Replacing pinball bulbs with super bright leds?

[SiN13]

I saw some people were putting those super bright leds with the wedge connector into their mame cabinets and was wondering if anyone has done this on a pinball machine? With as many bulbs as there are it would probably get pretty expensive. I'm just wondering if anyone has done it and how does it look?

[Ken Layton]

Light bulbs cost 13 cents each. LED's like you want cost $5 to $8 each!

[tetsujin]

Light bulbs cost 13 cents each. LED's like you want cost $5 to $8 each!

LIES!  Or at least, extremely outdated information.  Check it:

All Electronics Surplus: Super-Bright LEDS!  $.50 for reds!  $2 for whites!
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=340500&type=store

And, one of the best places to get cheap LEDs, E-Bay!  Search for "white LED" or "red LED" or something else and you'll find deals like 100 white LEDs for $25...  50 ultra-bright red LEDs for $5...  They're cheap these days!

The days where you had to pay $3-$5 for a single white or bright-red LED are gone.  (Unless you buy at Radio Shack...  but unless you're a sucker you would only do that if you needed the stuff immediately...)  I remember those days, though...  I'm very glad they're gone forever.

There are advantages to using LEDs - the biggest in my mind is the longer operational lifetime.  Of course, if you want to use them to replace lamps you'll need a current-limiting resistor in series with each LED, too.

[Ken Layton]

The original poster was talking about the LED's with the wedge base and dropping resistor already assembled (plug 'n play). They have to be ordered for the correct DC voltage you're going to use them on and here's the Happ Controls part numbers and prices:

91-0690-00 Wedge base T-3-1/4 LED, 6 volt dc, $13.25 each

91-0689-00 Wedge base T-3-1/4 LED, 12 volt dc, $13.25 each

They are still expensive.

Edit: Just checked the current price and it's gone up! The old price was $13.25 but now they've gone up to $14.85 a piece since the Happ catalog was printed.

[tetsujin]

The original poster was talking about the LED's with the wedge base and dropping resistor already assembled (plug 'n play).

Ah, so they were.  Silly me. 

[Mickey Juice]

Here's a kit Jaycar (Australia) sell:
Would be expensive tho


http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5357&CATID=&keywords=wedge&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

[whammoed]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR
single leds are 0.89 -1.49
multiple leds are still less than $3
This is where I get mine.  Love em, draw less power and produce almost no heat.

[ChadTower]

If one were to replace all the bulbs, it could easily throw the circuit voltages off enough to cause some problems that were REALLY hard to find because now your load has been altered quite a bit.

[jcroach]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR
single leds are 0.89 -1.49
multiple leds are still less than $3
This is where I get mine.

[whammoed]

the ones that say (194/168 type)

[cholin]

What about the ones at www.lsdiodes.com for $0.45 - $0.90.  Ive heard good things from there and the LEDs arent a bad price.  Then there comes www.futurlec.com which are even cheaper but have some pretty bad reviews ( about shipping only though)

[SOAPboy]

What about the ones at www.lsdiodes.com for $0.45 - $0.90.