Depending on the machines lighting system, software, and era, regular white or colored standard bulbs may be good choice for home use. I say, enjoy your inexpensive incandescent bulbs and their unique properties. Buy a whole box for a dollar.

LEDs are purely optional modifications for a pinball machine.

Beware of shunning the rituals of the modification cult here on The "Modside". It is the culture of "The Modside Evangelistic Association" (TMEA) to bash unbelievers who shun modding ie LEDs. Modders crave every mod. They celebrate and defend every mod purchase and installation as though their personal reputation depended on it. It does matter here. Why? Because, pretty pictures of a heavily modded pinball machine posted are the way TMEA members get accepted and progress to higher levels of the TMEA cult. Nobody posts pictures of a stock machine, unless they are selling it or just purchased it. That just wouldn't be cool here given the above.

If you were to see all my games, they all have incandescent lamps; so I shun the modder. No extra toppers, McDonald toys, etc. I'd rather put the money towards another game.

And that's probably why you have so many games, because you're smart with your spending.

I owned an AC/DC premium for about 6 months. The LEDs looked right on it because the game was designed for them. Why do people feel the need to inject negative items into a thread that they don't agree with instead of just starting a "LED Fan Club" thread. Anyway, incandescents rule! Edison technology lives on another day!

PInside IS the LED Fan Club.
But yeah, this thread should be about incandescents being great. (Which they are, with certain limitations. )

I saw something on TV that indicated CFL were very bad for health. Gave off very dirty RF and other electrical fields that could actually cause people to get sick or people with issues to be "triggered" towards getting worse. I really did not pay that much attention to it and extremely skeptical when it comes to those kinds of claims but I thought WOW like CA was giving them away by the millions. To "help" be more energy wise. I wonder what claims they will make against LeD down the road. I know if I have my incandescent lights on it gives me insomnia. Damn Edison!

I wonder what kind of claim would be needed to scare a guy that spent several hundred on LeD to pretty up his machines to go back?

Well spending $200+ to make LEDs attractive is a start.

eh, no need to repeat a bunch of pseudo-scientific hokum just because it happens to generate unfounded fear over something you already don't like. i mean if you like incandescents, there's nothing wrong with that, but the crap about "dirty RF" making people sick is unworthy.

Id have to say I agree with leds fatiguing the eyes. Every light scheme I've done has to be tweaked a whole bunch to avoid having an uncovered ultrabrite assaulting my eyeballs but still getting enough light onto the playfield. They are tricky for sure and eye fatigue (and price) has to be their biggest drawback. Im a sucker for bright colors though so Ill do whatever it takes to have the pin look that way. Anyone who prefers all incandescent should consider themselves lucky. They probably have a lot more money left over for other things and they dont have to make a crazy laundry list of various types of leds every time they get a game. I say more power to ya

This is where flexible LEDs really come in handy. A lot of people use them for inserts, but completely overlook them when it comes to GI. I love them because they put out a lot of light, and you can angle them away just enough to avoid direct exposure to your eyes. I use them under slings all the time.

First off, I have NEVER said I don't like LED please don't put words in my mouth. Second, the statement i made was about CFL and if a bigfoot story i don't know but i did say
"extremely skeptical"
it was just something to keep in mind and or talk about. Ever been at work under a ton of CFL lighting and feel a bit off, then go outside and feel different. "maybe it is not the fresh air"
3rd You just won an LED contest right, so WTF are you doing? Trolling Incandescent Bulb Fan Club thread?

Where do I sign up?
When I get a game with LEDs I usually pull them all out and sell them to a collector friend for $10 bucks or so. He loves it when I buy new games.

Oh yes, I'm the boss.

image.jpg

I expected to see side by side comparisons so we could decide if we like the LED or Incandescent better. Grumble!

TZ w/ Leds VS's TZ w/ no Leds .. You Be the Judge !!

Incandescents it is then

LOL! I second the motion!

I'm an incandescent fan, with rare exceptions. Not an LED fan for even a few games that are designed for the, For example, I think ST with the blue-white LEDs everywhere looks 'cheap' and gaudy;when I see it next to a warm, incandescent-lit MET, for example, I find the MET much more visually appealing. ST reminds me of being in one of those too-bright fluorescent-lit department stores or supermarkets. I also detest the little bare LEDs that Stern sometimes stick on plastics and pop bumpers, like in Avatar. Looks cheap and yucky IMO.

I have seen a few games that are dark and look better with tasteful LEDs, like CFTBL. BUT, I've also played a full-LED SM that was blinding and irritated my eyes with all the strobing and flickering. I even think that the WOZ insert LEDs should be toned down even more than the current 'cold' setting. And if there's a cool flowing pattern of the inserts, like in LOTR, LEDs simply kill the effect.

I like to enhance a few games with colored incannys. Mostly SS/DMD games, although color-matching inserts can brighten them without being gaudy. For example, I have some green ones under the slings in LOTR, and yellow ones under/next to the ramps, which really bring out the game colors without clashing or changing the color scheme. I also alternated purple and geen bulbs under the clear Marvel inserts in CV; a diamond of 9 clear inserts just seemed bland on that game. Blue bulbs under the slings look good too, imo. And, at around $2/box, it's a cheap and easy way to enhance a game's colors and artwork without turning it into friggin' Times Square.

Yeah, a few more colors with the LEDs, but I like the incannys better. The attract mode light patterns are much smoother and nicer with bulbs; too abrupt with LEDs. And that edgy lighting carries over to gameplay, and makes it harder to follow the ball. Hey, for me, how a game PLAYS is more important than making sure the cabinet doesn't have a single scratch, or having extra plastic toys on the pf, or "toppers" on the backbox, etc.

Can we take a vote to stop the term "incanny" before it spreads like a plague?

Ok, how about "uncanny?"

My vote; uncanny incandescent all the way (on the older B/W games).

However, I do like them on the newer designed titles such as METLE / ACDC & WOZLE

I like both, but some games look like total ass in LED's. People do them, think they look good and they look like shit, no matter who does it.

LOL OK, I'd be willing to go with ICDs!

Let's make this the biggest thread on Pinside.

Cheer with me...

Stop abusing classic pins!
Only use LEDs tastefully! (And only with Herg's OCD)
Stop posting glowing over saturated pics! The pics may look "interesting" but I'm no longer interested in playing that machine

Think of the children! (Oh, maybe that one doesn't fit as well)

And stop changing the original color scheme with intense purples and blues and reds!

Don't feel bad. It's not your fault. Your brain is just slightly defective and therefore highly susceptible to the strobing ...

Quoted for Truth!

Colored Led's for accent only.

They sell color 44 47 555 lamps.

And condoms.

recently put LED's into old SS home machine, sentinel's demolition derby..
I DO miss the standard 47 bulbs dimming in sympathy with the 455's blinking, and the faster more random blinking..
the 455 LED replacements having a slower non random blink rate, no flickering in the 47's, just less activity overall.
what I dont miss is having to replace a bulb or two every week or two, so its really a compromize to me.
visually I prefer the effect of the incandescents in there, the dimming might be restored by playing with some limiting resistors, and different 455 type LED's might blink faster than whats in there now idk.

incandescent fan club? I like the incandescents really, I dont quite get how they call LED's "retro" when they dont do the dimming in sympathy with the blinking LED's when in the same circuit loop, might qualify more as "retro" to me if they did. maybe they oughtta produce some "sympathy dimming retro LED's", or are they out there already?
LED's also introduced a bit of strobing on the ball, not horribly but its there. the LED's are brighter but seem dimmer somehow at the same time is kinda odd too, but I'm not really done tinkering with LED's either. no doubt some things just wont look the same after replacing the incandescents with their LED counterparts (yet?). its a cointoss to me, I like what incandescents do, prefer the looks and actions when theyre good but dont like replacing them often.

I also feel led's can make a yellowy tinged game come back to life looking bright and clean looking...
Here's my TZ with led's, not quiet as bright as B_R's..

Send a certified copy of your birth certificate along with a self-address stamped envelope to the address below.

123 Mockingbird Lane
Mockingbird Heights, California

What does the word "Sympathy" mean in this? I honestly don't understand.

I think he meant in sync

Symphony perhaps?

That's funny, to my eyes Blackhole is the only game that looks great with cool white LED GI. Normally that cold blue light looks aweful to me, but it just works with the blue of the game and the space theme.

Me thinks that's "symphony" as in a welcomed contrast.......

not trolling at all. yeah, i do put LEDs in my games, but taste is subjective, and i thought my comment was pretty pro-incandescent: i said if you want LEDs to look better than incandescents, you have to invest a lot more time and money than with incandescents. my intent in posting was just to reject the argument that LEDs are cheaper or easier over any reasonable timeframe, not to advocate for LEDs.

I'm starting to experiment with colored incandescents. I was going to put some LEDs under the Big and Small wheel inserts of my BOP, but I didn't do it. I still don't know what the incandescents will look like because the playfield is out of the game. I'll post a picture when I finally get it lit up.

I'm Just Pestering you guy's ,, But Dam ,, doesn't White Water lOOk Better w/ Leds ..

B-4 & after !!

Actually that was the game that turned me off LEDs for good. I did my first two games with Cointaker kits as soon as I got them, then when I got my WH2O that had the cointaker kit pre installed I couldn't stand it. I replaced them with all Incandescent and that's what I do with all my games now. Most of them come preinstalled and I either throw them away or sell a whole kit for 5 or 10 bucks.

It really is just what each individual prefers. There is nothing wrong with LEDs or incandescent, whatever makes you happy do it. Live and let live

CoinTakers Kit are Mainly Super brights ,, I have Never bought a Kit , I had pick my own .. When u get a pin w/ Leds installed , I'll give you $ 20

I always sub out warms but not sure what it had. You got it, the next one I get you will be the first I PM

No.

lol I used in sympathy with, because when the blinking bulbs pull on the power it dims the static 47's.
dimming in sync with works to describe it same way dont make me go all horton on ya now :p

wat

u hav 2 understand his iskiodo speech / Typ-n

Honestly not sure as i know that video cameras really see LED weird. But from what i could see the yellow inserts in the middle look green tinged, and you seemed to take liberty with white inserts and such, adding extra GI sounds like a good idea. But really It seems to have a Sesame Street look. So my vote would have to be the classic look.

I think I would have stopped with the DMD antiglare and a good cleaning.

I kind of noticed in your TZ compare that you had DMD anti glare but then the BG so bright Rod the door was really reflected across PF. So not sure what the accomplishment was.