(Topic ID: 257974)

Using LED flashers to spruce up a game.

By Swainer80

4 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 9 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Swainer80
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#1 4 years ago

I've noticed putting one led flasher in a circuit makes the remaining incandescent bulbs light up brighter and faster. BTTF, Space Station and EATPM look much better and show much better doing this trick. Has anyone else done this/noticed this? BTTF really shows well with cool white flashers in the back glass and behind the upper playfield plastic where the lightening bolts are. Not really a fan of clown puke or putting blinding flashers all over the place but wow the light show is so much better now for not much effort or cost. It is worth a try if anyone hasn't. I also put led flashers under the inserts below the ramps on BTTF as well as Hook. It is much more obvious where to shoot without being over bearing. Cheers!

#2 4 years ago

I put in LED GI and left insert and flashers incandescent on a Space Station and it works well.

Part of the reason everyone complains about dark playfields these days is because they switch to the bright LED's and super bright flashers and it makes their eyes dilate and they don't really adjust back quickly. This wasn't as big of an issue when everything was incandescent as your eyes adjust to that brightness and it doesn't vary that much from game to game even with flashers.

#3 4 years ago

Personally, I feel LED flashers a bit of overkill. Yes, the LEDs have technical benefits over filament bulbs but if you really play these games seriously, then too many extra bright LED flashers can be a big distraction when playing. If you have ever had the flashers go all crazy during a multiball and instantly realized you've drained them because you couldn't track them with the bright flashing, you know what I mean.

#4 4 years ago

I took all the led flashers out. Too bright.

#5 4 years ago
Quoted from Chitownpinball:

I took all the led flashers out. Too bright.

I honestly find most new pins are already way to bright when the flashers etc. go off. I'm blind damn near every time lol, so I can't imagine increasing it!

#6 4 years ago
Quoted from RWH:

I honestly find most new pins are already way to bright when the flashers etc. go off. I'm blind damn near every time lol, so I can't imagine increasing it!

The only game I kinda liked it in was T2 because that movie has a lot of the same bright flashing moments, it really fits the theme. That game stayed LED while I had it.

#7 4 years ago

I’ve gone back and forth on this but ended up keeping the LEDs. There’s just no upside that can make it worth it to have the heat issues, melted plastics and other damage associated with incandescent. I had a game which locked on a flasher and destroyed the plastics and plastic support around it. Never again.

Even though Comet inexplicably markets and sells those “make you go bright for 10 minutes!” flangers, they also have more reasonable ones, and the 5-SMD towers are just fine for exposed bulbs. I save the super bright ones for those underneath obscured areas of the play field or under plastics.

#8 4 years ago
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

I’ve gone back and forth on this but ended up keeping the LEDs. There’s just no upside that can make it worth it to have the heat issues, melted plastics and other damage associated with incandescent. I had a game which locked on a flasher and destroyed the plastics and plastic support around it. Never again.
Even though Comet inexplicably markets and sells those “make you go bright for 10 minutes!” flangers, they also have more reasonable ones, and the 5-SMD towers are just fine for exposed bulbs. I save the super bright ones for those underneath obscured areas of the play field or under plastics.

I think environment makes a difference. In arcades, I get it because they are on for long times. In home use, those reasons typically don't matter.

#9 4 years ago

To be clear I'm only meaning 1 led flasher in a circuit. In addition to that, it is in a location that doesn't blind you when playing. In back to the Future I put flashers in the back glass (one per circuit, where needed) and it really lights up the incandescent flashers on the playfield (not blindingly so but it is an appreciable difference). Same for Elvira, the flashers behind her . . . ::ehem:: . . . assets, in the back glass. They were really dim when they flashed and were not responsive. When I put a led flasher in the same circuit somewhere else, wow they flashed as one would expect them to. Places where one can get away with this trick is under inserts not directly in eyesight. My buddy once purpled the GI in STTNG and put a led flasher in the ball save insert between the flippers. It was rough on the eyes. I am very much an original-ist and want the game to look and feel as the game was intended to be when it came out. I only use warm white leds for GI and rarely use color leds under inserts. The games look as intended, just a little brighter and a little less old.

Zablon, I feel you are doing a disservice by not going led on the inserts. Try frosted 1smd 5050s. They are the perfect brightness. Go warms in warm color inserts, cools on cool colors, and red under red inserts (both cool and warm whites kind of bleach the red and it doesn't look good). Other than that, don't color match, things get lost in translation and look artificial. You will be amazed on how much better the light shows look. On Bad Cats, its amazing to watch when the inserts rotate opposite to the seafood wheel when it spins. I see you have a Time Machine, put "ice blue" under the blue inserts it makes the game look like it came off the factory line (don't use the hideous indigo/deep blue).

Anyway, just an observation I saw when goofing around with flashers and wanted to pass it on. Cheers!

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