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To LED or not to LED

Agree, the EM machine lovers will out nerd me any day. They are all bonkers. Buying boring machines and spending countless hours making them original. Poor sods are locked in the past, trying restore their machines. A good psychotherapist would sort them out and make them realise that they are not trying to fix their machines, they are trying to fix themselves. (Pauses and scratches head) ..... wait that's me and my pinball fixation !


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Jonwolf said:
Agree, the EM machine lovers will out nerd me any day. They are all bonkers. Buying boring machines and spending countless hours making them original. Poor sods are locked in the past, trying restore their machines. A good psychotherapist would sort them out and make them realise that they are not trying to fix their machines, they are trying to fix themselves. (Pauses and scratches head) ..... wait that's me and my pinball fixation !


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Er, think we are all bonkers in this hobby.......define sane:D

As for leds - used to go crazy putting them in, now hardly at all and only if an insert is pretty dark. Hate ghosting leds. And not a fan of games like GOT that a screamingly bright due to inserts not being diffused properly.
 
If you really want to see a difference, and how easy it was to put the OCD board in have a look.


I did go with slightly nicer than normal Comet LED's for my game.
 
Comet leds are proper lovely, once you pop you just can't stop with them, buy a batch, have a few left over, try those few in gi on another pin....order another batch....have a few left over, try those few in another pin........ffs
 
The LOTR in Tilt Brum is an example of how not to fit LEDs in a game. That game strobes like crazy and is awful to play. :eek:

I personally wouldn't put LEDs in a LOTR as I think incandescent lamps suit the theme well, but I do admit @Sam C has made a nice job with his LOTR and an OCD board. :thumbs:

I prefer certain System 11 games fitted with LEDs, my BK2K looks great with them, but as always, it's a matter of taste!
 
cooldan said:
to me, LEDs generally look too bright, too glarey, and i get sick of them not working properly: being on when they're supposed to be off, staying on too long, not dimming like an incandescent, blinding the player .....
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This is what happens with crap cheap quality LED's that are available from most suppliers, and from what I see it's what most people put in their games. If you want a standard look then do the whole machine in warm white, frosted lens, non ghosting, non flickering LED's.

Regardless of what colour or type of LED people choose, in my opinion any LED which doesn't include a built in DC rectifier and smoothing capacitor simply doesn't belong in a pinball machine. I don't know why so many people sell the cheap ones without this.

CoinTaker Premium LED's are generally the best on the market, better than Comet ones I think. In Europe it's Pinball Center's NoFlix Plus line of LED's. They're good quality but not quite as good as CoinTaker Premiums.
 
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kevlar said:
Just buy decent leds that actually do what they claim to do, i.e. not ghost ( comet only ones I've found. ).
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I always use comet ones spent around 5k with them this year
oh and keith the lotr in tilt has comet ones in it does need a ocd board in really for home use but much better with leds in for site just look how tired the im looks down stairs with standard bulbs in
 
I'm a great supporter of Comet LED's. Visited Art (who used to run it until earlier this year) and know a bit of the work involved in the background. IMO they are the best out there.

Conversely, have used the noflix range, and found them to be crap...
 
I played two Cirqus Voltaires (I think it must have been two separate tables or one that was refurbed? Someone with more knowledge might need to confirm this) at Tilt. The first, downstairs in 2015, was fine even in the dark. The second, upstairs in 2016, had presumably had a new set of LEDs (plus a colour DMD) and it actually hurt my eyes to play it, the LEDs and whole table was so bright!!!
 
This is the trouble, I agree that Comet LEDs are the best ones to use Chris, but the very bright cool white ones in the Fellowship inserts on the LOTR in Tilt are so bright they dazzle you. LOTR needs warm white LEDs anyway ;)
 
I TiltAlot said:
This is the trouble, I agree that Comet LEDs are the best ones to use Chris, but the very bright cool white ones in the Fellowship inserts on the LOTR in Tilt are so bright they dazzle you. LOTR needs warm white LEDs anyway ;)
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Don't worry Chris he's been bugging me about this as well, even with the OCD board! :D
 
I used the comet bulbs there are the best , trouble is if you got led in one and other one next to have normal ones it make the game look old and tried and Paul I was with Art in November 2015 he is a really lovely guy took me ad my wife all round winter park and had lunch with him missed each at each this year at the show in Florida .
 
I have been experimenting with LEDs for the first time recently and found it a right pain as everyone claims theirs are non-ghosting and anti-flicker but because it's largely a matter of opinion and taste, it gets very expensive when you have to keep buying trial ones to find what you want. I would like to put together a roundup with a slow-mo camera just to compare.

For example I bought NoFlix Plus from Pinball centre, the superflux ones seem great in inserts. Granted they still respond too quickly and need more ramp-up/down time, but they are better than most and do not strobe/flicker (at least to my eye). I then tried the NoFlix Plus GI ones, and found them to be dimmer than incandescents (albeit without any flickering), so I bought some others for GI (again claimed no flicker) which are perfect in terms of brightness but they flicker ever so slightly. Not put the game back together yet so remains to be seen if it looks OK. The guys at Pinball centre are great though and let me return the large batch I bought, as there's nothing wrong with the LEDs, they're just not what I was looking for.

I do have an OCD board sitting on my desk waiting for when I LED my TSPP.
 
The only leds i havent tried are from comet (just put an order in). Every other type i have ever bought flickered or strobed to some degree. The best ones i have are actually ones bought from pinballmania a few years ago, Just a square pcb on the end of a frosted cylinder in warm white.

We should get a group buy going for these OCD boards. They are fantastic.
 
I think i asked them and they wouldnt do a group discount. saying that, things might have changed. Any takers if i can get something lined up?
 
Bear in mind gents you need 2 different boards to do a complete machine
1 for the GI approx £130
&
1 for the controlled lighting £150
Plus the leds another £100 +
 
Depends on game
Any that dim the GI a difference is noticeable but all depending on personal opinion or OCD levels
 
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