I believe they partnered with Sylvania, and they use modified versions of can lighting found in Home Depot and Lowes stores.

Kidding of course.. who knows.. they buy them from the same Chinese factory who supplies all the other pinball bulbs out there

They use cointaker bulbs but branded as their own, when they first started using leds they were from cointaker, then had them made with "stern" on the base. But it is these:

http://cointaker.com/products/44-47-2led

I'm a fan of comet LEDs myself

Twin 2835 SMD CT, Stern, and Comet.

On one of he recent factory floor videos I saw nifty led post a comment about along the lines of "those LED's sure look familiar". Insinuating they were using niftys.could have just been a joke however.

Brand shouldn't matter, but looking at my AC/DC, the GI LEDs are definitely not Twin 2835 SMD. That would burn out your retina!! Perhaps you read that as inserts (in which case I think you are correct).

Fairly certain the above playfield GI are 2 LED clear.

Original release of AC/DC has Twin "Bubble" LEDs, under a Plastic Dome,
Due to failure rate, they were changed to Surface mounted Diodes.

2-LEDs are a sweet Bulb for me in Solid State Games, as my choice.
They work very well after I redid the PCB in the bulbs.

Manufacturing factory is the same.

Thanks for the info, Art. Guess I haven't seen more recent games. I personally think the 2 LED clear (and I usually prefer frosted) is the right amount of lighting for GI. I've been thinking of doing this in blue to the lower GI on my TZ.

I've done 1 SMD frosted as well and it works. I would think that 2 SMD would simply be too bright, but I can say I haven't paid much attention to the GI in more recent sterns. I guess most bulbs are shielded by plastics, etc so maybe not a "blinder" problem?

Oh for christs don't put colored lights in the GI. It looks like shit, screws up the at colors, and most importantly makes it hard to see the ball.

Hello off-topic unwarranted criticism! Every recent Stern uses color matching GI to accent their plastics. How it looks is a matter of opinion, not to mention, it's my game! Last I checked, I can experiment with my own machine, no, or did I lost that American right as well? My WPPR ranking would suggest my skill level hasn't suffered one bit from the color of light bulbs in my games or those on location. In fact, it may have improved from the skill challenge! There should be sufficient overhead lighting so as the GI is not the majority of illumination onto the playfield, anyways.

I recently did a friend's TAF with COMET's purple passion in the lower GI and a violet trough light strip. Game looks amazing and our scores haven't dropped at all. Likewise, I think some accents of blue in the in-lane/sling area of TZ will work.

Thoght stern only used cool white ? Some games like acdc,xmenle and met premium/le use red , blue and white but most use all white . Never seen color matched stern from factory?

All the debate, all these years, is about the game, the art, our eyes, and the lighting.

We are all simply going to see it different.

Young eyes are able to look at Brighter LEDs than older eyes.

How you stand and angle, relative to your height, also affects how the same game can look different,
and get different opinions.

In my home, I have one Room with a Bunch of pins. Because there is a Dimmer on the wall, I can create low light with Bright bulbs
to my taste. In another room, its always lit, Same Game looks different when played in this room.

A Single Blue LED in GI of my Xmen makes me Happy, but a shorter player had it right in his eye (Line of sight)

All work well, and only look bad, if your not happy. Otherwise, create what you want, enjoy, and dont hesitate to change out a few
colors if you wish, the next time you have the playfield glass off for some work.

It can make an old title at home exciting to play again!

people see things differently. i cant play in the dark but others play well in bars, i cant. som elike color dim led under slings, lanes, etc. i dont, i only like frosted white leds in any gi period. i cant see when color leds are used. thats my eyes though. the next person may not like frosted white. i prefer the ones pinball life sells. all my opinion, and others have different likes and needs.

Tried them and cointaker's bulbs are far superior; not impressed at all with comet; theirs only one best of the best and that is cointaker which will last forever and maintain their brightness

Hometown favorite?

Have you actually taken apart the bulbs? I have because I like to see how they manage to get the semiconductors in there, esp for non-ghosting. It's impressive! They are identical. In fact, I believe they come from the same manufacturer. How many Chinese companies do you think are making LED pinball bulbs for a pretty much dominant American market? Is it possible to get a bad batch or have slight color temperature differences between batches? Absolutely. But neither COMET, nor CT, nor any other US seller manufacture their own bulbs. You can't test each bulb either. So it comes down to customer service when you do get a bad lot (something I haven't had happen). I've dealt with both owners and they are both awesome. The only failures I had were the 2-LED GI clear bulbs aforementioned, with CT's stamp on them factory from Stern in my AC/DC premium. Do CT bulbs suck? No. But unless someone can show me that the originating manufacturer in Shenzhen or wherever is different, the only differences between these companies are price, selection and customer service.

I feel bad for the OP now. I hope his question is answered at least What GI bulbs are used in Stern Kiss?

Better tell that to stern. They had tri color gi for Metallica Prem.. looks fantastic.

Colored GI rocks hahaha

I like it in games that were designed for it. Using cheapo LEDs or colored GI bulbs everywhere in an older game makes them unplayable. I cannot see the ball at all. And it looks like crap.

This all the way.
Premium games like AC/DC, XMEN LE, MET prem look awesome with the color changing LEDs. Rainbow vomit GI in a game like TZ look like absolute shit.

YMMV.

Yes.

One thing to note I bet none of you knew...

DO NOT USE INCANDESCENT IN NEW STERN GAMES. They don't work so don't waste your time. I'm talking about games with the new spike board set only.

Chris

Cmon Chuck that's what spotlights are for

We wouldn't want those bright spot lights taking away from the beautiful color GI though.

That's for MMR

I started using cointakers years ago when they started offering SMD leds knowing the through-hole leds were totally unreliable. Fast forward to now and I have to replace almost all of the GI leds because of failures, blackened coatings, burned out diodes, etc. Also from being on all the time on route the GI leds brightness fades over time. LEDs are not perfect. I switched to Comet LEDS maybe two years ago and they are solid and they are considerably less. $1.19 cointaker vs .89 comet for a non-ghosting bulb with the same housing, insides, and performance. $59 dollars for a 100 count bag of standard warm white LED's vs $70.00 from cointaker. Might not sound like much but take into account converting a whole machine to LED the price in savings is between 40-50 bucks.