LED question

BusyTech

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Well, I signed up here a while a go, so I figure it is time I actually posted.

I am looking to replace the lights in a Simpson's Pinball Party with LEDs. I have looked at the options available from Cointaker, and have narrowed it down to a choice of 3. The main type of area I am looking at is the #44 bulbs under the slingshots etc. ( I will consider Cool White or Warm White)

What are peoples opinions of cointaker's

a. Frosted

b. Retro

c. Double LED
 
I know a lot of guys are saying they really like the Retro's, but my preference for GI lights is the frosted style.

As the playfield has such predominant light blue blue to it, I'd say go with the cool whites.

-Hans
 
Welcome aboard.

It's kind of a "vanilla vs. chocolate" thing. Everybody has a different opinion.

I'd spend $10 and get an assortment of different bulbs - even a few you don't think you might like. Try them yourself and go from there. The ones you don't like can always go into a backbox and will look great back there.
 
I've gone with the super brights with great results. The frosted ones break easily sometimes when you try and twist em in to install. Plus, they don't always offer bright enough lighting
 
I would order a few of each kind and test them out. it depends on what look you are going for and what type of light is in the room.

I like super brights for most things but thats cause the lighting in my game room is odd and the brights look better in the washed out light.
 
I am in Canada and so to reduce on shipping costs etc. I want to try and place 1 main order.

My background....
I am actually a Chuck E cheese game tech and the pinball is in my store. I hate having to constantly check for blown bulbs in the game (especially the harder to reach ones), and hence my reasoning for going to LEDs.

I want something with a good brightness that disperses the light in multiple directions like a regular #44 or #555 bulb. I did buy a few #44 LEDs from Happ (part number 91-10BB-61W) but I am a bit disappointed with them for lack of brightness.

Looking at the super brights, I get the impression that they cast a very directional beam of light almost like a spot (right or wrong?).

Thanks for all the input so far.
 
I am in Canada and so to reduce on shipping costs etc. I want to try and place 1 main order.

My background....
I am actually a Chuck E cheese game tech and the pinball is in my store. I hate having to constantly check for blown bulbs in the game (especially the harder to reach ones), and hence my reasoning for going to LEDs.

I want something with a good brightness that disperses the light in multiple directions like a regular #44 or #555 bulb. I did buy a few #44 LEDs from Happ (part number 91-10BB-61W) but I am a bit disappointed with them for lack of brightness.

Looking at the super brights, I get the impression that they cast a very directional beam of light almost like a spot (right or wrong?).

Thanks for all the input so far.

Yikes, $3.00 each from Happ? That's highway robbery. You can get pretty much the same thing from Cointaker for 69 cents. (and probably better shipping too). Got a picture of what that style lensing looks like? I'd normally recommend the Cointaker frosted LED's, but if it's the same thing there's no sense in doing that. The thing I like best about the frosted is that if the bulb is visible, and not hidden behind an insert or plastic, the bare diode can be harsh to look at on a normal LED.

From Cointaker the super-brights are great for inserts, as are the 90 degree basic LED's. I'd avoid the double LED's and the 4 LED's for most applications. I'd say order some of the frosted cool whites, and some of the super-brights, and go with what looks best.

-Hans

p.s. Oh, any way you can 'suggest' to the corporate side to stop that policy of destroying pinball machines when they're done with them?
 
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I'm not a fan of leds as GI normally, but I ordered a bunch of "retro" bulbs from Cointaker and have really been impressed. I have them on Starship Troopers and a Jurassic Park. They are brighter than regular bulbs, but seem to be not as strong as led bulbs in general. These are the warm ones as well. Some of the others I had were too cold and blue. Also I put some bulb condoms over them in certain places to go with the plastics. I ordered a 100 of them for the price break and I will put them in my Star Wars DE tomorrow. I would put them in my Simpsons, but I just got done shopping that and I am in no hurry to tear that apart again. I am no expert on leds, but I find them to be pretty nice. Not having to replace them in hard to reach places is also a huge bonus.

Have not tried warm frosted bulbs, but the regular frosted bulbs seemed too cold and bright to me. I like them for the fact that they are close to a real bulb and they do not distort the plastic art work too much. If you can, the best bet is to try some out then make a decision, but if you want to jump in, I would recommend the Retro Cointaker bulbs if you buy them in bulk. Otherwise they can get pricey. You could also just figure out the hard ones to get to and buy that amount. I will try to post a pic of my JP tomorrow with the retros installed.
 
Thanks for the advice, I shall be placing my order in the next few days once I have decided what to do.
 
Here is the pic of my JP with Cointaker warm white Retro leds. These are the clear ones that look like a regular bulb for the most part. The control lights above the scoops are frosted 555 colored bulbs with bulb condoms over them, same in the pops. Inserts are still incandescent bulbs. Slings are retros with colored condoms on them to make the slings have a red/orange/yellow fade to them. They look brighter in the pic than they are in real life, but they are still brighter than regular bulbs and a bit "whiter" too. I like them enough to put them in other machines especially in hard to reach places. Makes things pop without washing the artwork out.
 

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I tried some of Cointaker's Warm Retros. As far as I could tell, these are warm Super Brights that they just put a clear dome on.

Nothing new or different that I could discern.
 
I think you are right Rob. I think that the plastic cap on top though helps to disperse the light a little so they look a little more like regular bulbs. They don't seems to have that directional spot of light if they are under a screened plastic for example. Not the same as regular bulbs, but getting closer.
 
I think you are right Rob. I think that the plastic cap on top though helps to disperse the light a little so they look a little more like regular bulbs. They don't seems to have that directional spot of light if they are under a screened plastic for example. Not the same as regular bulbs, but getting closer.

I was a bit disappointed with them myself, because although there is a slight improvement in dispersion, the lens dome is clear plastic, so if you can see the bulb directly, it is still very blinding. I was not able to use them in GI where you could see the bare bulb. I could only use them where the plastic covers them. What's the point of that? I can use the regular Super Brights there.
 
I just got a "one of each" pile from Cointaker last night. Man, I have to say that Chris is going FAR too bright in some of these things. I can't recommend any of those SMD style LED's in any location where you might see it directly. It's been 15 minutes, and I'm still seeing spots from a single ultra-bright, and I didn't even look at it directly. I think they would have been better off using the mini-bright as the basis for the retro's. Under inserts and behind backglasses only for the whole "Bright" series, yikes those things hurt.

I do like the new updated housings for the frosted standard 44's though, with locating tabs to keep it from twisting out. Different LED too, looks like they went with a standard LED with a frosted dome cover.

-Hans
 
Man, I have to say that Chris is going FAR too bright in some of these things. I can't recommend any of those SMD style LED's in any location where you might see it directly. It's been 15 minutes, and I'm still seeing spots from a single ultra-bright, and I didn't even look at it directly. I think they would have been better off using the mini-bright as the basis for the retro's.

I agree.


...
 
Interesting....

Just got done with the first batch of tests with my lux meter. Cointaker's #44 frosted lens LED's had almost identical lux readings to standard #44 incandescents both vertically and horizontally in a GI circuit (Lost a bit on a lamp matrix, the PWM kills a bit of LED output). Unfortunately, the un-rectified #555 style was about half.

Another surprise is that the "ultra-bright" isn't the brightest they make. It's the 4LED by a pretty good amount. Both are very directional though, with next to nothing on a horizontal reading.

-Hans
 
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Interesting....

Just got done with the first batch of tests with my lux meter. Cointaker's #44 frosted lens LED's had almost identical lux readings to standard #44 incandescents both vertically and horizontally in a GI circuit (Lost a bit on a lamp matrix, the PWM kills a bit of LED output). Unfortunately, the un-rectified #555 style was about half.

Another surprise is that the "ultra-bright" isn't the brightest they make. It's the 4LED by a pretty good amount. Both are very directional though, with next to nothing on a horizontal reading.

-Hans

I'm not really surprised that the 4 LEDs are brighter than the Super Brights. In fact, that's kind of what I assumed. To my naked eye (I have a LUX meter too, that I use for home theater, I should try it on some of these LEDs) it seems that the Super Brights are about the same brightness as pinball life's 3 LEDs, so it makes sense that the 4 LEDs would be brighter.
 
I'm not really surprised that the 4 LEDs are brighter than the Super Brights. In fact, that's kind of what I assumed. To my naked eye (I have a LUX meter too, that I use for home theater, I should try it on some of these LEDs) it seems that the Super Brights are about the same brightness as pinball life's 3 LEDs, so it makes sense that the 4 LEDs would be brighter.

Hehehe, but I said "Ultra-Bright" :)
 
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