Insert LED's (coloured or white)

[MartyJ]

Hi guys,

A while ago I did a full fitout of all playfield inserts with corresponding colour LED's on my T2.  To this day it is still the best thing I've spent money (other than essential repairs) on my collection.  It would not really suit my D.E Simpsons so that is staying as is, however the LAH is just screaming for it.  I had bought some extra coloured LED's from RTBB which I had left over in the backbox of the T2.  I've swapped them into the LAH and so far so good.  The whites by far are the best, as they are really bright and sharp.  I've put some greens in which look fantastic too.  Previously on the T2, the reds / yellows did not really make much difference by going LED.  I've played around today by putting some white under the red inserts and they do seem a little better.
I am wondering if anyone else out there has done this, or found something better with colours etc...

Secondly, I'm a big fan of the flasher (bulb variety!)....I have not tried the LED flasher mainly due to cost....I'm thinking about putting some red / blue ones in the topper on LAH...I want a flasher that will blind you...so the brighter the better...But again if the LED flasher is the way to go, should I stick with white or go with coloured?

Regards

Marty

[Retropin]

Not all LED's are the same brightness, when ordering you need to know that the lumen output of all the colours is the same. Also a 1W white will be brighter than a 200ma red etc etc etc

It depends on what effect you are after also - the white LED's are PURE white - anything incandescent inc neon and Flouro is white from heat or phosphour powder and as such is a yellow/white colour.
This is why the white LED's look much sharper and have a slight blue tint to them.

Putting coloured LED's into a coloured plastic will give a deeper and richer look, but not necessarily brighter.
if you put white into these then it will be brighter but the colours will not be so deep as the white will thin it out somewhat.

So long as you have the power capacity, then you could put a 1/2W coloured in somewhere against a standard 350ma white

[MartyJ]

Not all LED's are the same brightness, when ordering you need to know that the lumen output of all the colours is the same. Also a 1W white will be brighter than a 200ma red etc etc etc

It depends on what effect you are after also - the white LED's are PURE white - anything incandescent inc neon and Flouro is white from heat or phosphour powder and as such is a yellow/white colour.
This is why the white LED's look much sharper and have a slight blue tint to them.

Putting coloured LED's into a coloured plastic will give a deeper and richer look, but not necessarily brighter.
if you put white into these then it will be brighter but the colours will not be so deep as the white will thin it out somewhat.

So long as you have the power capacity, then you could put a 1/2W coloured in somewhere against a standard 350ma white

Hi Retopin,

I'm not at the stage where I would have the skills to be able to make my own...I've just been buying the ones from Greg...which I am very happy with.  I guess I am after a richer colour, and I really really noticed the difference on the whites (love the LED), blues, greens but if I had a red LED next to a normal red insert with a #555 there was not a great deal of difference...I think the existing brightness of Greg's ones is perfect, bright enough but not enough to distract you too much...The ones I've dropped into LAH thus far are awesome.

I would be interested on your thoughts re flashers.  Those I'm happy to be blinded with!

[wonder]

HI Marty

I no what you mean Marty, as i did my Adams and spider and they look good.White,green,and blue seems to stand out the best.Haven't tried any flashing bulbs yet, but if there half as good as the led i be getting some.

[Retropin]

I dont know about the flashing type - do you have a link for them??

Im assuming that the standard LED's have a delay on lighting up due to the series resistor on them. Flashers would have to negate this.

I have access to a whole host of LED's in my line of business - might be worth seeing if i can come up with something

[MartyJ]

I dont know about the flashing type - do you have a link for them??

Im assuming that the standard LED's have a delay on lighting up due to the series resistor on them. Flashers would have to negate this.

I have access to a whole host of LED's in my line of business - might be worth seeing if i can come up with something

These are the ones I was looking at from RTBB  (#89's).  I don't have specs for them but if they are brighter and sharper than the existing #89's then I will give them a go (just on topper to start with)

http://www.rtbb.com.au/catalog/index.php?cPath=22_119_121

[Retropin]

A 9 LED array???

Id say it would kick arse!

Worth buying a couple to check em out

[MartyJ]

A 9 LED array???

Id say it would kick arse!

Worth buying a couple to check em out

I've ordered 4 white flashers from Greg...I'll drop them into the header - std #89, LED, std #89 LED, each side...  That should give me a good indication if there is much difference....Will update Wed / Thurs when received...

[pinnies4me]

Marty - do you have a vid camera? Love to see the LEDs on the T2 in action??? 

[MartyJ]

Only on the digital camera.  Will give it a go tonight for you!

[Strangeways]

Hmm.. Might have to grab some for the CV.

[pinnies4me]

Only on the digital camera.  Will give it a go tonight for you!

Thanks MartyJ! Do you have a youtube account you can post it to?

[MartyJ]

I've just taken a video (with the boss playing!).....Thankfully she hit the target from the cannon on her first go!

The machine now only has PF insert LED's in....ALL are done, including the #44's as well.  The backglass LED's were donated to the LAH so will be replaced finances permitting...
The skull eyes are only running red LED's without the bulb covers.  I think it is a much more stealth look and look great when lit up.  The video is not great quality, but hopefully you can see the whites, blues and greens really popping!

It improved my T2 by 100%.  I know it will rock in the LAH.  They are only the #555's, #906's and #47's from RTBB...I looked at a kit from Abert (pinball-led's) which were great but a bit pricey to import...

The lights were on too, just as if you were playing with it...

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YN79UGMrzZk

(its a 25mb file but for some reason Youtube only playing 1 sec of it??)

[pinnies4me]

Must have been a hiccup in the upload - not quite enough there to judge those LEDs by! 

[wonder]

Marty have you seen the mod done to the hunter ship by pinbit,not to bad and should look good.
http://pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13_41&zenid=ee62b478a48a33c637c8f4c97592cc8d