Recommendation: Maximum Play, Minimum Stobe Effect

[CJBob]

I'm looking to add a pin to the collection with more features and options that my Bally early SS's, but I find the strobe effect on many machines really hard on my eyes these days.

An AC/DC LE would top of the list for many reasons, but I'm wondering if I would be able to tone down the lights or would I be better with a different game?

 

[Vengeance]

Metallica is allot of fun and the pro has minimal lighting features.

Tron would also be a good choice as long as someone hasn't but a whole bunch of shitty LED's in it.

 

[WARLOCK]

ACDC is a great game choice . Any of my games like it or LOTR that are all LED'd up though, will be changed to reduce any "blinding" LED's effects. I am with you in that I will be reverse LED'ing parts of the lighting in these pins, especially strobes or flasher's or even GI's "in your eyes".

Maybe someone else will chime in as to changing some of those LED's back to incandecent. I have not done it yet, but I will as I prefer the lighting a bit less intrusive.

 

[superjackpot]

ACDC Pro (original edition) has all incandescent light bulbs. I have the initial version Pro, can't speak for the re-release one. The only LEDs you would have to deal would be those installed by owners themselves which you can just remove. (It's possible the pop bumpers have LEDs, not sure). However, I would recommend LED flashers (cannon and left inlane). Those bulbs burn out quickly for some reason. As someone who hates LED strobe/flicker on newer games, or when retrofitted into older games, I can tell you my ACDC Pro is very easy on your eyes.

There is something called http://ledocd.com/ but that deals with the issue of LEDs being used in older games (e.g. TZ) which is easily fixed by removing them.

Agreed that Tron Pro is an excellent option. It's also all non-LED and a great game. You don't miss out on much on gameplay compared to the LE version.

 

[Vengeance]

I find the cannon flasher is pretty bright since its so close to the player

 

[mwong168]

It will depend on which game because the more recent Premium and LE's did away with a lot of #44 light sockets or #555 wedge sockets and now they use these small RGB led light boards seen below. I think the newer Pro models are starting to come like this too.

Also are you playing your games in a dark or pitch black room? I find LEDs are a bit more tolerable in a fully lit up room but once you turn the lights out it is a bit more harsher on the eyes.

 

[brad808]

Ledocd is for more than just using LEDs in older games. It allows individual brightness control of each bulb as well. Some other handy features in it like ramp up speeds.

 

[superjackpot]

...

Maybe someone else will chime in as to changing some of those LED's back to incandescent. I have not done it yet, but I will as I prefer the lighting a bit less intrusive.

In my recent Spider-man I pulled out all the LEDs. I did not like the overglow on inserts. I had no issue with the result. I don't mind the warm white (others hate it and like the stark (cool) white. However, on SM some of the white inserts are lit at partial power to indicate a 2X or 3X muiltplier. LEDs don't handle that very well and so bulbs are preferred at least for the white inserts.

If you want brighter neat lighting try adding some LED lighting strip under the apron in behind your flippers above the outhole opening (or across the backboard at the very top, underside lip). They don't flicker as they are on steady power and are not seen directly from the player's position.

Also, coloured incandescent light bulbs can add a lot of pop. Add them to your GI lighting without inducing the flicker/shimmering that LEDs can bring. Using red, green, or amber ones in inserts works well. Those plus, yellow and blue work nicely in GI.

POTC below - no LEDs. Incandescent bulbs throughout (except for the factory (way back then!) blue leds at the very top right KEY lanes). Red, blue, yellow, green bulbs were used in GI. From the bottom right there's blue, green, yellow then red(purple?) under the chest and red under the Tortuga ramp. Red at the top backboard for Tortuga progress, Green for KEY (both factory too I think), then yellow and green down the left above the left outlane. I actually ran out of coloured bulbs at the time and wanted to use mostly blue (for 'water') around the playfield perimeter but only had yellows and reds/purples in hand. In the end I just left it as is.
A nice benefit is that incandescent lighting always photographs nicely and never blows out your photo.

LEDs have come a long way. There are some expensive ones that incorporate a capacitor and resistor to simulate a bulb's warming up and cooling down effect, but they still have issues.

 

[CJBob]

Thanks everyone, lots of great information here. I started looking into how many different types of LED's there are and it's pretty overwhelming.

Is all glass the same or is there non-glare or tinted glass?

I'm going to pick up some Frosted LED's at Starburst this week along with spare 47's and experiment with what I like the best, I think part of the problem is the LED's I do have are clear and just too bright and harsh for my taste.

Lighting in the room is definitely a good point, I've got a plasma TV in the room and for watching that I need the lights very low to avoid reflections. I picked up a 51" Samsung plasma just before they discontinued them because I find the plasma easier on my eyes. When playing, though, I need the room brighter so I'll look to add another lamp to the room, a good excuse to look for a novelty lamp for the cave.

 

[Menace]

Oh boy, don't start looking into PF glass unless you've got a money tree in the backyard. Best on the market is the PDI glass that Brock sells, and the stuff is unbelievable, but it also comes with an unbelievable price tag.

D

 

[WARLOCK]

Agree with Menace on the glass issue. PDI is just amazing, but my 1 sheet turned into 5 pretty quickly. PM Brock for a quote.
To save you time on the glass issue, PDI is clear, awesome and the best German engineered technology for glass money can buy.

As for LED's. Many of the guys are trying Comet LED's and I am experimenting with a few other brands myself.
Good luck. Going down the "rabbit hole" is a non-stop adventure.

 

[mwong168]

PDI is like crack... don't do it!

For all your LED needs I would recommend reaching out to Art who owns Comet Pinball. His banner can be found on the bottom of this site or else his website is: www.cometpinball.com

 

[CJBob]

I'm quickly realizing the most important thing to do is not to keep track of how much money I'm spending. A few bulbs here, a piece of glass there, a machine here, pingulp there, quick repair and some parts here....

 

[Vengeance]

IMO PDI Glass is a waste of money.

I've played a ton of games with and without and I almost never notice. I've never once walked up to a PDI glass game and been like "Wow I can see so much better now", it's only after it's pointed out to me that I actually notice how much more clear it is.

PAPA even switched all of their A Bank games to PDI and barely anyone noticed. But it at least makes sense for them as it removes the glare when filming.

 

[WARLOCK]

Wait until you see your Williams Indiana Jones (that you traded me) with incandescent bulbs and PDI right next to
my CQ Cirqus Voltaire with regular glass and LED's... Night and day. I don't generally mod anything, but CV gets PDI.

This glass is expensive, excessive, and you don't play the glass, but it is the one mod. that I am doing for my 5 pins at home.

 

[superjackpot]

The effect of PDI glass is minimized/maximized by the ambient lighting in your game room. Set the lighting up correctly in your game room, perhaps invest in some cheap plastic DMD glare guards, and brand new regular PF glass will look great in your pinball machine.

Good game room lighting is important. The bothersome strobing/flickering effect of LEDs in pinball machines is reduced when you have adequate lighting around your machine, as opposed to playing in the dark or a mostly dark room. Install a dimmer for your lighting to get it just right.

Having said that, I bought one sheet of PDI - just to see for myself. It's still in the wrapper.

 

[Menace]

Having said that, I bought one sheet of PDI - just to see for myself. It's still in the wrapper.

For SHAME!

D

 

[Vengeance]

You'll never convince me that PDI glass is worth the investment. If I can't walk up to a machine and immediately tell the difference, the I don't see the value.

Maybe it's cause I'm more interested in playing games then looking at them