Source for 63 LED bulbs?

[Simple Sam]

I'm thinking of installing LED lighting in my slot machines, mostly so I can reduce the heat next to the glass.  The pinball suppliers offer lots of choices for the #44 bulbs but it looks like #63 bulbs were never used in pinball machines as they are not available.  The only results I'm finding are either way too bright or way too expensive (or both!).  The #44 bulbs  are readily available for well under $1 each and available in a variety of brightness and color temperatures.  Is there anything like that for the #63 bulbs?

[RiseLikeRa]

Sam its pretty simple...


You either pay for what you call an expensive LED #63 bulb OR replace and increasingly scarce glass.  My choice was easy.  I bought the bulbs, eliminated the problem of blown bulbs, reduced the heat, and increased the brightness and in my opinion attractiveness of these old games.  #44 and #47 you can have 20 plus bulbs in a continental cabinet.  How many 63 bulbs could you Possibly need in a game?  4? 6?.  I am VERY happy with my switch to LED.  Did it about 6 or more years ago when they were even more EXPENSIVE and I have not blown one single bulb.  No regrets.  Your mileage may vary.  www.cointaker.com is where I got my bulbs.


As always my advice is free and worth every penny.


Ra

[Simple Sam]

Sam its pretty simple...


You either pay for what you call an expensive LED #63 bulb OR replace and increasingly scarce glass.  My choice was easy.  I bought the bulbs, eliminated the problem of blown bulbs, reduced the heat, and increased the brightness and in my opinion attractiveness of these old games.  #44 and #47 you can have 20 plus bulbs in a continental cabinet.  How many 63 bulbs could you Possibly need in a game?  4? 6?.  I am VERY happy with my switch to LED.  Did it about 6 or more years ago when they were even more EXPENSIVE and I have not blown one single bulb.  No regrets.  Your mileage may vary.  www.cointaker.com is where I got my bulbs.


As always my advice is free and worth every penny.


Ra

I agree that saving the glass is an important factor; it's my primary purpose for doing the switch.  I noticed the bulbs on cointaker that, at $1.79 each, are certainly reasonably priced.  The problem (?) is that they advertise them as four times brighter than standard which I'm concerned would be overpowering.  Have you used these particular bulbs?  If so, do you find the brightness a problem?  Did you chose the white or warm white color (I'd probably chose warm white but...)?


Anybody else have experience with these bulbs or other #63 LED bulbs?

[wolftalk]

if you ever find a LED that has candlepower or lumen ratings, you're all set.  1cp = 12.57 lumens.


a 63 is 3cp, and a 44 is 0.9.  If you found a 44/47 replacement that was 3x brighter, you could just replace the socket.   Lots of styles of those used in pinball machines.


some of the led's are dimmable via external series resistor (drop the current and light output is lower), but at $2, if the thing is brighter than you want, I'd try masking some of the light with a sharpie or whatever.


Warm white would be a better match to the original.

[Simple Sam]

I ordered the bulbs from cointaker.  They're cheap enough that I can experiment.  I hadn't thought of simply using a sharpie (I might try some tape over the individual LEDs) to reduce the light; brilliant!  Replacing the sockets sounds like a great idea but I don't have the confidence in my skills to do that.


I also got some #44 bulbs from comet pinball.  I got the "retro" (least bright) and the 1 smd (surface mounted diode) bulbs (brighter) but I didn't see a significant difference in brightness between the two LED bulbs.  I will end up ordering more for my other games so I will try a mixture of 1 and 2 smd bulbs.  I'm pretty happy with the initial results and will be tinkering with the lights on this game and adding LEDs to my other games.


One of the problems with my game (California Special) is that the lighting isn't really well done as it's a modified 902.  The words "California Special" are spread across the top of the upper glass but the original bulbs only go part of the way leaving the last few letters unlit.  Likewise, there's a description of how you can win $1,000 on the bottom of the glass with $1,000 being very large but not properly lit.  I'm going to try extra bright lights in the last position and see if that works.

[wolftalk]

One of the problems with my game (California Special) is that the lighting isn't really well done as it's a modified 902.  The words "California Special" are spread across the top of the upper glass but the original bulbs only go part of the way leaving the last few letters unlit.  Likewise, there's a description of how you can win $1,000 on the bottom of the glass with $1,000 being very large but not properly lit.  I'm going to try extra bright lights in the last position and see if that works.

space to drill more holes and add some lamp sockets?  You'd wire them in parallel to the existing ones.  Since you are going LED, you don't need to worry about additional power consumption.


if that's not good and they are GI lamps, maybe some of those LED tape strips that you could mount on the front side of the lamp panel behind where you want more light?

[RiseLikeRa]

Sam the 63 LED bulbs that I got have naked LED's.  You can position your bulbs in the socket so direct light is aimed at the glass, or not.  Please send us some before and after pictures so that all members can benefit from your experiment. I don't think that you will be disappointed.


Ra

[Simple Sam]

One of the problems with my game (California Special) is that the lighting isn't really well done as it's a modified 902.  The words "California Special" are spread across the top of the upper glass but the original bulbs only go part of the way leaving the last few letters unlit.  Likewise, there's a description of how you can win $1,000 on the bottom of the glass with $1,000 being very large but not properly lit.  I'm going to try extra bright lights in the last position and see if that works.

space to drill more holes and add some lamp sockets?  You'd wire them in parallel to the existing ones.  Since you are going LED, you don't need to worry about additional power consumption.


After my previous post, I thought about it and thought that adding additional bulbs might be the best answer.  As you point out, with LEDs, there is plenty of power available for more lights.  That modification may be some time but I definitely think it is viable.


if that's not good and they are GI lamps, maybe some of those LED tape strips that you could mount on the front side of the lamp panel behind where you want more light?


This might be easiest and something I might just do a quick test on.  I have LED strips on hand so it would be easy to try.

[Simple Sam]

Sam the 63 LED bulbs that I got have naked LED's.  You can position your bulbs in the socket so direct light is aimed at the glass, or not.  Please send us some before and after pictures so that all members can benefit from your experiment. I don't think that you will be disappointed.


Ra

I got the same bulbs and that was one of my concerns about them being too bright.  I decided that it would be a relatively cheap experiment so if it didn't work out I wouldn't be out much and if it did work, that would be great.  I'll post my results when I get the bulbs and play with them.

[Simple Sam]

I installed the LEDs in my 809 today.  The first picture shows the change in process with two LEDs on the right and the remaining bulbs being the original incandescents.  The LEDs are obviously quite a bit brighter.


The second picture is the before picture.  Although the lighting on the insert coin, coin accepted, and winner paid is okay, the left and right legends aren't very well lit at all.


The third and fourth pictures are with the LEDs installed.  The daylight picture shows how the LEDs really light up the game, particularly the legends.  The picture taken in a dark room shows that these are quite bright and will show off any defect in your glass.  I'm going to see if I can get new glass for this game and will re-evaluate the brightness after installation of the new glass. I have another game which has poor reel glass that I'm not sure about; it will likely highlight the glass defects which is not desirable.


I'd rate this as a success with more fine tuning necessary.  I really like things well lit so this works for me.

[RiseLikeRa]

Although you did not show us April for picture with all incandescent lights and the glass installed I like the bright fourth picture. My game room is dim in order to recreate the casino experience. Those LED lights would really saying come here and put your money in me. My feeling is that if LED lights were available during the time that these machines were young the casinos would put them in for attraction as well as less downtime. Bravo!


Ra

[Amechanic]

Can you buy those LED bulbs in a softer white, like warm white?

[Simple Sam]

Can you buy those LED bulbs in a softer white, like warm white?

Those are warm white. The lights look much better in person than in the photo. It's hard to get a good picture of lights. 


Ra,
I agree with you. The bright lights pull you in and would definitely have been installed if they were available at the time. Modern gaming devices are bright, shiny objects designed to attract attention.

[Amechanic]

The reel glass legends are usually dark with the normal 63 bulb. I might have to try a few myself. Where did you get these again?

[Simple Sam]

The reel glass legends are usually dark with the normal 63 bulb. I might have to try a few myself. Where did you get these again?

I got the #63 bulbs from cointaker.com as Ra suggested.


I also got a variety of #44 bulbs from cometpinball.com. I'm still fiddling with the #44s and may provide an update later. I chose them for the #44s because they offer a "sunlight" bulb. It's a white bulb that has a color temperature between "cool white" which tends to be harsh and "warm white " which tends to be too yellow.

[Amechanic]

I went to cointaker and typed in 63 led in the search but nothing popped up?

[wolftalk]

https://cointaker.com/products/63-super-5

[GOS]

i checked with my supplier in china - can't touch the $1.89 price these are being sold here.

[RiseLikeRa]

Remember gang that I bought them from a trade show cal Pinfest many years ago.  This is basically a pin ball venue but I was told that the occasional slot machine would be there.  Because the technology was new for LED's so small I had to take out a mortgage when I bought a bag of 100 in the 44/47 size.  (I had 3 Continental cabinet games at the time)The prices being quoted by Sam, and confirmed by GOD, are phenomenal. I also did not believe that they would REALLY last as long as the salesperson claimed.   They do!


IF you can get used to the extra brightness they are they way to go in my humble opinion.


Ra

[Simple Sam]

Remember gang that I bought them from a trade show cal Pinfest many years ago.  This is basically a pin ball venue but I was told that the occasional slot machine would be there.  Because the technology was new for LED's so small I had to take out a mortgage when I bought a bag of 100 in the 44/47 size.  (I had 3 Continental cabinet games at the time)The prices being quoted by Sam, and confirmed by GOD, are phenomenal. I also did not believe that they would REALLY last as long as the salesperson claimed.   They do!


IF you can get used to the extra brightness they are they way to go in my humble opinion.


Ra

And the #44s, which are what the upper boxes are full of, are down right cheap at 69 cents each.  There's a lot of choices in the #44 in terms of levels of brightness, color temperature of the whites, and type of lens.  Shipping is generally pretty cheap because they weigh nothing and are small so they can go USPS in a cheap envelope.