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TRON Owners LED Lighting advice

Me again! Was just wondering where is the best place in the UK / Europe to buy good mirror blades?
 
Everyone bangs on about comet leds but they should be more specific. I ended up buying aload of comet leds and it's not cheap to have them shipped over, only to be disappointed when I installed them. Yes, I didn't get the double led intense leds but nobody stated this and to be honest I didn't see them. Complete waste of money as I'll be taking these back out.
Somebody should just stock good comet style leds over here.
 
I just get my LED's from Phil. The flicker free type. Look ok to me. Used to always get cool white but will start getting colours that match red/green/blue inserts now.
 
darren_ross said:
Everyone bangs on about comet leds but they should be more specific. I ended up buying aload of comet leds and it's not cheap to have them shipped over, only to be disappointed when I installed them. Yes, I didn't get the double led intense leds but nobody stated this and to be honest I didn't see them. Complete waste of money as I'll be taking these back out.
Somebody should just stock good comet style leds over here.
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There is A LOT of information on each of their product pages dude. The newest sterns use the double smd clear lenses I believe.
 
darren_ross said:
Everyone bangs on about comet leds but they should be more specific. I ended up buying aload of comet leds and it's not cheap to have them shipped over, only to be disappointed when I installed them. Yes, I didn't get the double led intense leds but nobody stated this and to be honest I didn't see them. Complete waste of money as I'll be taking these back out.
Somebody should just stock good comet style leds over here.
Click to expand...

With all due respect; there's a ****-tonne of advice on here! I know because I've invested my time responding to various forum member appeals for advice on the subject, and as stated in several posts; it's a world of pain and entirely personal preference. It sounds like you're venting some frustration at the import costs, which is understandable, but you're not the first to have gone through the process of buying LEDs that you're not satisfied with, or buying something from the USA that costs far more than it should! Comet are a business - have you contacted them about this? What game are you installing them in? GI, inserts, etc?

Monkeyboypaul said:
Agree with the comments about the ramp mod being a priority.

On the subject of LEDs; you're entering a world of pain Dude... opinions will vary wildly, so this is just mine:

I've dabbled with LEDs for several years now and learnt about what i like the hard way.

Stern's SAM system doesn't do fading effects with LEDs at all well, just like Whitestar before it, and the WPC89/95 games. So when you put LEDs in a game you will lose the effects programmed into the game by the designers who only had incandescents available to them. Bulbs ramp their brightness up and down beautifully, they don't burn your retinas, but they burn out, can be quite dim and create some heat.

I personally prefer these LEDs, which is the same as what Stern is currently using, and Mark9 mentions above, except i choose a frosted dome for better light dissipation - less of a bright spot, more of a bright glow.

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/2smd-ct-ft.htm

I did colour-match a few of the inserts on my Tron, namely the blue discs with blue bulbs and reds under the red inserts - but generally speaking it's a right faff choosing the correct number of each colour, and then the types of socket (bayonet or wedge) to make a shopping basket that works - you will **** it up!

So more recently, and for future games, i tend to buy a big bag of sunlight whites in both types of socket - a nice neutral white colour that works behind any insert. Plus any customisation i intend to do - so in Tron's case the GI bayonettes in blue or orange, plus a few others here and there.

Don't forget flashers either - they can be cringingly bright.

Also note that these bulbs are NOT non-Ghosting, they will not hide the inadequacies of Stern's SAM system working with LEDs. You'll seen phantom inserts lighting at the wrong times. To fix that, and restore the nice fading effects of incandescents, plus lower the brightness the LEDs a little bit (which is needed - trust me) i choose to use an LEDOCD board. Yes, more expense, but if you're going to do something - do it right. You can buy non-ghosting versions if you prefer. They'll just look different to incandescents - more blinky. e.g. http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1smd5050ng.htm (personally i won't touch them with a ****ty stick).

LEDOCD homepage (you will need to be clever with shipping or sourcing as the seller won't ship to the UK):
http://ledocd.com/index.html

Here's a recent video of an LEDOCD install in a Tron (jump to 23mins if you want):

And here's one without:

The latter looks more like the LE's lighting as it came with LEDs from the factory, but i prefer the look of a Pro with LEDOCD.

Here's an LE (video by @Sam C )

If you really want some hands on tips then pop over sometime as all my games have LEDs and LEDOCD in, except LOTR (I'm away next week though).
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darren_ross said:
Everyone bangs on about comet leds but they should be more specific. I ended up buying aload of comet leds and it's not cheap to have them shipped over, only to be disappointed when I installed them. Yes, I didn't get the double led intense leds but nobody stated this and to be honest I didn't see them. Complete waste of money as I'll be taking these back out.
Somebody should just stock good comet style leds over here.
Click to expand...
Pinball Heaven stock the Comet sunshine LEDs that were recommended at the beginning of the thread.
 
darren_ross said:
Everyone bangs on about comet leds but they should be more specific. I ended up buying aload of comet leds and it's not cheap to have them shipped over, only to be disappointed when I installed them. Yes, I didn't get the double led intense leds but nobody stated this and to be honest I didn't see them. Complete waste of money as I'll be taking these back out.
Somebody should just stock good comet style leds over here.
Click to expand...
What exactly didn't you like about them? I might be interested in buying some second hand LED's @darren_ross ;)
 
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