STTNG and Funhouse both with both boards. I agree that as more people see these things in action, demand will rise.

That's true, but I think you can tweak the settings and get them looking good. The software gives you a lot of flexibility to control how it lights each lamp.

$150, dunno.

Yep I was just going through the same process tonight. I used the LED OCD software to light every lamp at 20%, and everything but the "premium" bulbs lit up. Made it easy to identify and replace 'em. Now my fades are a lot smoother.

By the way, I never understood what the "activity" setting on the GI OCD software was for, so I didn't use it, but after reading Herg's explanation, tonight I played around with it and figured out a config I really like:

First of all, I will admit that I overdrive the GI on the playfield by running it at 85. I just love how shiny everything looks with that level of illumination. Some of the LEDs get kind of hot, but I don't think I'm hurting anything -- I accidentally left it on overnight once and nothing melted, singed, or burned out.

Anyway, the "Activity" setting at least lets me minimize the amount of time I'm overdriving these bulbs. I set the activity timeout to about 2.5 minutes, and I set the playfield GI strings and the shields GI string to go dim when there's no activity. I think I put it to about 15 or 20. For the two GI strings behind the translite, I did the opposite -- they go bright (but not overdriven like the playfield) when there's no activity, and then they're configured to dim once a game starts, which along with my invisiglass totally eliminates any glare.

It's a cool effect -- when you press the start button to start a game, GI OCD (noticing the trough kicker has fired) dims the back glass and cranks up the playfield GI. Looks just awesome.

have you tried increasing the delay value?

i think this product made me more "OCD".

yes, the default settings are, by themselves, a huge improvement and definitely pretty great. but, for example, after a while, because i have a hodgepodge of different LED brands and types, i began to be bothered by the difference between my premium and standard LEDs, mostly because the premiums didn't have as much fade to them. it's really only noticeable if you ARENT playing, and only looking at the lights, so it's kind of absurd to sweat it, but i went back in and swapped out all my premiums for standards anyway. now they all fade the same.

sounds like you might have accidentally set those inserts to a very low illumination level in the software. i would try reseting to defaults or taking a hard look at the settings for those 2 sockets.

Funhouse is a great choice for LED OCD. the harsh flashing of inserts was killing me before i put it in mine!

GI OCD is really good for it too, since it dims every time you put rudy to sleep.

doesn't affect flashers. but then, flashers are SUPPOSED to, you know, flash. incandescents are a good option there if LEDs are simply too harsh. i'm sort of on the fence about LED flashers. it really depends on the game and the spot. on Funhouse i might lean towards incandescents, especially if the room you play in is usually dim.

yeah, i spent time on my shield settings, trying to get a noticeable gradient between each level, since their brightness indicates your shield level percentage during Borg Multiball. i ended up pumping the shield brightness, since it's a pretty cool feature that i feel goes unnoticed by most players! Here are the values i'm using for the shields (GI string #1):

1-3-6-13-25-55-79-99

of course, your mileage may vary depending on the brand and type of bulb. I believe I'm currently using CometPinball's Ice Blue flex-head, positioned as far away from the insert as i could get them, so that the light diffuses evenly across the whole banana-shaped insert.

Here's a video. Believe me, though, the game is not quite as bright and certainly not as BLUE as it appears in the video. wish i knew enough about video to get it to film the way it looks to the naked eye. oh well, just trust me it is not as overpowering in person. enjoy.

by the way i guess this is a question for Herg: the GI OCD interface lists 8 slots for values (B1 through B8), but the game only seems to use seven of them (B7 and B8 seem to be the same brightness in-game, no matter what value is used in GI OCD). Does WPC ignore B7 and just use B8 for both? or vice versa?

the default settings will probably be all you need. you'll notice instant improvement. installation isn't bad and the instructions are great.

dont incandescents take a while to "warm up" and blink properly? just going by how my Black Hole operates...

Pretty sure they work fine. I know i own a bunch of them as well as the Quasars, but i will have to check if any are currently in the GI of my STTNG or Funhouse.

Well, the circuitry that prevents them from ghosting also prevents them from fading on/off quite as smoothly, and prevents them from dimming properly. Basically anything below roughly 40% illumination (varies by manufacturer) it will just shut off, with virtually no room for dimming between the on and off states. It's not a huge deal really, moreso for GI OCD I feel, but if you're already shelling out the cash for LED OCD, I feel like you might as well spend the extra $50 on new bulbs to get it perfect. Just my opinion of course.

Yeah, one issue is that the non-ghosting circuitry prevents the bulbs from dimming smoothly. At a certain threshold it just shuts off (or flickers inconsistently) instead of dimming. That's why standard LEDs work a little better than non-ghosting bulbs with the LED OCD.

Do you have incandescents in the coin door or backbox or anywhere else?

That insert isn't a flasher, is it? If it is, there's nothing you can do. LED OCD doesn't affect flashers. Best bet is to switch to incandescent flashers.

If it's not a flasher, then load up the software and create some custom settings for that insert -- make the lower end of the ramp up a little lower, and/or or increase the length of the duration of the fade.

i am a huge fan of LEDs, but i keep my flashers incandescent. LED flashers are just way too harsh, unless they are hidden from direct view.

compatible, yes. they'll work fine.

bulbs without non-ghosting circuitry look slightly better, though. with non-ghosting bulbs, you will lose a bit of the "fade" and the ability to control the bulb's brightness below a certain threshold.

hmmm the next step of course is to power the Raspberry Pi via the pin, so it turns on when the game does. if that's not hard to do, then I suddenly find myself wanting this (getting a web server running is no problem for me)

eh i'm wierd, i tweak them fairly often. i would not argue i'm very useful as general market research though!

you won't blow a fuse with just two incandescents, but it's really not hard to replace those either. check the coin door, too.