What are/who makes the LED's that Stern uses in their new machines like METLE??

Cointaker

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/noflix-pinball-leds-c-22.html

Hmm the GI should be these. I always make my own kit. Sometimes they have a 555 socket in place of 44 depends on what happens at the factory. Newer machines that isn't an issue.

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/bayonet-base-ba9s-c-22_24_31.html?language=english

I'm ordering my MET PRO LEDs this weekend.

Yeah, the kit didn't include the GI lamps, I was expecting it to hehe. No big deal, at least the more complicated part is done.

Moved to modding pinball sub forum.

I have been using LEDs in all my machines for a few years now and I have tried CT and PBL and now Comet Pinball. I have never really had an LED go bad (except a couple DOA) but then I have only bought maybe 1000 altogether. For me it comes down to price and brightness. I want the brightest LEDs for the least amount. Comet is the leader on that now. Comet's prices are a fourth of the other guys on some bulbs. Where else can you buy 100 LED bulbs for $26? Full LEDs in the backbox for under $10?

Bright doesn't mean better but to each their own. Bright hurts my eyes and also the flickering can cause seizure type episodes for some people. That is the main reason I buy high end No Flix Plus LEDs.

I just paid $250 for 114 different kinds of course and I'm tickled to death with the results they give. Well worth it for less headaches and dizziness for me!

Brightness and "rules of thumb" seem to not be perfect for all games.

Normally, we have all heard, "frosted single LED or SMD" for a back box.

Can you guess what bulbs were used in this?

dracula.JPG

The bottom left, are left as incandescent as well as the entire middle.....they looked best.
The Fire, torches, Purple Clouds, Moon, are all 4SMDs.

We did this as a group, and what we were "told" was right, was not right at all.
All of us, felt, before we tried that there was no way, a 4 would work...Surprise!

In fairness, Frosted LEDs were best for a Black Rose, a thinner print, or a re print translite.
Sometimes Brighter is better!

OK the led arms race is on!

PBL has what look like non ghosting retros and non ghosting flex for .89. Anyone tried them?

I use a mix of both Pinball Life LED's and Cointaker LED's however I mostly use cointaker LED's but Pinball Life has some really nice led's nice the &%$#ing bright 4 LED ones. They work wonders on inserts that the light is not on an angle. I would love to see flex versions of those LED's. Cointaker recently introduced flex flashers and I can't wait to check them out.

I just picked up a flex 906 flasher from CT. One smoked (literally) in about 30 seconds, other working fine but got VERY hot. They were put under the PF of Jokerz under the ramp. After pulling the one letting off a lot of white smoke it appeared it was melting the solder next to the transistor underneath it.

I liked the idea of being very directional with the flex head, rather than so much light leakage from the sides with the incandescent, but after the heat and melting, I guess they are not ready for prime time yet. Tried a #89 in the backbox that seemed to work, but worried given the results from under the PF.

Does any of the led sellers offer any discount codes for pinside members if we order from them? If so does anyone know what the codes are? Thanks.

Cointaker is umm..."PINSIDE" or "PINSIDE10" ? been awhile

PINSIDE15

Love LED,s I have converted 14 total. I always do my own conversion. It can get expensive . I did all 14 in a 2.5 year period. Because I have been collecting for so long. If you are just doing a few a year it is not as bad. I did most of my machines before there were non-ghosting LED's. Every machine is different. Some ghost and other do not. I use FOUR companies up to this point. Flex style LED's CoinTaker and The PinballCenter out of Germany. Pinball life . And Last but not least BC Pinball. The German LEDS are great for any exposed Frosted were then incandescent had a rubber condom. The German LED's 44/47 , 555 are not as bright but offer better color hue. The German LEDs for playfield inserts are best used when the insert is clear / not painted over. LOTR is a great machine for German T-10 NoFlicks Plus or SuperFlux (flex style) I use BC pinball for really bright Frosted 44/47 4.50 each. BCpinball LED are the best for Bright frosted . Pinball Life is the best value for the dollar. There 3 LED 44/47 at .69 cents can not be beat. Pinball life 3 LED are great for G.I. as they sit higher through the playfield. Great to not catch your eye as they sit higher and throw out the light well. I love CoinTakers Flex Style SMD super bright. CoinTaker Ultra Bright are cool in some ares. Note : The Ultra Bights get very hot. There 5 High power LED's. They are now slimmer and able too fit through the playfield. CoinTaker makes a great flasher. The 89 are the best. CoinTakers non-ghosting LED are bright and work well. CoinTakes color changing 44/47 slow fade flex are really awesome. I have LEDs coming out of my ears. All the companies I have mentioned are great. Mix and match for the best results. That has worked for me. And IMPORTANT: ORDER EXTRA LEDS that you really need / l
Like. TEAL or PINK or Turquise. Because the pink you ordered in 2010 and it fails most likely will look totally different in 2013. I know this because it happened to me more that once so order some extras. LED's are Great for adding a personal artistic flair to your pinball. Peace

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Thanks guys.

Good to know. I will send Melissa a e-mail and I am sure they will work on it.

Don't need a discount code at www.cometpinball.com as their prices are way better than any of the other vendors even with their discounts. Great quality and selection, fast shipping and fantastic customer service. Check them out!

Guys, I'll throw this out there as well - for anyone doing insert lighting specifically, and mixing and matching different vendors / types and incadescents in the same game, look at Herg's LED OCD board.

It redrives the lamp matrix and eliminates ghosting, flicker and lets you control the light output for every single insert lamp. By default, it ramps up and down lights quickly in 7 stages (like a 40-50-60-70-80-90-100% style ramp-up) and eliminates alot of the harshness that we experience with LEDs in games.

He's got boards that support the modern games, both B/W and Stern (Whitestar/SAM).

That's my two cents. http://herg.homeip.net/ledocd/index.html. It's all on the website.

I can't say enough nice things about it - I've got it in Tron and it's going into LOTR.
Stupid easy to install and configure .. and it makes the games look -beautiful-.

-Cyan

Wow. Best LED prices I've seen yet. They have a pretty decent selection too. Will have to give them a try next time I order LEDs.

Kohr bros? You are from jersey.

I generally don't use LEDs in GI, but I really like them in inserts and for some flashers. For inserts, I've still not found any LEDs that I like better than Pinball Life's Ablaze 3-LEDs. They're not too bright, but they're bright enough to fill most inserts and make them pop. I've also had the lowest failure rate with them both right out of the box and over the long run than I have had with any other LED type.

I have done some CoinTaker kits and they are nice as well. I've just picked up a bunch of Nifty LEDs and will try some Comet Pinball LEDs and compare them. I used to use BC's Pinball LEDs years ago, but I transitioned to the Ablaze 3-LEDs a while back and I haven't tried the BC's for some time. They were fine, but I had too many DOA bulbs or too many die over time to stick with them.

First, I would have to say that you probably haven't tried too many LEDs if you think those Ablaze 3 are the best for inserts, but that's a matter of opinion anyway...

But man, my experience on failure rates couldn't be more opposite of yours. Without question, the highest level of failure rates that I've had on any LED from any manufacturer are the Ablaze 3 LED. And I've had a ton of them, going back to when I first got into the hobby nearly 3 years ago.

I'm pushing 10 years, so I guess I pre-date the LED wave quite a bit. The CoinTaker ones keep breaking on me. The domes are pretty weak. I still like the LEDs, but I know that they're going to break. Construction wise, I have been pretty impressed with Nifty LED, but maybe I've just had uncommon luck with Ablaze and never had issues.

None of the LEDs is pinball are really "premium" LEDs though. I've made my own LEDs for arcade stuff, including my own MAME cab, and what I built is much higher quality than what anybody is selling. Thing is, we'd be paying $3 for a high quality LED that was build solid.

Never had a failure rate on either company personally; luckily.

You are all correct, IMO. The 3 LED are a nice even illumination, but are considered "old school"
in the LED manufacturing side. The appearance, not color, but brightness is close to a frosted 5050 SMD, Personal taste...I use both, where needed. Different color intensity.
For quality. all manufacturers have issues. There are less issues when they are made in Taiwan, or South Korea, (or high end China) but you are right, the prices would be $2-$3 per bulb.

So one can pay more and have a smaller failure rate, or pay less and understand some of the issues that come from Chinese manufacture. Like Harbor Freight Power Tools vs Makita.

The point being, does one spend $2 a bulb not to have a failure rate of say 2% or two out of a hundred when you pay $1 or less? Is it worth complaining about a couple?
I believe all vendors will replace them, right?

Of course, for our enjoyment, we should be grateful for the $.12-$.15 an hour for 60 hours, that
labor costs as in $5-$9 a week earned by rural woman working gluing tens of thousands of caps
on bulbs all day, all week. They dont always get it right....

Yep, and this is why I don't complain about any of the LED makers. They're all doing well, and they all have their strengths.

The quality and craftsmanship from Noflix are simply superb, but they are more expensive and take longer to arrive for those of us in North America. I also use a mix of Cointakers, and I like the fast and friendly service. The only problem is they are cheap for a reason. The 555s will fit loosely if you don't bend the socket clips close together, meanwhile the 555s from Noflix fit perfectly without needing to bend the clips. I also received one frosted purple from Cointaker that had a manufacturing defect where a hair line of solder dropped from the center post to the outer casing. I didn't notice it, and the resulting short caused my pinball machine to go ape. Lesson learned from that was to always check the solder spots on those 44 LED sockets.

Noflix also has excellent slow-fading rainbow bulbs, which I am using in my pop-bumpers. This wasn't even an option yet with Cointaker.

With Cointaker, I've tested several bulb types in different inserts and found I'll either use frosted premiums or 2-LED premiums depending on the situation. One giant insert further up an orbit lane required an actual "ultra" bulb to get the right level of lighting.