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LED and incandescent bulb mix?

Friz

Friz

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Dec 12, 2013
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Near Hinckley, Midlands
Im thinking of replacing all my PF inserts with colour coded leds but i dont really want to change the GI as i feel they do a great job of lighting the playfield artwork and are easy on the eyes, also thinking of replacing some translite bulbs to coloured to add abit more depth to the artwork.

When i see people upgrading to LED it seems they have mostly done every bulb. Is it OK to mix LED and incandescent bulbs or will the new brightness of the LEDs dwarf the old incandescents and totally screw up the overall lighting arrangement?

Has anyone on here done a similar thing with good results?
 
really? thats promising Xenon325i, i like the lighting of it with bulbs at night but i just want the inserts to pop abit more to make daytime play abit easier to tell which shots im supposed to be making.

do you have a photo so i can have a look by any chance?
 
In the past any pin I've bought I normally replace all the inserts, GI and flashers to superbright leds from David at pinball-led.co.UK.

But on my new TOM after experimenting I've decided to keep 95% incandescent bulbs as it looks so much softer with the glow on the playfield instead of the usual sweet shop explosion of superbright colour.
 
Thats the thing , just mess about with whatever suits you.
Its your machine so make it just how you want it.
 
Yeah, just to echo what's been said already, its your choice. I prefer incandescents for GI and LEDs for inserts. On some games, LEDs can sometimes have problems flashing on when they are supposed to be off tho. If you encounter this problems I'd replace the LEDs with incandescents again.
 
well i bought a pack of LED's just to play with and see if i liked the overall look. To cut a long story short, i didnt, they didnt appear any brighter to me (only standard frosted 44's though) and not only that, but they all stayed on slightly when they were supposed to be off. So...i think ill be staying with incandescents for the time being.
 
yeah, not worth it IMO, the results really weren't that spectacular, infact i could only tell the difference on the white inserts.
 
Not a big fan of LEDs - I tend to play in the dark and they are far too bright (I've also seen some LED'd machines that are too bright in daylight!). So when I shopped my SM, I swapped all the insert lamps for coloured incandescent lamps of the same colur as the insert.
I also changed the GI lamps for coloured incandescent lamps that best suited their location (e.g. green ones behind the Goblin). I found that this helped the inserts stand out more...
 

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Looks nice but arent another benefit is the vastly reduced current draw of LEDs and reduced heat output, which, in the back box, is highly beneficial (I realise SM uses a fluro).
 
Agree re the current draw / heat - trouble is I find LED lighting too harsh (even the ones that Andy sells).
Also had an issue with ghosting on SM - plus the villian inserts are lit at three different brightness settings depending on how far through you are - which doesn't work with LEDs.
 
Don't forget the option of #47 bulbs instead of #44
Click to expand...

I agree with the Sarg on this one. I replaced all of the bulbs in my Aerobatics with #47's and will be doing the same for Flash Gordon :)
 
Thanks Lippy, I was beginning to think I was the only person who was not keen on the look of LED's. I've had a couple of machines which were LED'd by the previous owner, and the first thing I did was put them back to normal #44/#47#555's etc. I must be getting old (I'm 37) but I also find LED machines to harsh to enjoy, and they lack the warm glow you get with a normal bulb.

I agree the reduced current draw of LED's is a good thing though, however for a few hours here and there I don't think it makes any real difference as I've replaced burned connectors on machines I've bought, but never had a connector "burn" while I have it as I don't have them on very much.

Another thing with LED's, I don't like the strict on/off characteristic. I appreciate this is the way they work, but when I had a funhouse, for example, the lights flashing round the clock was a nice smooth motion with normal bulbs, but a horrible on/off/on/off effect with LED's.

Definitely a personal thing though, and I do appreciate that I am in the minority :)

Cheers, Mark
 
I do agree that LEDs strobe, there are some which decay like incandescents do once voltage is removed but again, they're quite expensive.
 
Thanks Carl, maybe I will re-visit LED's again in the future as I understand they are improving, however until (or if)if they get to the stage where they have EXACTLY the same characteristics as incandescent, I will probably stay as I am. However, saying that I am thinking of putting maybe one or two LED's in each machine to highlight jackpot, multiball, and extra ball shot to help direct newer players to these shots.

Cheers, Mark
 
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