Arcade Collecting > Miscellaneous Arcade Talk

Replacing pinball bulbs with super bright leds?

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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:

--- Quote from: Ken Layton on February 04, 2005, 10:59:25 am ---Light bulbs cost 13 cents each. LED's like you want cost $5 to $8 each!

--- End quote ---

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  Or at least, extremely outdated information.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. :o

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:

--- Quote from: Ken Layton on February 14, 2005, 06:55:29 pm ---The original poster was talking about the LED's with the wedge base and dropping resistor already assembled (plug 'n play).

--- End quote ---

Ah, so they were.  Silly me.  :)

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