LED upgrades to Pump It Up Pads!

Last post, I told you that I got a dance game. I did.

I’ve cleaned one side of the pads, ordered some parts, and did some planning, but the latest and greatest was that I replaced the old CFL pad lights with LEDs.

The old ones look like this. They have a silly little inverter and a dust guard and the base is made from wood. These things are completely useless, and they’re fragile and ultimately a waste.

The process is very easy. I looked at this video from OMG Kon! and ordered 10 of the LED strips from superbrightleds.com. The part number is LSMCC-CW4X3-LP and the link is here. I actually ordered 18, because we’re going to convert PJ’s DDR 573 machine to these as well. The shipping was ~$5, and it came in about a week.

Once you’ve gotten your pad open, remove the entire wood piece that holds the CFL assembly. There is a small plug that connects a yellow and white wire to the assembly, make sure you unplug that! Thats the power for our LEDs. You can then strip about 1/4” of an inch from each one and put quick disconnects on them. I use alternating male and female so that you can only plug the LED in the correct way (ground on the LED is female, positive is male, and on the cab, ground is male, and positive is female).

On your pump cab, the white wire is ground, and the yellow is positive. Give your pads a good cleaning and vacuuming while you’re in there! Mount your LED using the supplied adhesive directly to the metal.

Check them out!