LED Advice

Kryzsky

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Just installed new GI connectors on my Terminator and a friend's Whitewater, new headers will be ordered asap and installed also to avoid burning the connectors again.

Need some advice on LEDs, we'll need #44s on the playfield and #555s on the backbox. I noticed that pinballlife.com has two different types of each LED, 1-LED and 3-LED. I'm guessing that the only difference is brightness.


My question, how dim will the 1-LED lights be? Do any of you have 1-LED lights installed on your machines?


Thank you
 
That's a great thread, just gave it a once over and will read it all the way through very soon.

I was hoping to get away with the cheaper 1-LEDs since I simply do not have any money left. On top the the $1250 for the game I've also dropped ~$300 on parts, I'm broke.
 
LED's are nice, but I would suggest to use them sparingly. Most machines that I've seen with full conversions look pretty, but they can be overbearing to play if there's to many. Lights flash to fast, to bright, ends up making the game worse...

I do FULL LED behind the translite including colored flashers and sometimes some colored 555 or 44's as well to highlight parts of the artwork...then I just pick and choose some of the inserts to LED and be done with it :) Purple inserts REALLY pop with LED's.

You can also do colored GI bulbs, I did blue under the slingshot plastics on both my Fishtales and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
 
I have converted my Back to the Future and My Royal Rumble to LEDs and I think they look excellent. I use cointaker.com LEDs because prices are usually a bit cheaper and the shipping is quicker that Pinball Life (from my experience). I use the 4-leds color matched for inserts and the frosted bulbs for the GI. Wide angle LEDs for the backbox.
 
Stick with Cointaker's LEDs unless you need flashers. I have a bunch of Pinball Life's 1-LED white 555 bulbs that I will never use, the light is blueish white... think of those cheapo Xenon headlight bulbs for cars, not pretty.

Cointaker has the best LEDs if you want to replicate the color that traditional incandescent bulbs give off. The warm whites look pretty nice.

Remember you get zero fading ability with LEDs so using them throughout a pin kills the light show with certain titles.

Pinball Life has the best flashers though, he has 5 LED flashers that are super bright.
 
+1 on the cointaker.com super brights. put them on my T2 a few weeks ago and they damn near double the brightness of the inserts and so forth. I've heard nothing but good things about them and I will back them up.
 
I used the cointaker 4-leds in my Royal Rumble inserts and I was pretty pleased. I need to try out the super brights.

the only thing I don't like about cointaker is that the 555 bulbs are polarized...Pinball Life's go in either way and work.

I wish Chris at cointaker would update his so they aren't polarized.
 
I picked up some BC's pinball non polarized frosted 555 bulbs. I got 60 W1 single LED 555 frosted bulbs. I was hoping somehow I could get the LEDs to work in my baby pac and all the troubles I had with that cursed machine. Did not work, so I put them in the backglass of my Bride of Pinbot. They are very dim. Not saying it was BC's fault, I got the lower brightness bulbs. The leads wrapped around both sides of the bulb to get more contact. That was a nice feature.

I fear I am going to have a lot of LED bulbs to sell on EBAY here soon.
 
I like LED's on my Flash. Really brightens it up. cointakers are the ones I use. The wide angles are great in the backbox as another poster mentioned. I used blue ones for the earth and a red one for the red planet made them nice. I used flashing wides on all the 11 "lightning" ones. Really made a nice animated effect that goes well with the theme. All for a very nice price. I just need a new backglass now! ;)
 
LED's are nice, but I would suggest to use them sparingly. Most machines that I've seen with full conversions look pretty, but they can be overbearing to play if there's to many. Lights flash to fast, to bright, ends up making the game worse...

I do FULL LED behind the translite including colored flashers and sometimes some colored 555 or 44's as well to highlight parts of the artwork...then I just pick and choose some of the inserts to LED and be done with it :) Purple inserts REALLY pop with LED's.

You can also do colored GI bulbs, I did blue under the slingshot plastics on both my Fishtales and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I agree about using LEDs sparingly. In fact, I would just use them for flashers in games where the flashers can overload the power circuit (like T3). Otherwise, go with colored bulbs. Heck, they're cheap at $3/box of 10 and you can use #47's if you're concerned about power usage/heating (not a real issue in home games ime). Best way to add 'pop' to your games. LEDs just kinda suck in pins. Although there are folks trying to make $$$ by selling them, for sure.
 
Replaced all the bulbs in my backbox with LEDs, I'm happy that the current draw has been lowered and I won't have to worry about burning connectors anymore but as others have mentioned the look is different.

Maybe the brighter LEDs would make a difference but they're not warm and just do not have that classic look.
 
I just got some from Armi0024 and there great and a great deal!!! I dont know what the style is but I got two flashers,44,555s -and they look great ! Ill do a write up on THursday when I get some pics together. Try him .
 
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