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I put a bunch of Comet Pinball warm white LEDs into the back box of my Scorpion and I have noticed that they have become very dim over time. I just replaced a handful of them, and I can clearly see the new ones are about 10x brighter than the original.
Is this common with LED lighting in older machines? I’ve never experienced anything like this with LED lights.
Quoted from ForceFlow:Which type of LEDs? LED or SMD?
http://www.cometpinball.com/category-s/1817.htm
The order says “100-PACK-1LEDBA49SWWBTF *100 PACK* - SAVE- 1 LED 6.3V AC/DC WARM WHITE SUPERIOR LED DOMED "BULLET" BULB - Frosted - #44/#47 Bayonet - Warm White”. So I am not entirely sure?
Quoted from c_mario:Absolutley Led output decreases over time. Manufacturers state that in their data sheets.
One example http://www.lighting.philips.com/support/support/faqs/life-and-light-output/why-is-the-life-of-leds-measured-as-lumen-depreciation
or this
https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/royer_lumenmaintenance_lightfair2014.pdf
I honestly did not know this. I figured they just burned out.
Quoted from wayout440:How long have you had the original LEDs and how long is the game on per day? LEDs light output degrades, but it takes a long time. For example, if we assume a reasonable spec of the LED around 50,000hrs to 70 percent (L70) then they are considered to be near end of life at the point in time that they are putting out 70 percent of their initial light output. If the LED was on 24 hrs a day that is about 5 years, if it's on 3 hrs a day that is over two decades.
The LEDs I referenced above have been in the machine for about 5 months. It runs 6 days a week for an average of 8 hours a day.
Quoted from PinMonk:Likely loose in socket. Wiggle them and they'll become fully bright again. Tighten up the socket to stop that from happening again.
Definitely not the sockets. Incandescent bulbs work great, and new LEDs of the same type are perfect. Removing one of the dim LEDs then moving it to another socket still results in a dim LED.
Quoted from Mike_J:He claims when he installs the replacement LEDs, they are 10X brighter than the LED being replaced.
This is true. I claim this 
.
Quoted from wayout440:Is it possible that the LEDs are not exactly the same as the originals?....such as a design change or different part sent...or were these from the same original batch saved in storage? Different lens or plastic if the style has a clear or frosted cap?
Another thing to verify....if these have been installed for some time are they dirty?
They are all from the same bag of 100 I purchased.
Quoted from Mitch:Check the voltage at your sockets. The higher the voltage the quicker they dim out.
I will meter the line at the first chance I get. I believe it is a 5v line. It is in the back box of a Scorpion.
Quoted from Schamattack:Could be dust/debre build up on the lens. When I got my last pin the lights were significantly dim and they just needed a good cleaning, the dust was hard to see.
It is not dust. Everything is really clean on this machine.
Quoted from hailrazer:The first ones Comet sold were low quality. They realized that and changed. Newer ones shouldn't do that.
These were ordered within the last year. My research on the forums indicated that Comet LEDs were pretty good overall.
Quoted from barakandl:LEDs will dim out eventually buy it should take a long, long time to happen. If an LED over driven to achieve max brightness and/or lower quality product it will dim out quickly.
The surface mount chip LEDs available are much better than the older potted resin or other styles so I would stick to those. At comet the part number of those bulbs has SMD in the name.
I’m wondering if I just got the wrong ones and this is something I could have avoided. I’m certainly going to look into this. Thanks.
I’ve read a couple of things about people discovering the machine was running the wrong power, like a Canadian standard instead of US. How could I ensure mine is correct? I don’t see any little switch on it like a modern power supply.
Quoted from PinMonk:Do you have a multimeter?
Yeah, what should I meter? Just the direct output from that little box the AC runs into?
Quoted from ryanwanger:No need to check anything about your machine, the LED style bulbs you bought from us are a vastly inferior technology that don't last nearly as long. They should only be used in home use situations where you don't play your games often, and saving money is a priority. Long ago, these got demoted to our "Bargain Bulbs" section for that reason, and there are warnings on every product page.
All bulbs will dim eventually, but the SMD (surface mounted diodes) style bulbs have been used on location continuously for years without any significant dimming.
Struggling to figure out what to do about these bulbs. People won't stop buying them, and they work in low-use environments, but it comes with a lot of bad press and threads like this which probably do damage to the brand.
I didn’t realize this! In hind sight, I see a warning on the site. I should have noticed that. All of the color ones I ordered are still rocking. They are SMD.
I’ll make sure I get the correct ones next time. Thanks everyone!
For the record ryanwanger sent me a credit for every one of these bulbs I’ve ever purchased. I think this is very nice, and I will certainly try the SMD LEDs.
Quoted from gmkalos:Wheeeeeeew, I thought he bought Non Ghosting or the Twins those cheep-o's are the Frodo of Comet's bulbs! lol
I thought I bought nice bulbs. I was not intentionally trying to be cheap, I just read that Comet had good stuff and went in like a noob. I think a lot of posts in here are saying the same thing…Comet needs to decide on price vs quality. I honestly think they could sell both and make the division more clear. There is text on the site which wasn’t there when I bought them. As I said, I think it was nice for Ryan to issue a credit and I have zero bad blood. I am going to continue to assume this is an honest company trying to make honest money.
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