Good luck but they aren;t made anymore and 100 is a whole lot.

https://www.memotronics.com/box-of-10-455-blinking-lamp-bulb-flashing-lightbulbs-6-5v-3-25w-0-5a/

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/04-0455

Personally I would (and always do, at this point) just get the comet ones:

https://www.cometpinball.com/products/455-blinking-bulbs

Oh wow Memotronics is a deal these days!

They make LED equivalent 455's.

Honestly, I know its blasphemous to LED EM backboxes, but the LED blinkers look great when you're highlighting the title of the machine. Not going to see much difference between the incandescent and LED bulbs. And at least you can readily get these. For now.

https://www.cometpinball.com/products/455-blinking-bulbs

The only reason to use the incandescent version is for the delay timer in the reset relay on EM games.

I wish the LED blinkers were a bit more random with the blinking….
But LED is a great choice.

Yep. I have a box of 10 left and a few EMs that use them. I need to grab a couple more boxes for security.

If blinker LEDs were more random, I would happily go that route. I don't like how the blinking pattern eventually cycles so they all blink together a few times before they drift apart again.

Even if the rest of the game is entirely LEDs, I'll still go with incandescent blinker bulbs.

I don’t understand the dislike for 455 leds. Sure they are not random, but who looks at the backglass for more than a few seconds? Who stares at one and even notices it’s not random?

You'd be AMAZED at what these people do around here

So let's say you have an EM with 5 or 6 flashers on the backglass that all come on at the same time at Game Over, and you've put in identical flashing LEDs. Since they are turning on at the same time, how long will it take for the flashing to eventually look random? I've stuck with 455s so far since right off the bat they are random, like the spinning disc on my Black Hole.

Of course mixing fast and slow LEDs would help, but still won't be the same as lamps. Are their different brands of LED flashers that might blink at a slightly faster or slower rate than another brand? Would adding different resistors to the sockets (like when you put a high value one on to the eliminate flickering on an early SS Bally/Stern) make the flashing slightly faster/slower or is the timing still going to be the same?

I put 3 slow flashers and 3 quick flashers from comet in my Strato flite and my space mission back boxes. (6 each back box) They blink at the same time for about 2 minutes when I turn the game on then after that they’re never in sync.

Two minutes, yikes, didn't think it would be that long. I could see putting an LED flasher behind a 'game over' light or just to make a few select inserts blink on my games, but forget about the BH spinning disc.

So yeah, I don't think anybody would notice a single LED on a backglass is not blinking randomly, but a bunch of them turning on at the same time would definitely stick out and not just for a few seconds.

Good topic! I’ve always enjoyed 455 lamps since I first got into pinball. I have a collection of vintage GE 455 and Westinghouse 455 lamps, plus I have some of the very rare wedge type versions used in games like Al’s Garage Band and twilight zone, I believe they are 545?? Can’t remember.

I prefer the GE lamps the best, although the Westinghouse are really good as well and flash even faster. These both flash on/off very quickly and look awesome! I do not like the newer 455 as they flash way too slow, sometimes off for a few seconds. As an EM purist, the vintage 455 lamps are a must! I do not like the L.E.D. versions, just not the same.

I have 90+ of the 455 bulbs made years ago by a company called Micro Lamps Inc. As far as I am concerned these are not as good as the old GE or Westinghouse bulbs but they are 10 times better than the Made in China stuff most people are selling today.

These were made it Taiwan (likely in the 1970's or 1980's) and I have been using them for years and have always had pretty good luck with them.

I don't have a need for these so if you (or anyone else) is interested I would take $80 (plus shipping) for the lot of them.

I'm going to order a few of the fast flasher LEDs for my Stern Lightning to try them out, but for the playfield. The extra ball arrows and special arrows rotate around at each of the three drop target banks when the slings are hit and you need to keep track of them especially during the heat of battle. Plus there are a lot of other red arrows elsewhere and the special arrows just blend in with them. Making them flash will make them stand out. Seems like a cool application, as if it was implemented in the software. 455s would look hokey since they have to warm up and the flashing is too random.

Do they make wedge type LED flashing lamps? If so, that would look great in games like Fireball Classic to look like more like how the original Fireball was intended. Those older wedge lamp flashers are hard to find, I have a few, but they are off way too long between flashing. 5 seconds maybe? Just too long of interval’s.

Technically blinking lamps. Here's Comets page for blinking bayonet and wedge base bulbs.

https://www.cometpinball.com/collections/455-blinking-bulbs

Thanks for the link! Quick question, what looks more normal in the backglass the bright or dim? I’ve never used them, just curious?

This seller on eBay has GE 545 Wedge bulbs in 10 packs: ebay.com link: itm

I bought the last 100 pack he had.

Regular. I use the fast blink warm whites. Yes they're all in sync at the beginning, but they randomize out after a while.

Agree that the older bulbs make a subtle difference, particularly that they blink slower and seem to last a lot longer than the newer replacements. Perhaps, they are most appreciated when several are located near one another, as behind the title of a game, or clustered in a scene, as in the lower flying saucer:

But, I'm not the purist... I use LEDs occasionally in my wood rails to help brighten up an area, or illuminate an old insert, or as in the video, a color changing LED gives a fun effect to the main saucer.

ge bulbs (resized).jpg

I used some ex-brite LEDs in my '51 Gtb. Poker Face backglass behind score/point indicators with the deep purple ink. That purple is so damn dark even 44s looked pathetically dim.

Pinball Life will have #455 incandescent lamps for $5.95 per box of 10 in about a week.
Terry.

Terry, I am sure that is great news for some people but sadly the new 455 bulbs just are not the same as the vintage 455 bulbs. As long as people "adjust" their expectations all is good but the "Made in China" 455's just don't last or work as well as earlier bulbs from my experience with them.

I'm not sure what type of bulbs PBL is offering, but I agree that I like those vintage GE bulbs the best out of the ones I've tried. The blink rate on the eiko bulbs that I tried wasn't that good. They were dark way more often than they were ever blinking on.

Whenever I shop out a game that has incandescent bulbs, I always make sure to save all the GE blinker bulbs just to have some on-hand.

I agree, I use the older GE455 lamps in my games, they blink on and off very quickly and have lasted for years and years. I have some games I’ve had 20+ years same lamps still working and look great! Those newer 455 seem to get black near the tip of the bulb before they burn up, just cheap. I recall those even breaking at the base when just trying to install. I only use the vintage GE or Westinghouse 455’s in my games. Gottlieb “game over”, “tilt” and “shoot again” lights behind backglass a must.

We are having them made at the same factory Eiko had them made at for 20 years (before they, and others, abruptly stopped a couple of years ago due to declining sales). We extensively tested them with great results.

GE is never going to make them again. I can't reclaim a past that is that far gone.
It took over a year to convince ANY factory to make them. The few that agreed sent us anywhere from bad product (early burnout, iffy blinking) to literally no blinking at all.
Finally we did get the factory that formerly supplied Eiko to make one last run of them. We sold these (Eiko) bulbs for almost 20 years with no direct complaints to us. I can not speak to the GE #455 lamps. They had stopped producing them by the time we entered the scene. I'm sure they were great, but that avenue of production has long been closed.

Terry,

Doing what you guys do is great and I am not trying to take anything away from that but sadly new production today just isn't the same as things were years ago. Even the "good old used bulbs" are not going to last forever so it is super important for someone to step up and do something to ensure a supply of something that will work and your price on these is great but my point is they just are not the same as the good old bulbs from years ago.

What frustrates me is you can't buy a decent new bulb today at any price. A couple years ago I got fed up with the 4' fluorescent lights in our shop area so I decided to change over to LED shop lights. Less than a year later every new LED shop light I put up was dead. Fast forward a few months and I decided to just replace the old 4' Fluorescent lights in our basement gameroom with all new fluorescent bulbs instead of changing over to LED's (because of my bad experience with the LED's) and out of two cases of bulbs I had two bad brand new bulbs & 4 other bulbs failed within a month. So after paying nearly $100 for twenty new fluorescent bulbs two months ago I have to now replace 1/3rd of them. I don't mind paying for new products but it just gets old when everything you buy these days it total junk!

Anyway THANKS for stepping up and getting these made. They should sell well for you because they are really getting hard to source! But regardless of what anyone does these will never be as good as they made years ago - just like everything else these days and that is kind of sad.

This is really good news, Terry. I was going to order some from that other source, but I will get them from you. You do so much for the hobby. I wish you had more EM parts to buy, but I understand the PBR thing.

Thanks for all you do for the hobby.

I do

I know a guy with a nice collection of older machines who tells everyone to be quiet - just to hear the noise all the the 455's make in all of his machines, it's like crickets, Drop Target you know who I'm talking about.

Which games are the 445 bulbs for specifically?

Do you mean 445 or 455? I like using them for accent. They look really nice in my S.A.M.I. I also use them in my EM backglasses.

445. Sounds like they are mostly for backbox lights in EMs?

I just ordered 20 of these but I’m assuming they are not well liked on this forum because no one has mentioned them.

I’m supposed to get them Friday and other than being a little pricey, I was wondering if anyone else has bought them and has opinions.

ebay.com link: itm

These were brought up as a solution in one of the other 455 threads. It got pretty long, but someone did say they work fine. No idea on longevity. Now that I know Terry will have them back in stock, I'll go with a few boxes from him. I only need them for EMs with a delay circuit. I use LEDs in most cases.

Thanks. I’ll post a video of them working when I get them. I ordered them before I found out Pinballlife will have 455s.

Why, yes I do!

I heard from someone close to the source that Pinball Life should have theirs in a few days.

This-

And early solid state games. And certain time delay circuits in EM games.

EM & early solid state backglasses can be pretty static without blinker bulbs. They help liven things up a bit.

Not direct knowledge but have heard the glass on these seems too thin/fragile. I may still try a box...

Our shipment of #455 lamps has come in.
I would assume they are never going to be up to OG GE #455's standard, but they blink and we have them in stock - https://www.pinballlife.com/455-bulbs-box-of-10.html
Terry.

Terry,

With your reasonable price point I am sure these will be a big hit. THANKS AGAIN for "stepping up" and putting in the work to get reasonably priced 455's back on the market. Without guys like you stuff would just keep getting more expensive and harder & harder to source.

Mine are arriving today. Although they may or may not have a long life, I’ll post a video of them in my Lucky Hand later.

They will have a long life, but they will blink slower than the GE lamps blinked. At least that is what I am gathering from various posts I've been reading.
Terry.

Thanks, I’ll post a video this afternoon. They just got here. I definitely would have bought them from you, especially at your price but I had already ordered them.

It’s just nice that we can get them again.