Installed some leds in Firepower tonight.

I love the brightness of them for the most part, but the fast on/off is very distracting. I've still resisted to convert a machine to LED's. I have used them in some key spots like in my Addam's family topper, my now gone Getaway Highspeed II traffic light assembly, frosted LED's for the backbox on Fishtales & World Cup Soccer 94.

I'd love a Firepower, great classic game.
 
that's cool

so many colors. now you can play pinball in the dark.

my next goal/dream is to get my hands in/on a pinball machine.
 
I matched all the playfield inserts with LEDs and for the most part love how it turned out. A few friends have complained that the game is now too bright though (which is what I like about it).

I got "creative" and put blue LEDs behind the white inserts at bottom of playfield, I really am digging that effect. I tried red, but that turned into pink. The blue didn't change as much.
 
The more I test it out the more I dislike it. It make the game seem artificial. I do like how it is easier on the power supply etc. Maybe I will leave some in the 1-20 lamps but the rest are too bright and seem to have a flicker that shines off the ball and is distracting. It looks good with ambient lighting but games are better in the dark. Maybe I can try some warm leds instead of the ultra bright color matched bulbs I purchased.
 
I swapped in Black Pearls and that got rid of the shimmer / flicker off the ball -- not a great solution, but I had picked up a set to try out anyway so I already had them on hand.

I know exactly what you are talking about there and it is distracting as hell.

BTW, did you put LED flashers in also? Just wondering as I was never able to get them to work on mine -- they stayed on all the time and "flashed" brighter.
 
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The flashers did not work. Luckily I was able to try them at our game show and find that out before purchasing.. Cointakerleds were there and they let me try a bunch of leds. I was able to make a custom kit, however like I said before, it was alot brighter in the store we were set up in. I did not install them until I got the game back home. I will try the black pearls, I have wanted to try them anyway.
 
FYI, the Pearls are cool but they can be a pain to track on the playfield sometimes when the ball really starts flying around. I was able to get a 3 ball set off ebay for 8.00 shipped.
 
I don't like LEDs for GI, thus I do not have any of mine that way. I really dig the LEDs for inserts! Some I did not know even flashed quickly during game play, unitl I put LEDs in them!

Have you seen the star post LED kit?

I just got one in warm white, need to install it still.
 
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Yes, I really want to do the post light mods on the pins. Post some pics when you get them installed.

LEDs in the Truck Stop will be the next project for me.
 
I'm like a lot of you - really on the fence about LED conversions. On one hand they run cooler and consume less energy. On the other hand they are bright and can make a game look hoakie. I'm working on purchasing an Addams family and that games downfall is too much dark areas. I think LEDS would help that out immensly.
Maybe using frosted LEDS to help soften the lighting up - I guess I plan on experimenting with standard bulbs VS LED's in certain spots and see what works best.
I realize cameras can really lighten a pic up but so far I've seen a lot of cool LED conversions.
 
They're probably not supposed to be flashing. I've seen that problem before. But... if you like it then don't worry about it :)

Well actually mine are supposed to be in this application. They are under the insert and becasue of that, the incadesent bulb just did not flash fast enough to notice. I do know what you are saying though and voltage bleed through, but luckily this is not the case. : ) The machine flashes all these bulbs in a sweep.
 
Yes, I really want to do the post light mods on the pins. Post some pics when you get them installed.

LEDs in the Truck Stop will be the next project for me.

Here is the place I got my Star Post LED kit from. Click on SPL-KIT.

http://www.greatlakesmodular.com/

It will be a couple more weeks before I install mine, as my Asteroids resto is taking all my time, but pinball parts are piling up in the mean time! : )
 
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Well actually mine are supposed to be in this application. They are under the insert and becasue of that, the incadesent bulb just did not flash fast enough to notice. I do know what you are saying though and voltage bleed through, but luckily this is not the case. : ) The machine flashes all these bulbs in a sweep.

If the original bulb wasn't visibly flashing then they weren't "supposed" to flash out of the factory. Unless maybe their brightness was meant to fluctuate. In any case... the games were not designed for LEDs so that kind of thing is going to happen. Lots of lamps are strobed slow enough to appear as a flash with an LED but not short enough to let the filament cool in an incandescent lamp.

If it looks cool then you're one of the lucky ones :)

I'm not sure what you mean by "voltage bleed through" in this case.
 
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If the original bulb wasn't visibly flashing then they weren't "supposed" to flash out of the factory. Unless maybe their brightness was meant to fluctuate. In any case... the games were not designed for LEDs so that kind of thing is going to happen. Lots of lamps are strobed slow enough to appear as a flash with an LED but not short enough to let the filament cool in an incandescent lamp.

If it looks cool then you're one of the lucky ones :)

I'm not sure what you mean by "voltage bleed through" in this case.

I know exactly what you mean, this is not the case. These did flash with incadesent bulbs when commanded. You could only really see it under the PF, when looking through the insert it was very hard to see. Add while playing a game and concentrating, and you could miss the flash. Since the LEDs are brighter and respond to changes better, you can see them in the sweep the game does when it is supposed to during game play.

There are three controlled lamps I tried with LEDs and they flicker way too much and most of the time, so normal bulbs went back in.

The voltage bleed is the flicker some LEDs, or controlled lights can get, when using an LED. Or the voltage bleeding back through the LED's and powering them slightly, where you cannot see with a flilement type lamp.

LEDs are great though, I have them in all my pinball machines, some more then others, in my flashlights, my cars, and my house!
 
I am not sure if I like it or not. I did not put them in GI lighting just the switched matrix lamps. Very bright and fast. I also installed them behind back glass just behind the blues. The red areas of back glass looked purple. I should have had the playfield glass off when I recorded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgSoCk9dNJA


Not a fan of led's in playfield inserts or GI lights. The flicker is noticeable and bothersome.. Almost like a bunch of strobe lights and when the ball rolls over or near, I lose track of the ball.

That and you miss out on the glow on, fade off of lamps. led's seem to be instant.
 
Don't forget too how the power circuitry is handled in that era of Williams pinballs, which might be causing a lot of what's annoying you guys with the LED's. The GI circuit is running 6.3v AC, not DC ..... and that right there is going to give a noticeable 60hz flicker from LED's. Throwing a full-wave rectifier with smoothing cap into the right spot of the GI circuit will help cure that. But that may also make them look brighter too, as they're currently running a 50% duty cycle when being pushed by AC power. Heck, I don't think any of the #44/47 bulbs are running on a DC circuit, are they? You may also be able to smooth out the too rapid on/off of the switched lamps with an inline capacitor in the circuit.

I'll planning to give this a try when I get going on my Black Knight in a couple weeks.

I've also seen the noflix LED's, which I guess are really double LED's in with opposing polarity. They still blink, but at 120hz instead of 60hz, so you won't notice it. A bit of a kludgy concept, though it still works. But they aren't available in colors, which going to a proper DC circuit will allow you to do.

-Hans
 
Here is what my Firepower looked like with LEDS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1QplDRRDyM

Red LEDs from Pinball Life behind the word Firepower and whites (which have a bluish hue) behind the rest of the backglass. Cointaker LEDs for all of the inserts AND the GI. Complete LED treatment minus the flashers.

I didn't like it at all. Incandescent bulbs look nicer IMHO. LEDs in spots is fine and I like LED flashers on newer games.
 
Here is what my Firepower looked like with LEDS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1QplDRRDyM

Red LEDs from Pinball Life behind the word Firepower and whites (which have a bluish hue) behind the rest of the backglass. Cointaker LEDs for all of the inserts AND the GI. Complete LED treatment minus the flashers.

I didn't like it at all. Incandescent bulbs look nicer IMHO. LEDs in spots is fine and I like LED flashers on newer games.

The LED conversion just ruins the light show. It looks disjointed as all getout! I've noticed that on other pins that have been converted. There is a beauty to the flow of the incandescent light show.

I still like the idea of lighting the backglass with LEDS, and I have a bag to experiment on Bride of pinbot. I've decided I absolutely do no like insert LED's though.
 
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