I received my order from cointaker.com yesterday. I ordered a bunch of LEDs for my F-14. I figured that improving the inserts on that game would help a lot since it's such a flashy game, and has so many colourful inserts. I ordered mostly wide angle bulbs, with a few frosted for the 'condomed' bulbs.

After playing around with the different LEDs with the machine here is what I found:

• The frosted bulbs are a bit smaller than normal #44 bulbs, therefore the condoms don't fit snuggly. Luckily, on F-14 they point straight up so there's no risk of the condom falling off. But for a game like GNR (it has horizontal condomed bulbs), I'd have a problem.
  
• The frosted LEDs in the condoms look a bit better, I do like their look. I used blue frosted for the blue condom, and red frosted for the red condom.
  
• The blue LEDs look great under the blue inserts
  
• I tried using white LEDs for the red inserts, but they looked identical to red inserts with normal incandescent bulbs. The only difference is that they turn on and off faster (hard to notice) Don't waste money on converting red inserts to LEDs, there's no real point.
  
• For the white inserts I tried both normal (cold) white LEDs and warm white LEDs. I much preferred the look of the cold LEDs in the inserts. It's a matter of taste, and I think the theme of the machine would have an effect. For F-14 I figure the more 'high-tech' look of the cold LEDs looks good.
  
• For the orange inserts I tried both orange LEDs and white LEDs. The white LEDs made the orange inserts look yellow, yuch. So I used the orange LEDs instead. Not as much of an improvement compared to the blue ones, but just slightly more benefit than the reds. I don't think it's worth the price or time to change future orange inserts.
  
• The 555 shaped LEDs were a bit frustrating. For whatever reason, half of them didn't work when I first put them in the socket. I had to play with the bulb leads and do a bit of wiggling to get them to work. Now they all work, but it was annoying. The leads should be more like the incandescent bulbs and have two wires per lead, unlike the one wire per lead on the LEDs.
  
• For fun I put a couple cold white LEDs under the slingshot as GIs and it looks kinda cool (no pun intended), but I don't know if I'll keep it like that.
  

In conclusion:
-Get wide angle blue LEDs for blue inserts, and cool white LEDs for white inserts. I hope that helps.

The green insert have the same effect of the blue. Change the blue, green and white and you're good. You probably don'ty have much green on your F14

Quoted from redketchup

The green insert have the same effect of the blue. Change the blue, green and white and you're good. You probably don'ty have much green on your F14

Nope, just the green condomed under-playfield insert in the middle, and I forgot to order an LED for that  

I have replaced condomed bulbs completely with frosted, coloured wide angle LEDs. They dont show colour when off, but do when they're lit which is what's important.

Is it possible the 555's didn't work because of polarity? 50% of the bulbs won't work unless they're reversed. Also, with LEDs you might find some 555 mini twist sockets are a bit loose, and the lamp might not work or even fall out. Solution? Get some new twist sockets where needed!

By the way LEDs are not necessarily intended to look better in every application. Fact is, even if they look the same, they ARE better.  Obviously they are cooler, much much slower to wear, and put much less load on your older machines circuits and they draw far less power. I cannot think of a reason NOT to use te proper LEDs everywhere other than the fact that they cost money.

They are the equivalent to replacing bulbs in the house with the fluorescent coil type, which I have done 100% for years now.

Sorry your condoms fit loose!

that was a low blow.......

The 555's have polarity? Well, that explains that!

Quoted from jonny_eh

The 555's have polarity? Well, that explains that!

Jon, fast tip for 555 in the socket. Slightly bend out the LED leads and insert into socket so now good contact and nice and snug. Then put socket into the board and you have a 50% chance of having it light. If it doesn't light, then just lift the socket out slightly and rotate 180 degrees and twist back in. That's the equivalent of removing the 555 and rotating 180 degrees. Much easier and less stress on the LED leads from in/out.

ME

Another tip - ignoring the heat/energy issue - colour your 555 and 44 with an orange sharpei for the orange inserts. Looks identical in colour density to an LED. Other colours don't really work for sharpeis tho. All my games are done like that and you have seen how bright the MM and AFM inserts are. All the other bulbs are LED and can't tell the diff.

I do not even use condoms on the frosted bulbs. I use them to replace stock bulbs with condoms.

Quoted from Pharoah007

I do not even use condoms on the frosted bulbs. I use them to replace stock bulbs with condoms.

The game just looks wrong without the condoms though.

this thread sounds like an Anti-HPV ad

Bareback?

Quoted from wbradley

Bareback?

FTW!!

Quoted from medvet

...colour your 555 and 44 with an orange sharpei for the orange inserts. Looks identical in colour density to an LED. Other colours don't really work for sharpeis tho.

I went to the petstore and I couldn't find an orange sharpei. I did find a beige one and rubbed it against my lights, but all I ended up with is a pissed-off puppy and dogshit on my playfield.

Quoted from Sparky

I went to the petstore and I couldn't find an orange sharpei. I did find a beige one and rubbed it against my lights, but all I ended up with is a pissed-off puppy and dogshit on my playfield.

You are too funny Sparky!

She is a vet isn't she? Good thing she didn't say use a Dogue du Bordeaux. That would have been  REALLY clumsy (and drooly).



PS- I still don't understand Shiatzu...who would want a small dog rubbed on their back, anyway?

I too rec'd my first set of LEDs from Cointaker and put in a few to see how they look. Not bad for the small area that I am testing but I noticed my 3 new green LEDs flicker on my Meteor. Can that be fixed or should I only use regular 44 bulbs?

On my Joker Poker they look nice, no flicker and much brighter.

Quoted from Sparky

I went to the petstore and I couldn't find an orange sharpei. I did find a beige one and rubbed it against my lights, but all I ended up with is a pissed-off puppy and dogshit on my playfield.

Point for Sparky!  

Serves me right.  Where's spellcheck when you need it?

ME

Quoted from machine.slave

this thread sounds like an Anti-HPV ad

Exactly what I was thinking...

Quoted from wbradley

Bareback?

I only just saw this.  You know too much my friend.