The Schematic usually indicates where they are. I've seen them for game over & the game name. I have them used in many EMs as well as a system 1.

Look closely, the ones I've looked at recently say it in English (FLASHING) on the schematic, now keep in mind I'm only familiar with Gottlieb.

Most the of the Gottlieb schematics do not call out the flasher bulbs. Some do, but that's the exception.

Instead, the bulb socket itself is the indicator. Most of the sockets on the backbox panel are recessed. The original 44s have straight edges, so the bayonet bases and part of the bulbs can fit sub-flush with the surrounding wood surface.

The sockets that are intended to have the flasher bulbs (455s) sit flush with the wood surface instead. The 455s have a large 'globe' style glass, so the bulb part can't go sub-flush like the 44s (and 47s) can.

The Game Over socket is a pretty safe bet to be a flasher. Look at that socket compared to the others and the difference can be seen. But on the schematic the Game Over light isn't indicated as being a 'flasher' (usually).

I have put them where the game name is, but that is about all I have added. I found a box of blinker bulbs in a game before, so I added them, and liked them so I got more for other games.

There are no indicators where blinkers are supposed to go in any of my games, but I still want them. So my personal preference is not to use them in such quantity to create dark unlit spots in any given moment. So I first fill all sockets with regular #44's and see how it looks all lit up. Then I experiment by removing a bulb here and there and observing how it looks.

If the area grows dark then I don't want a blinker there. If I can't really tell that I've removed a bulb then that's a candidate for a blinker. Again, that's my own personal preference.

As Dirt explained, that is true for Gottlieb. In fact, I was just working on a Jumping Jack and not only is the socket a different length, but it was also different construction. One had the visual spring style center contact and the other had the smooth plunger style center post.

Not sure when but either Bally and or Williams actually cut a cone shape recess around the sockets on the lamps they planned/wanted to put 455's in. So, its pretty easy to figure that type of back head out.

i have a Flash with a couple blinkers in as well. I don't remember seeing any special call out for them.
very interesting about the gottlieb sockets and game over spot. i am guessing for most wedge heads? Yeah the black hole has them behind the spinning disc, and i don't remember seeing any marking for those either.

Flying Carpet specifies one behind the genie lamp.

I thought we used them to highlight the "shapeliness" of the babe

Bally and Williams used blinkers for the name.
In Bally machines you can put them anywhere you like, Williams used a different approach (see picture)blinker.jpg
Most early s.s. did not use blinkers, there are a few I know did not use blinkers off factory.

Bally:
Champ
Old Chicago
Freedom
Night Rider only the two lights on the police car
Captain Fantastic on the pinball machine
FMBC only the Bally logo

But as said here before: it's a matter of personal taste.

I have installed 6 or so 455 on the space ship on CE3K, had it loos great.

i have owned a space mission that i have added 455 blinkers behind all 5 of the white stars on the bg.

Gottliebs with a "Last Ball In Play" will want them there, because that light will burn out quickly if you don't do it. It comes off the coil circuit with a resistor knocking down the voltage.

Whatever looks right for a blinking bulb is where I put them. I use them to enhance, not overwhelm.

Generally the name on the Backglass gets a couple flashers if not all. Game Over light in Gottliebs gets them as well.

That's what I do as well, unless it is the area of the name of the game, which is OK to have all flashers as to me invokes the early attract mode for an EM.

Ken

great thread!! i spend way too much time considering which bulbs i want to be flashers ... !

I usually have two or three spread out in my wedge heads

c37 for instance, one behind the test tube blondes chest, gives a heart beat effect ...

fun stuff

cheers, Ron

C37 is supposed to have one at the top of the thermometer (at least as intended from the factory).

i'm crappy enough at it that i rarely get the ribbon all the way, so that one doesn't lite very often !!

Thanks. Never realized that about EM backboxes. Learn something new everyday in this hobby..

Dirt has it exactly right when it comes to Gottlieb. The sockets for the blinkers are actually a different length to allow for the bulb to not be sunken.

Williams counterbores the wood do the round bulbs will fit. Someone shows a great picture of that above.

Both of these revelations can straight from Steve one day when I was ordering parts.

For what it's worth you can put them just about anywhere ona Williams by squeezing them in, but the counterbored holes are where the designers thought they should go.

EMsInKC
I have noticed that atleast one under-playfield light (lights special) in my Gottlieb "300" eats 47 light bulbs. I am wondering if it is intended to be a flasher. Do these flasher sockets use more juice?

There are no flashers in EMs. Blinking lamps, yes, but not flashers. They are all 6.5V lamps in EMs. Probably crappy lamps or vibration from a nearby stepper or relay causing the filament to fail.

What about the rest of the thread that mentions where they go and the schematics that mention where flashers go?

Not sure what you are getting at. There are no flashers in an EM. Flashers didn't get used in games until Flash in 1979 which was after EMs were pretty much gone. The lamps that blink on and off are blinking bulbs and just use a thermal bimetalic switch in the filament to just make them...well...blink. They still use 6.5V that all the other lamps use and not 12V that flashers use to...well...flash.

As far as where blinking bulbs were used, I don't think there was any documentation as to what type of lamp went where. If you look at post #14 from 3 years ago that's about the only tell-tale indication of where a blinking bulb went because the globe is a spherical shape. Otherwise, it's just put them where you like...if they fit.

Hi chaskett
Your Gottlieb "300" eats 47 lights bulbs. schudel5 refers to post-14, looking there and reading a bit "around" - and I see post-17 --- a good remark of EMsInKC --- lamps that are run on the 25Volts-side - and an resistor was added by Gottlieb. I show a snippet from "300" - and, Yes - also such a wiring. So mount on the "Specials Lights" some 455 blinking bulbs. Greetings Rolf

Blinking would be the correct term, but Gottlieb labels them (sometimes) on the Schematic as a Flasher, or Flashing Bulb.

Hi
and here is the snippet

0Gtb-300-Work-12 (resized).jpg

The schematic for our funland calls for a flasher bulb behind the bullseye target, but I must have no idea what I'm talking about...

Neat. Then put one in there. Regardless of what Gottlieb called them they do not flash, they blink.

potAtoe
potaato

rolf_martin_062 You're the bee's knees! Thanks for interpreting, investigating, and informing!

On Gottlieb games that use a resistor to drop the relay voltage to 6.3 volt lamp voltage, are designed around the current draw of a #44 lamp. That is why your #47s burn up.

Also, do not attempt to replace them with LEDs as they too will fry! Unless you open them up and replace the current limiting resistor for 28v. Which will probably be too big for the base.

CactusJack
Yeah, but its only the "lights special" that burns out bulbs. Its the only socket where th bulb is visibly burning much brighter than all the others under the playfield. I suspect the "special when lit" light is the same, but not as noticeable as its not on very often.

My flashlight doesn't flash!

The reason they were called flashlights, is back in the olden days,
when batteries were relatively hard to come by and expensive,
one would only turn on their "torchlight" for moments at a time to illuminate what was ahead,
just enough to allow one to see the path ~10 yards ahead so you would not trip,
then one would flash the light on again for a few seconds to see the path for the next 10 yards etc.
Remember when those old flashlights used to come with that secondary button next to the on/off switch
to momentarily flash the light.

pasted_image (resized).png

Added over 6 years ago: Should have added that batteries were not very efficient in the early days and not last long,
thus the need to conserve to preserve their life.

Great! Now I'm going to drive on the Parkway and park in my driveway.

I thought the flash button was for Morse code use.

100%. Plus the flashlight posted above would of also came with 2 coloured lenses, red and green.

Correct.

I went through this with my Ship Ahoy for the spinner lamp.

Even with the correct 44 bulb would see 7.5 volts. I ended up changing the resistance value so the voltage dropped down and the lamps last a lot longer.

Hi
sometimes at a time there are several "loose related" topics in pinside --- and a finding can be posted "there" and "here" and "somewhere else".
The following I actually / already had posted in another topic --- but to mention it here is also helpful:

(((Funny - I was looking for snippets of schematics to my Gtb Ice Revue and stumbled over))) Here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/game-over-light they also talk about resistors. I am not an electricien so I do not know - interesting is (the whole topic and) post-8, POST-12, post-15 and on.
Greetings Rolf