DONE with flourescent marquee lights

Samuel-IGN

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I've replaced the stupid hard to find bulb and starter in my PlayChoice to get the marquee light to work ... and now it buzzes like a dangerously modified sex toy!

Instead of replacing the ballast (another 15-20 bucks!), I'm going to the corner hardware store today and getting a good old fashioned, soon-to-be-illegal incandescent light bulb and a socket.

Is there any downside to this?

The Plan: I have little electrical knowledge so I'm planning on turning the machine off, cutting the black, white and green wires and reattaching them to the light bulb socket. BAM!

Then I'm going to play some goddamn Goonies.

/rant
 
a ballast for an arcade game shouldn't be 15-20 bucks..more like $5-6. worst case scenario is that you just buy a $15 flourescent light with a cord/switch and wire it in.

incandescent generate a lot of heat and over time will brown the backside of your marquee and could burn it.

edit: go buy another starter.. you may have a bad one.
 
incandesent will run too hot, youll ruin the art(if its art on glass) or melt/warp the thing it its plexiglass or translite.

if the transformer itself is noisy sometimes you can isolate whats loose, and cram it full of epoxy to shut it up.

get one of these, its cheaper than buying a ballast bulb and starter.(its $10!!!!)
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

mount it in there, cut off the power word and wire it up, leave the switch on of course so cabinet power is what turns it on and off.



If this is a game you want to keep original, you can strip that unit for parts, and just use that transformer in the original lamp housing.

In the past ive even gone as cheap as to fix those $10 lights. the starter goes bad in them over time and its basically like a decased starter. Cut it off, install 2 spade wire connectors, and connect a standard fs-2 starter, and tada!
 
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This is all great advice -- I definitely don't want to damage the art!

I went to Lowes to try and replace the whole thing but they didn't have a good option like the Home Depot link. I'll check out HD before doing anything else.


Option the third: What about an LED or florescent in a normal lightbulb socket? That should run much, much cooler.
 
a ballast for an arcade game shouldn't be 15-20 bucks..more like $5-6. worst case scenario is that you just buy a $15 flourescent light with a cord/switch and wire it in.

incandescent generate a lot of heat and over time will brown the backside of your marquee and could burn it.

edit: go buy another starter.. you may have a bad one.

I got two starters in one package so I'm *pretty* sure it's not that.
 
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