Spy Hunter and GE #194 bulbs to #161

priglmeier

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FYI-

I just thought I'd share a tidbit about Spy Hunter light bulbs.

Like most games Spy Hunter uses GE #194 4.7 watt bulb that you can buy at your local auto parts store. I noticed that the bulbs seem a bit bright and also that they generate a lot of heat inside the "weapons van" button and the bezel lights, so I bought #161 bulbs which are 2 watts less. They look perfect and hopefully they won't cause so much heat --> and then paint cracking and damage.
 
LEDs

I thought about LEDs... Let me know if you have an LED bulb that is 1-2 watts and fits in like a #194 wedge bulb. curious.
 
I thought about LEDs... Let me know if you have an LED bulb that is 1-2 watts and fits in like a #194 wedge bulb. curious.

Happ sells them, not sure what the wattage is though. I made some a long time ago for a Spy Hunter I had. 1 super bright red LED and resistor for the weapons van button and white super brights under the glass to highlight the weapons I had stocked. First thing I noticed was that the "pop" that you usually hear when one of those bulbs turns off and on went away! I had to use diffusers behind the glass but I think the LED's looked really good there. I also put red super brights in the handles to illuminate the thumb buttons. Looked really cool!

I'll have to see if I can find a picture of the lit up thumb buttons.

LOL! Found the pics. Gota love gmail... BTW, in the photo of the steering control those are RED LED's in the 25 cent things on the coin door too. Quick and dirty freeplay mod that worked great is in the second photo.
 

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Now you can get LED's with a #194 base......you can also get them in various colors, to match the bezel colors.

Edward
 
I saw this thread a few weeks ago and finally got the time to take some pictures of what I have. Sure enough #194 seems to be the standard. In one of the 3 Spy Hunter machines that I had, the one I own now has big bulbs that look like pinball #906 flashers but all I see on them is 12V4W. Hence they are .7W less that the #194 but they are much taller and hence probably doesn't help with eliminating some heat under that bezel. Sure enough, if you look at the pictures I attached here, my bezel has some paint missing spots in two of the weapons icons.

Unfortunately, the usual Pinball color LEDs don't come in a #194 or #161 type item.
 

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Hmm, interesting. A bit expensive to get a small change in lighting effect (at $5+ each). There is no orange or purple at the Happs links.

There is no orange at the Emporium link.

And I wonder, if these are DC lamps of course, I know some pinball GI circuits are AC. I wonder if these Spy Hunter lamps/circuit for under the bezel are on an AC circuit also (probably not?)....

Thanks.
 
Yeah, it makes no sense to me.....why LED replacement lamps are so expensive. The actual LEDs cost pennies in bulk.

Edward
 
anyone replace with led's yet...just wanted to know how they work and where to get them and type...Thanks!
 
updates?

I can see there are a lot more vendors carrying LEDs now and hte prices have dropped, but has anyone found the same compatible LED that isn't so bright? The ones listed as a replacement are 4 watts... it would be nice to have 2 watts.
 
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