody know if it’s possible to make it brighter somehow?
That doesn’t look like a green led to me - led’s only come in certain colours and I think that one is yellow-green
Different colour led’s require different voltages so I’m guessing the yellow-green one needs more than the red.
Or it could just be that the yellow-green one is not as bright - led’s come in different brightness.
Try changing it for a red one to see if it’s the same…
Don’t forget to add a resistor as well to keep the current down 
The red LED that you’ve still got there is taking power still as well.
I decided not to bother with the LEDs on my nK mod. You cant program changes on them so I didn’t see the point.
[quote]That doesn’t look like a green led to me - led’s only come in certain colours and I think that one is yellow-green
Different colour led’s require different voltages so I’m guessing the yellow-green one needs more than the red.
Or it could just be that the yellow-green one is not as bright - led’s come in different brightness.
Try changing it for a red one to see if it’s the same…
Don’t forget to add a resistor as well to keep the current down [/quote]
Thanks for the info Nicky. These are the led’s i bought.
I bought some orange ones too.
I swapped the green led for a red one like you said and it was perfect so now i could do with some advice on getting the green to shine the same as the red 
Here’s a pic with a red led …
This is the first time I’ve included led’s in a project…Could you explain some more about this please?
[quote]The red LED that you’ve still got there is taking power still as well.
I decided not to bother with the LEDs on my nK mod. You cant program changes on them so I didn’t see the point.[/quote]
Thanks Steve. Yeah i know you cant program changes on them but adding led’s will still be useful for some parts of my project.
I’d love to see how you wire your buttons. My connections keep breaking and I really want to just completely rewire my entire project.
LED’s have no resistance built into them usually, so you need to limit the current to them.
A small change in voltage will result in a big change in current. The LED will get brighter and get hotter, and burn out.
If you are using USB for power the source voltage should be 5V DC.
There’s lots of complcated maths to work stuff out but looking at your eBay link they recommend a resistor of 130 ohm.
How many LED’s are you gonna be using?
Looking at the board you can see the resistors near the LED’s, just check they are the right ones, I can’t see the colour bands properly.
As for getting the green as bright as the red, from what I remember green LED’s need more forward voltage
Try a yellow or orange one..
Where did you solder to? I found the easiest way was like this.
This is the top row of buttons.
And this is the bottom row.
The wire I’m using fits nice and snug into those holes highlighted in yellow.
If you’re having problems with connections breaking what i usually do is try to keep the wire flat to the circuit board and then add some hot glue for extra strength like this
I get geeky goosebumps when I see pictures like this lol
did you remove the old line fader pots?
[quote]I get geeky goosebumps when I see pictures like this lol
did you remove the old line fader pots?[/quote]
Yeah me too 
I took all faders and pots off. I wanted to save the little faders but they were hard to remove so i got the snips on them
It’s a nice easy circuit board to mod but such a shame about no led feedback
I love these threads. Every single time I swear I’m going grab a soldering iron and put that GCSE in systems & control technology to use 
One day… Maybe…
so how do the LED’s work then?
Are they merely activated when a button is pressed? If so, what happens when you send midi data to the button to turn it on and off? doesn’t the LED change state then?
They light when pressed or toggle on off depending on whether you set the buttons to be momentary or toggle in the nano software editor thingy.
[quote]How many LED’s are you gonna be using?
Looking at the board you can see the resistors near the LED’s, just check they are the right ones, I can’t see the colour bands properly. [/quote]
I want 1 led per button so that’s 24 buttons plus 1 scene button that cycles through 4 led’s making a total of 28 led’s
Do the last couple of pictures help you determine what type of resistor they are?
Thanks again Nicky for the all the info. I’m going to do some research on resistors and led’s now
But do they toggle on and off when you trigger the button via midi? I realise the LED itself doesn’t have a midi input but perhaps the associated button does…
No, as far as I can tell no data goes from the computer to the controller. Also it doesn’t remember the arrangement as you switch between scenes so a toggled on button will display as an off and requie a few presses to return to the state it was set to.
I avoid using the scene change button to be honest.
That’s exactly where I’ve got them. I think I need to get thinner wire.
And I’m with all the other geeks on here. I love pictures of wiring.
Not really - it’s a bit blurry - I can see the orange band thats it..
How many LEDs were originally on there?
If there was less than 24 you will need to rewire your circuit anyway.
You will need 12 of these:
http://www2.cricklewoodelectronics.com/Cricklewood/product.php?productid=15983
Wired like the attachment pic.
Total draw when all on is 218mA - well below USB spec.
There is 24 buttons with 1x surface mount led’s underneath plus there is 1 button used for changing the scene that cycles through 4x 3mm red led’s.
[quote]You will need 12 of these:
http://www2.cricklewoodelectronics.c…roductid=15983
[/quote]
What about the resistors that are already on the board?
If i was to use red led’s would that save me having to add resistors?
I didn’t realise there was already 24 on there…
You should be fine mate - the white/blue/bright green have a higher forward voltage so stick to red/yellow/orange
The board will already be wired correctly for this.
