Cointaker.com LED's: Standard vs. Super's

Teknotoyz

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I am going to convert my inserts and controlled lamps over to LED's, but I can't decide if the extra money for the "Super bright" kits is worth it from cointaker.com. Does anyone have experience with both the "standard" and "super" kits and have some advice??
 
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My vote Super

I walked around the Allentown show looking at leds in pins asking myself the same question.

I went Super on my DR Dude and I don't regret it for a second.

I would also say that Ive heard of more people using pinballlifes 3led than the 1 led version for polarity as well as brightness.

Also depending on the pin or the led location you may want to throw in a few frosted because of direct line of site
 
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I went with standards in my Black Knight, I think that the supers would be too much.

Tried some in White Water, and they seem ok so far in a couple spots, but I think would be too much in the whole machine. HATED them for GI lighting though, if you can see the bulb at all it hurt my eyes.

-Hans
 
So people can make recommendations without even knowing what pin they are going in??

I think that is a very important question. For a majority of pins I think the Supers are going to be too bright in the inserts.

I played a TZ that had Supers in the inserts. As a result, I have an appointment with my optometrist to see if he can correct my burnt retinas.

On the other hand, the same guy had BSD with Supers in the inserts. These were not nearly as bright as they were on TZ. I assume it has to do with the size and opaqueness of the inserts, but I'm not sure.

So, to answer the question: "it depends".
 
Cointaker regular leds are crap, they get dim over time and are worthless. Very low quality.
The supers so far have held up very well.
Also dont buy their kits, they most the time dont look very good and you dont want some of the stuff they include anyway.
DO NOT BUY yellow or orange supers, they are dim and look like crap. For yellow or orange inserts use warm white. Also their green super makes a green insert blueish, better to use a cool white.
Make your own kit, looks better and you wont get random color changers and crap you dont want.
 
The regular LED's really vary from part to part, but they have done some significant upgrading lately. Newer frosted lens LED's are now tabbed, so they don't twist apart like they used to. Though IIRC you still sometimes have to trim the nipple on them.

BA9's are all rectified now, but the standard wedges are not. Personally I'm pretty fond of their 90 degree and frosted BA9's.

I have to say though I've really taken a liking to the Pinball Center "Superflux" lineup lately too.

-Hans
 
I use Pinball Life regular LEDs. The supers are way too bright for 95% of applications. You get a terrible strobe effect if you are playing in low light and it makes games almost unplayable. The key with LEDs is to make an insert "pop" while enjoying the power and heat savings LEDs allow, it is *NOT* to make the insert as bright as possible.
 
I use Pinball Life regular LEDs. The supers are way too bright for 95% of applications. You get a terrible strobe effect if you are playing in low light and it makes games almost unplayable. The key with LEDs is to make an insert "pop" while enjoying the power and heat savings LEDs allow, it is *NOT* to make the insert as bright as possible.

Exactly, and I think that you hit on why so many people are turned off by them.
 
I use Pinball Life regular LEDs. The supers are way too bright for 95% of applications. You get a terrible strobe effect if you are playing in low light and it makes games almost unplayable. The key with LEDs is to make an insert "pop" while enjoying the power and heat savings LEDs allow, it is *NOT* to make the insert as bright as possible.

+1 That is my take on it. I use regular Pin Life in my games for the inserts.
Can't stand LED for general lighting.
 
So people can make recommendations without even knowing what pin they are going in??

I think that is a very important question. For a majority of pins I think the Supers are going to be too bright in the inserts.

I played a TZ that had Supers in the inserts. As a result, I have an appointment with my optometrist to see if he can correct my burnt retinas.

On the other hand, the same guy had BSD with Supers in the inserts. These were not nearly as bright as they were on TZ. I assume it has to do with the size and opaqueness of the inserts, but I'm not sure.

So, to answer the question: "it depends".


I'm gonna list the machines I have just in case there is some specific advice/opinions for them.

Cyclone
Funhouse
Addams family



Thanks everyone for all the great information!
 
Cointaker regular leds are crap, they get dim over time and are worthless. Very low quality.

Humm, I've had coin taker LEDs in my pins for years now and no issue, no diming. My bro in law has also had them for a long time and no issues. I've also never had one go out on me and also have a few in my arcade cabinets.
 
I'm gonna list the machines I have just in case there is some specific advice/opinions for them.

Cyclone
Funhouse
Addams family



Thanks everyone for all the great information!

One thing I would say about Fun House is don't go crazy and put LEDs everywhere, all over the mirror and in every hole. There is one on route near me where the owner did that and put all these color changing monstrosities in there and it just looks like a bad disco. Moderation is key.
 
In a home machine you get more life for sure, mine are in an arcade on 12-15 hours a day.
Think I had ordered 200 of those regulars, every one of them went dim in only about 3 months.
When I had talked with cointaker about it at a show once the reply was..."yeah....we have some out on route and we get that too."
Didnt really push the issue because I hated the light from those old leds anyway.
Use their supers now and am happy with them so far. A few will start to flicker and die (maybe 5 so far out of many 100's) Think its from vibration.

Humm, I've had coin taker LEDs in my pins for years now and no issue, no diming. My bro in law has also had them for a long time and no issues. I've also never had one go out on me and also have a few in my arcade cabinets.
 
In a home machine you get more life for sure, mine are in an arcade on 12-15 hours a day.
Think I had ordered 200 of those regulars, every one of them went dim in only about 3 months.
When I had talked with cointaker about it at a show once the reply was..."yeah....we have some out on route and we get that too."
Didnt really push the issue because I hated the light from those old leds anyway.
Use their supers now and am happy with them so far. A few will start to flicker and die (maybe 5 so far out of many 100's) Think its from vibration.

Still have any of those that went dim? I'm curious what in them might have started to swing.... if it was the LED itself or one of the other components inside it. Would love to rip them apart and check it out if you wouldn't mind.

-Hans
 
Still have any of those that went dim? I'm curious what in them might have started to swing.... if it was the LED itself or one of the other components inside it. Would love to rip them apart and check it out if you wouldn't mind.

-Hans

My guess would be the cheap ass chinese LED's themselves. Newer LED bulbs have been know to dim over time. That's the problem w/ the new LED TV's. Not only do they dim, but in a TV w/ that many LED's, they don't dim at the same rate. So, you end up with bright and dim spots on your TV.
The only thing inside the bulb is the LED, a resistor and a diode. Not likely the resistor or the diode is going to go bad. But those were probably made in china to, so you never know.
 
My advice is use LED's where a normal lamp is a bitch to replace otherwise stick with incandescent bulbs. I just spent $30 for a handful of LED's from cointaker which btw is outrageous - anyway I wanted to do some playing around and I'm just not impressed at all with the the over all results. This is on a DE machine and there is slight ghosting which is tolerable I suppose.

Another complaint I have is that even their normal or warm LED's are retina burning. For the guy that has them on route or in an Arcade on for long periods of time I guess I could understand but going full LED is terrible for your eyes. Also their 555 or 904 LED's fit like crap. Tough as hell to get into the lamp socket (which should make them immobilized) but to make matters worse they easily wiggle loose from vibration. That's just awesome isn't it? The 44's also fit looser than a normal bulb.

Color changing LED's are cool to put in sparingly but outside that my machines will stay relatively LED free until the government and or green baret ban incandescent bulbs. My .02
 
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