Did my EBD with 100% comet bulbs with zero issues. Can someone explain how a bad bulb can short a bulb socket? I’m not following.

I’ve definitely had some stubborn 555 sockets. But it was not limited to any era. All 555 sockets are tough to get leds in.

But as my dad always says, “don’t force it.”

I am looking forward to hearing how they go about this fix, maybe take a visit to China and whoop some ass?

Also looking forward to the final fix, when these bulbs are finally the correct shape and size.

The fix would be to make the base width and thickness the exact size & to the +/- tolerance that is listed on a Chicago Miniature or GE print for their 555 lamp globes. Also, the wire leads should be the same size, shape and be positioned exactly the same. Anything different is asking for trouble.

Bally and Williams used those two manufacturers' lamps in their games during the 60's-'80's

It should be easy enough to take a micrometer to the base of an original GE bulb and use that same measurement to inspect these bulbs before shipping them out to unsuspecting customers. If they don't make the cut, ship em back to China!

At the factory (Not the re-seller):

Passed Quality Control by Director of Quality Management: Mr. Sum Ting Wong

And yes, I used great restraint in not Capitalizing the "o" and "n" in one of the words above.

Inspected by Wong Meazur.

No man. Just ignore the mob mentality and see thru their "well it came from a real cool dude" and realize some of us others won't settle for cheap "make fit" parts. We are on your side. Not many of us, but we are with you.

Look, since you want to pop an attitude.

You bought and aftermarket part. If you want perfect fit then buy an original part. LEDs are not stock on that game so you are modding it. That's a fact.

Others have done 80's SS games with no problems. I've done 3 and others here have already posted no issues with your exact game. Tells me there are MFG differences in sockets as well as the bulbs.

The 555 wedge fits 95% plus of the games with 555 bases so the LED fits in normal situations.

Comet should put a disclaimer on the site just to be safe.

You, not Comet, blew your light boards UNLESS the bulbs were shorted internally. Have yet to see this happen for any LED MFG but anything is possible.

My opinion, you were pissed and made this thread not to inform but to start a pissing match of which you succeed. If this was just to inform your title would have been much different as well as your first post.

I don't blame Comet for being pissed about the thread if they truly are.

Atlantis looks great. It took some effort to stuff the bulbs into their sockets but I sure as hell didn't short out the MPU in it or Party Animal. How many Pookycades does it take to put in a light bulb, goof up their machine, blame someone else, and then slam the door shut and inactivate their account? Apparently one. Which is regrettable.

It's the fault of the out-of-spec product. Is your socket out of tolerance or is your bulb out of tolerance? Doubtful it's both, but it could be. Sounds like some tables have odd sized sockets.

No it's these bulbs. I have a bunch of them sitting around. Great if somebody can force them in and make them work. Not so great once you remove them and try to put the correct size bulbs back in if the sockets are now broken or split.

I will say I prefer the specs on these LED bulbs are not changed. As everybody knows, LED 555s are made of plastic and slightly thicker on the base.

To me, this is an improvement as they are fat enough to stay in once you install them. I rarely have 555s fall out.

Sure they take a little user common sense when installing, but I would rather take my time to finesse a bulb in once rather than have them popping out all the time.

I will say that with over 50 game now that I have installed Comet LEDs in (many of them 78-82 Ballys) I have not once had the issue the OP has described.

That does not mean he is a moron, but it does show a distinct difference. Maybe he got a batch of games with incorrect spec sockets from back in the day? Maybe his games have all been sitting in a similar climate which has cause the sockets to get tighter over time? Something is different and with all the people that have successfully installed these same bulbs in the same game titles... it does not seem to be the bulb.

It is obvious based on the title of the thread that he got the exact reaction he wanted. Sad part is that he blames Comet and now Pinside for his woes. Oh well, some people will never learn that if you meet 1 jerk in the world then they are likely the jerk. If everybody you meet is a jerk, then you are missing the point.

100% agree with this. 555 are know to flicker if they become loose. I would rather a tight fit and the leds stay in place and work. I had some leds from Ali express years ago that fit perfectly like a glass bulb. Problem was some of them flickered with machine vibrations. Never had that issue with one when it was a little tight installing it.
Just takes a little finesse installing them.

Can we change the thread title to, incorrectly installing leds can damage a game?

I would try replacing the sockets especially when they are +20 years old. I had a pinbot with sockets that were OK with incandescents but would blow fuses with leds. I believe that the sockets had corrosion inside and when combined with a slightly different fit from leds, created a short circuit. I would look into this possibility.

Ill chime in as I recently just started adding LED’s to all my games. Nothing fancy just Comet 1SMD Warm Whites, frosted.

I did Grand Lizard and Conquest with no issues, using all 44’s.

However, when I got to Dirty Harry I had problems with the 555’s. Dirty Harry has two different setups for 555’s. One is where the bulb twists out, remove the old one and insert the new one. All of these worked flawlessly. On the other hand when I got to the ones that were soldered to a board, every single one was super hard to push in. Being new to this, I just figured it was me since the other ones popped right in. Well I ended up breaking off one of the sockets because I used to much force. Besides the obvious of not using to much force, if I run into this again, is there a preferred routine to make these install easier?

I put Comet LEDs in my TZ not long ago. It was pretty tough getting some of the 555's in. I've put LEDs in other games and had similar issues but not like this. I ended up shaving the edges of the base with an exacto knife of some of the 555 bulbs just to get them to go in with ample pressure. Just took an extra minute or two.

The OP's original script is a classic example of passive aggressive non-sense. Learn from their mistakes. A better opening would have been something like this:

"I'm really unhappy with the 555 Comet LEDs. The bases are not the right size. I've had a rough time inserting them into my Centaur & I unfortunately shorted out my Centaur GI. I've reached out to Comet to get a refund on my LEDs to no avail. People need to beware of the 555 Comet LEDs. Anyone else have any issues with them? I've shopped out over 30 games with other bulbs and never had this problem... Is anyone able to help me fix my GI board?"

By not thumbing out directly what the issues are and adding a lot of aggression in your post, you open yourself to criticism. Pinside can be a friendly place or it can be a shit show. Live or die, you decide.

A legitimate question. Sorry someone crapped in your Cheerios, but you really don't need to defend incandescents like you do either. And I'm not really sure where you felt I was telling you or anyone else what their opinion was.

I was implying that the OP made an error, then proceeded to make a blanket statement about LEDs. You have always not like LEDs. We all get that. The people that hate rainbow colored GI started a club thread expressing their hate for colored GI. I was legitimately asking if you've thought about starting a No LED club thread where you can vent about LEDs (I don't know if one already exists or not)

Again, normally I like your sarcasm and off-the-cuff remarks, but no need to yell "get off my lawn" every time LEDs come up.

Well, I guess we'll never know what he fucked up because he quit. In my experience, situations like "all I did was install an LED why are you broken now?!?" are the result of me doing something unknowingly. I, on the other hand, spend the time to try and figure out what went wrong instead of blaming an LED and ignoring all problem-solving advice.

You know he's still reading this. That's what I love about people who quit Pinside...

rage quit.

I have to admit it is kind of funny.

Very fitting for a guy who broke his game (sorry Comet broke his game) by forcing a wedge into a socket.

Well, you succeeded. The mob has voted me down. But I don't really give a shit. Even though you are making shit up and lying in the process. And really have no idea what you are talking about.

But let me set the record straight.

So that's why I have spent hundreds of dollars on them and did up many games with them. Even then I noticed the 555s didn't fit right.

I believe my statement was in regard to the original bulbs that came with the game that actually fit. That is the only thing I was defending about them in this thread. Can you give me a better way to point out why these replacements don't?

So yeah, take your fking lies about me and get the fk off my lawn!

name calling?
I don't need to say more. I'll see you around forums O-din

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No, I refrained from that. Again it seems like you are making shit up.

Probably a damn good idea.

Have a nice day!

Sorry to hear you feel that way.

There were several people in the thread who were willing to help, and asked you questions about what specifically was happening and to post some photos so we could see what was happening.

The main problem was nobody here can see exactly what's happening with your game, so there was speculation into several possibilities, one of which was user error--which might or might not have been the case. It wasn't possible to determine that from the limited information you provided. Once that is ruled out, the next step would have been to get into more of the technical side of things.

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From left to right. Auto dragons, Titan, Comet, brand X incadescent (the ones that come in the 100 pack white boxes).

The ones with the squared off edges seem harder to fit in general. You can visually see some differences in the wedge thickness too. I have been able to make everything work, but they are tight at times.

Some of them have slots for the resistor contact lead to sit in, others do not. Some bulbs contact resistor has a thicker lead then others. The glass incandescent have a smaller lead than all the LEDs, but it is in a loop shape.

I have an EBD and I also had problems installing the Comet 555 leds. This was a couple months ago. Very frustrating. I emailed them and sent them back. They were very interested in what was going on and tried to help. They sent me another batch. This time they specifically looked for bulbs with slightly smaller bases. The new batch was a little better but still harder then it should be. I didn’t short anything but I did break a socket before a realized I needed to support the socket from underneath with my finger while installing the bulb. On the back box I used a combination of their leds and incandescents from PBR. The incandescents went in like butter.

No one's gonna get on him about "pookycade"?

Looks like the OP is no longer an active member. I didn’t see the thread until today.

Wow Andrew, that's a great photo, and a perfect example of how helpful this community can be! Shame the OP effed off before seeing that.

I've only ever used Comet LEDs, aside from a random assortment that was already in a game I acquired, but I will agree I've had some troubles with them in the twist-sockets on System 11 games (I've not have the pleasure of an SS Bally yet). The typical advice of gently spreading / cleaning the internal contacts, and ensuring the wires are straight, has always worked... and I figured that out myself through common sense troubleshooting.

But, oddly enough, I've had lots of the *opposite* problem with Sys11 twist bases too: the original contacts are too far apart so the bulb makes poor contact and doesn't work! In that case I have to close them up by inserting a jeweler's screwdriver between a contact prong and the carrier sidewall. After that, the new LED bulbs fit tight and make solid contact.

How odd that "standard glass bulbs" and "standard sockets" can cause two different issues with opposing solutions!

That photo does seem to indicate a tolerance issue with Comet bases, and it doesn't even seem to be a problem for Comet alone. The Titan bulb seems closest to an original 555 glass base. This is good info to have available!

I wonder if Comet will address this somehow? Can they retool their bases to have a tapered edge?

Open season.

I am installing comet led wedge 555s in my Medusa restoration. Tight as hell in the socket. Sanding down the edges so they are tapered does the trick but it is a pain.

I will not buy Comet 555s anymore. They’re just way too tight.

Is there an alternative that works better without having to modify the bulb?

GE

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First wanted to say: Just used the Comet Sunlight bulbs for the first time and I am hooked with the look of them. They are in between Warm white and cool white. All my Classic games will have the Sunlight bulbs installed in them when I switch to leds.
Second: Just installed Comet 555's on a Eight Ball Deluxe. Had the same problem with the sides of the base being too square/thick to go in easily. Resolved issue by using a small file and hit the side edges a little to give it a little angle. Yeah it's kind of a pain but it worked.

Make your own?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/leds-for-5-cents-each#post-4330495