Add new bling to your pinball machine

Want to save money on electricity and make your pinball machine really glow? Convert all of the lights to LED lights. They will give your machine some real eye candy. Here is how we did it, the costs of the bulbs and a look at how much money can be saved on electricity.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• pinball
• machine
• Spiderman
• stern
• led
• lights
• bling
• arcade
• markee
• dragon
• Indiana
• Jones
• conversion
• how
• to
• flasher
• bulb
• 44
• 89
• red
• blue
• green
• yellow

[1ch190]

Can't wait to see how Pharoah turns out!

[markeedragon]

We've decided to not do Pharaoh as I plan to sell or trade it. It's worth around $800 and adding $200 worth of bulbs to it would not be a good investment.

[gtsshadowknight]

Marcus why do u have so many pinball machines? lol

[markeedragon]

Same reason why some people have so many video games. :) You like to play different ones from time to time.

[PressStartComic]

Both of them came out really nice, you can tell the difference when you change out even half of the bulbs. The playfield just stands out so much more.

What mods do you plan on doing to your Twilight Zone Marcus? I was surprised how many they were and after playing on one machine with a lot of cool additions it makes a stock machine look barren.

[markeedragon]

I have only one mod on my TZ and it's to help grab the ball before it drops for the jackpot shot. It's a magnet that assists in keeping it from jumping off.

TZ BTW: is the most complex machine I have. It's also the most finicky. It has such demanding power requirements it can not be on the same circuit as any of the other machines or it's computer resets.

[Strifezilla]

Awesome, looks great.

Btw the guy with black hair sounds exactly the same as you Markee

[TehBunnysBack]

Loved watchin this, seems like everytime i log into youtube there's a new Markee vid to watch :), really glad i subscribed ^^

[TemplarReturns]

I see you have a Twilight Zone under construction, probably one of my favorite tables. Im jealous. lol

[kjmoore88]

The biggest issue is to be careful when inserting the bayonet bulbs as some will fit very tight and can push or bend the copper connectors such that you can't make a connection and then you will need to replace the connector which you really want to avoid having to do. The biggest benefit of going LED is reduced power consumption (therefore, cooler running electronics and longer life on the IC boards) and the fact that LED's will last a lifetime. The aesthetics in my opinion are secondary.

[kjmoore88]

You can buy LED kits that are game specific. They have the bulb types and colors mapped to the game's lamp matrix which takes all the guess work out of ordering bulbs and figuring out what should go where. I converted my LOTR LE pin to LED but decided to leave the GI bulbs that are above the playfield alone as I like the look of the standard bulbs for GI. You can buy LED kits that are game specific.

[IRONMAIDENFAN2006]

where do you get the led? and how much each are they?

[HarakiriGTR]

Twilight Zone...

...i hate you, i hate you, i hate you...

...for not having one too! :P

[squizzy2k]

Awesome - Thank you for this.

you have now changed my mind about Led's in pinball machines !

Also you have now costed me a packet. :)

Cheers from Down Under.

[nick12882]

I have a 1979 Game Plan cocktail pin and I want to change it to led it takes the bulbs that are 44 size so would I just buy 44's in led and just swap them all out they are all white lights.

[CruiseCntr]

another video said that Spidy requires specially made bulbs to deal with the flickering affect found in the center insert. Center light is supposed to cycle between multi-colors. Why doesn't yours cycle? It just looks white. Please make sure you have Spidy custom bulbs or else I fear you did it wrong, sorry :(

[jdmceachin]

Despite the problems, I plan to convert all the solid state tables at Ground Kontrol to LEDs. As an operator, there are enough benefits to justify the cost, and besides, I love the look. :)

If you're not an operator, I'd at least consider putting them in pop bumpers and other hard-to-get-to places.

And if you're a purist who considers LED-lit pinball tables to be an abomination, I'm sorry, but you just need to get over that crap. ;)

[jdmceachin]

* If converting your 1st table, I'd recommend buying an assortment of styles & colors, so you can get a feel for how they work in various applications. Print out the lamp & flasher page from the SM, and do a takeoff on it. Then place a big order.

* The LEDs are obviously made in China, so be careful with the bayonet-base ones! After destroying several while trying to install them in playfield holes, I started dabbing some super glue between the lens and the base, so the lens won't twist off.