Testing Pinball Lights

jeffsgames

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Donor 2011, 2015
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I have a dumb newbie question for everyone. I have my Earthshaker pinball playfield top surface stripped and ready for reassembly. The bottom is mostly intact. I would like to do a quick test of all of the bulbs to make sure they are all working and not dull. There are several bulbs that are darkened from age but still lit and I plan to swap them out with new. I figure this would be the best time to do it. As far as I can tell it shouldn't be a problem to put this back in the cab and fire up the bulb test. Is that wise, or is there anything I should be careful with?

Thanks!
 
You shouldn't have a problem doing that. I would leave the coin door open to disable the high voltage. It's easier to just replace all the bulbs though. Under $10 to replace them all and not worry about it.

Jerry
 
If you are really that far into a teardown, just replace them all, regardless of how they look. At 10 cents/ea (for incandescents) it's a no brainer and much, much easier to do at this point. Same thing with the insert bulbs too (clean the underside of the inserts while you are in there!).

Not sure what you mean by a "dull" bulb, but if some are not burning brightly, it's probable it's a socket issue and not a bulb issue.

I don't see any pitfalls to reinstalling the playfield to test the lights. Personally, I don't see any advantage either, cuz it's just a lot of work you are going to turn around and "un-do". But if you are more comfortable testing your work as you go, no problem.
 
Ditto - *much* easier to just put new bulbs in when you're shopping, and then go clean up/sort the old ones at your leisure. Use the old ones as one-offs when you need to replace a bulb. You'll save a lot of time over cleaning/checking all the old ones. Flashers would be the one exception, as there typically aren't many of those, and it's easy enough to just clean/check the few you have. If you have flashers up behind the translight, just test them there real quick.

I save the "dark" ones that still work for things like the coin door lamps, or other places that aren't a big deal.
 
Ditto - *much* easier to just put new bulbs in when you're shopping, and then go clean up/sort the old ones at your leisure. Use the old ones as one-offs when you need to replace a bulb. You'll save a lot of time over cleaning/checking all the old ones. Flashers would be the one exception, as there typically aren't many of those, and it's easy enough to just clean/check the few you have. If you have flashers up behind the translight, just test them there real quick.

I save the "dark" ones that still work for things like the coin door lamps, or other places that aren't a big deal.

Great advice from all of you. Thanks!
 
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