Denton, TX
Quoted from BestShot31:I wanted to bump this link as I have found the original post extremely helpful for general LED matching to both the backbox and playfield lighting. Here were the important items I needed to know:
1. White bulbs: warm versus cool white
2. Bulb lens: frosted vs. non-frosted/no lens
3. Color match: to match or not match LEDs with insert, bumpers, playfield GI or backbox colors
4. LED type: bright, superbright, 1-LED, 3LED, flashers, etc...
5. Which retailer has the best LEDs or best prices
Other questions on LEDs:
- Are the newer SMD LEDs better versus the older type of LEDs?
- Is/are there a free site(s) that lists or suggests the playfield/GI and backbox LEDs replacement configuration for specific pinball games? I would rather not buy a kit, but would consider variations of a kit if available.
- Are there any updates for this original post?
Having experimented on my Bullwinkle machine with quite a few different types and strengths of LEDs from Cointaker and Noflix, I can soundly answer all of these with my own personal opinion:
1. Warm for a retro look and/or inserts of either white or yellow color. Cool whites give a brighter newer look, and are also great for popping a white insert more. For example, I use warm white frosteds in most of my white and yellow inserts, but I use a cool white 2-LED in my jackpot white insert to make it stand out more.
2. Almost always frosteds, even in inserts. I only have a few inserts where I use 2-LEDs, like orange because a frosted orange doesn't match the brightness of the other frosted colors. Frosteds are also superb for backbox lighting. I use all frosted cool whites in my Bullwinkle backbox, and it looks by far the best from other LED methods I tried in it.
3. G.I. and Backbox should be always be frosted cool whites or warm whites depending on which look you prefer. You can use colored frosted LEDs in a FEW select places in the G.I., but this has to be done with a specific goal in mind. My own example is I used blue frosteds in the upper skill-shot lanes, and also in the lower return lanes in my Bullwinkle machine. I tried throwing some other colors around in the G.I., but too many colors just looks tacky. So I have all other G.I. cool white frosteds now. With regard to inserts, I've found Frosted warm whites are best for white and yellow, 2-LED or Super oranges for orange (Supers are slightly stronger than 2-LED), and then direct-color frosteds for all other insert colors.
4. Intensity depends on the size of the insert, but most are fine with a frosted bulb. I did have one insert that was so large as to require going all the way up to an "Ultra" from Cointaker, but this was the exception. For Flashers, I found that Cointaker's FLEX-8's are the most versatile and the cool whites look fantastic!
5. Best price-to-quality goes to Cointaker, but I found for direct-view situation where the playfield has a feature that uses bulbs directly in line-of-sight, nothing beats a Noflix Plus domed bulb. They have simply the best color saturation without blinding the eye, and their anti-strobing/ghosting features are unmatched by any other company.
6. SMDs are in fact better than the older style, at least I think so. Instead of a single point of light, they can give off a wall of light depending on the configuration.
7. Never use a kit. If you're unsure about a look, just order a couple bulbs of a few types and test them yourself. I did this for my LED conversion, and I ended up getting exactly what I wanted. I know now I would have been disappointed had I used a kit.
