As we have a fair few new members who might not know what LED OCD is, I thought I might make a thread explaining what it does.
Let's start by taking a trip back in time. About 10 years should do it. I was at a show or league meet and witnessed my first game than had LEDs fitted in place of incandescent bulbs. It was hideous. Really dim and the LEDs were strobing (flickering really quickly) and ghosting (lighting dimly when they should be turned off. Not to be confused with Stern playfield ghosting due to them selling out to the bean counters, but that is another discussion for another day). To say I was unimpressed was the understatement of the year.
I vowed LEDs had no place in pinball and would never be seen in my games.
Fast forward a few years and I happened upon another game that had LEDs fitted (I recall neither where nor when). These were much brighter (the technology had moved on) but they still stroked and ghosted horribly.
Now we get to a couple of years ago and the Northern Lights pinball show in Manchester. Wandering around I see lots of games with these beautiful, brightly lit, vivid coloured inserts. Some were still ghosting slightly but the strobing had all but vanished. I was impressed and started thinking the unthinkable. Maybe I would like to try some in one of my games ?
Fast forwards 12 months and after a long search I finally have a Stern Transformers. I turn it on and it is the darkest looking game I have ever seen. LED time. I ordered some LEDs from pinball-led.uk and fitted them into the game. The game came alive. Dim barely lit inserts were now alive with colour. No strobing and very little ghosting (Transformers was Stern's first game to feature factory fitted LEDs but only the LE's).
There was only one negative. LEDs turn off instantly so you lose the lovely fade effect that incandescent bulbs generate.
After a chat with @Monkeyboypaul i was made aware of LED OCD (he loves them and wants to have their babies
).
In simple terms an LED OCD board makes LEDs act like incandescent bulbs so instead of instantly switching on and off they can be made to fade on and off.
Fast forward to now and I have finally got around to fitting one to my Spiderman. What a difference it has made. The game looks instantly more modern. Now I know LEDs aren't for everybody (I was very anti LED for a LONG time) but as I have all Stern games now the older, incandescent games look dim and lacklustre next to the newer LED games.
So LED OCD makes your games act like they have incandescents but with the added benefit of the bright, vivid colours that modern LEDs provide.
My next post covers me fitting one into my Stern Spiderman.
Let's start by taking a trip back in time. About 10 years should do it. I was at a show or league meet and witnessed my first game than had LEDs fitted in place of incandescent bulbs. It was hideous. Really dim and the LEDs were strobing (flickering really quickly) and ghosting (lighting dimly when they should be turned off. Not to be confused with Stern playfield ghosting due to them selling out to the bean counters, but that is another discussion for another day). To say I was unimpressed was the understatement of the year.
I vowed LEDs had no place in pinball and would never be seen in my games.
Fast forward a few years and I happened upon another game that had LEDs fitted (I recall neither where nor when). These were much brighter (the technology had moved on) but they still stroked and ghosted horribly.
Now we get to a couple of years ago and the Northern Lights pinball show in Manchester. Wandering around I see lots of games with these beautiful, brightly lit, vivid coloured inserts. Some were still ghosting slightly but the strobing had all but vanished. I was impressed and started thinking the unthinkable. Maybe I would like to try some in one of my games ?
Fast forwards 12 months and after a long search I finally have a Stern Transformers. I turn it on and it is the darkest looking game I have ever seen. LED time. I ordered some LEDs from pinball-led.uk and fitted them into the game. The game came alive. Dim barely lit inserts were now alive with colour. No strobing and very little ghosting (Transformers was Stern's first game to feature factory fitted LEDs but only the LE's).
There was only one negative. LEDs turn off instantly so you lose the lovely fade effect that incandescent bulbs generate.
After a chat with @Monkeyboypaul i was made aware of LED OCD (he loves them and wants to have their babies
).In simple terms an LED OCD board makes LEDs act like incandescent bulbs so instead of instantly switching on and off they can be made to fade on and off.
Fast forward to now and I have finally got around to fitting one to my Spiderman. What a difference it has made. The game looks instantly more modern. Now I know LEDs aren't for everybody (I was very anti LED for a LONG time) but as I have all Stern games now the older, incandescent games look dim and lacklustre next to the newer LED games.
So LED OCD makes your games act like they have incandescents but with the added benefit of the bright, vivid colours that modern LEDs provide.
My next post covers me fitting one into my Stern Spiderman.
