Pasadena, CA
As much as I love my Bride of Pinbot, it's always bugged me how dark certain areas are, especially the upper left ramp section. I'd taken care of the dim pop bumper area a while back using some LED rings (also Comet's) but I never really had a plan for the left side. It was around that time I started looking into LEDs and came across fellow Pinsider MustangPaul's post about adding Comet's strips to his machines. It was exactly what I needed and since Art@Comet was great to deal with back when I got my rings, I dropped him a line.
It turned out my timing was perfect as he had his new "Matrix" system coming out which was great for someone like me who isn't a wiring pro and didn't really have a solid plan on what to light up. So here's what I was working with. The upper right is looking great but the left is just...unbalanced.
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I figure the best way to explain the Matrix system is to just grab a picture off his site below. Essentially, it's a modular system that allows easy connecting/moving/stacking of various lighting items (strips or otherwise). There's also multiple ways you can grab that initial power source including standard alligator clips, raw 555/47 connectors or even 555/47s connectors with a base LED (perfect for GI/always on).
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Since I wasn't sure exactly what I'd need and the prices were right, I went to town ordering all sorts of splitters, extenders and different color/sized strips just in case. I'm one of those guys who hates stopping mid-project to wait for resupply and I had a feeling once I got started I'd want to light up more things. So a few days later all of THIS arrived...
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First up was figuring out how I wanted to connect things. I knew I wanted something white/purple up there and that it had to be on all the time, meaning I'd be tapping off GI. Luckily I had two close by under the white Power Charge space pod, one of which was already white meaning I could use one of the GI+connector pieces as a jump off point. The one on the right was originally a purple frosted LED but was out temporarily for testing/fitting. More on that later...
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A better shot of the various connectors I got. The far right being the LED combo used above.
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Next up was figuring out what I wanted to light. I spent about an hour plugging in various white/purple strips and tucking them into certain areas to see what worked. All the Comet strips come with pre-cut double sided tape on them (red cover strip) but since I was just testing fitment I slapped my own small strip of tape on there to hold pieces temporarily.
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After lots of trial and error I noticed that I was getting some cool looking bleed-through lighting on the left ramp star decal so I decided to mount one underneath to see how it looked. Interesting...
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At this point, I had a few things to decide on. For one, as much as I liked the white of the stars, I didn't much like the white overflow glow as it didn't go well with my heavy purple theme. Secondly, I realized that if I had the LEDs directly mounted under the decal you could see the individual LEDs which wasn't so pretty (NOTE: Comet now has frosted LED strips specifically for this reason). So what I did next was simply change the strip over to a purple 7SMD strip instead, two of them in fact, and mounted them about 3/4" below the actual ramp/decal on some plastic below. This is just a test fit and isn't straight but already I was liking the residual glow better and I couldn't make out the individual LEDs. This is looking promising...
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While I was in there I figured I might as well see about lighting up the shuttle as well. While it and the one below it do flash at certain times, I wanted to see what it would look like lit up permanently. Here I've lifted up the ramp so you can see how I rested the strip and where I placed a 2X6 natural white LED pad for the shuttle.
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And a top shot with the ramp in place. Okay, this just might work with some fine tuning!
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With the lighted ramp idea locked in, I started mapping things out to get a better of idea where I wanted to draw power from and run cables. I didn't want to run more than 2 LED items + base GI LED on any one connection so I decided to put two purple strips on the ramp using that original GI connector. For the white shuttle LED pad, I decided to use alligator clips to hook into a different GI under the PF since I had purple GI LEDs in the area and only had white GI Matrix connectors. This also left me a spare connection (using a 2-way Matrix splitter) for lighting the flippers later.
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And the associated wiring below. On the left you can see that I poked the connector down through to the PF. There's just enough room for it to get by without damaging the wires. In the middle is where I ran the back cables down for the ramp strips and through the PF. On the right is where most things terminated. You can see the alligator clips in the upper right for Shuttle/Flippers and the Matrix brightness potentiometer (little screw between the black shrink wrap sections). I put the pot before the three LED strips on the Matrix chain so I can adjust them all at once.
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Moment of truth has arrived...
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A comparison show. Now we're talkin!
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Now that I had some good lighting symmetry up at the top, I figured I'd use that other free connection I had and see what lighting the flippers would be like. As you can see from this earlier shot, that area is still pretty dark.
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Wiring for this was pretty easy. I used a 3SMD LED strip and simply stuck it under the apron at a distance deep enough that didn't show the LED reflection in the in the waxed PF surface (NOTE: using a frosted strip will decrease this. Again, they weren't out when I started).
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Here's what I mean about the reflection. This is an extreme straight down angle that I'd never look at the machine using.
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And here's how it looks at a regular viewing angle. If I ever want it brighter I may order up a set of 7SMD frosted but I do like the subtle glow of it. Almost looks factory.
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So all in all, a very successful little weekend project. The game just feels so much more complete to me this way even though it's a fairly minor change. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I'm actually better at the left shot now that I can see everything a bit easier peripherally. Time will tell I guess! As for Comet Pinball, I couldn't be happier with them. From the quality of the components (great connectors, pre-taped, plastic covered) to the great service (prompt, answered all my questions, items individually bagged/labeled). Art is the man! Also, gig thanks to MustangPaul and the other BoP Club (1.0) members for all the great advice and support since I've become a member.
A few final shots of the Bride.
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I'm good at spending other peoples money. 
