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dos

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(crossposted on Arcade Otaku for a large sample size)

My NAC came with a Toshiba FL15D, which is a 6500K 700 lumen bulb. This is such a high color temp that it makes the marquee look kind of washed out. Is this the original lamp? What lamp (model number) was in your NAC if yours came straight from a Japanese arcade? I'm trying to figure out the specs of the original NAC lamp, if that's even possible.
 
machines in general are fitted with cool white tubes
lumens - yea right.
that's not an option, just a figure stated from new - the lumens drop with age or temperature.
 
I had so many issues with this on mine between the ballast, fuses, and the bulb. I eventually just grabbed an LED all in one, wired it to the cab, and $11 solved my issues.
 
I had so many issues with this on mine between the ballast, fuses, and the bulb. I eventually just grabbed an LED all in one, wired it to the cab, and $11 solved my issues.
I think that's slightly a different issue than mine, I have no problem getting fluorescent bulbs to work (you need a working ballast, FG-1E starter, and any 15W T8 bulb you can get at Home Depot or whatever).

My question was about the light properties of the original bulb the NAC came with in Japan, because the type of light you put in there can affect how the marquee looks. Different types of light render colors differently and can have a dramatic effect on the look of your cab. We quantify that with figures like color temperature (that is, is the light more yellowish or more blueish, measured in Kelvin), amount of light (in Lumens), and color rendering index (a numeric CRI value). If you have these figures from the original bulb you can search for one that closely matches it to get your marquee looking as close to stock as possible, if you cared about that sort of thing. Any light you buy will have these numbers either printed on it's box or manual or in a datasheet somewhere.

Anyway, in case anyone else is searching for the answer to this, I've figured out that the NACs probably did originally come with Toshiba FL15D (the "D" is for "daylight"), which is 6500K, 760 Lumen, with a CRI of 74. It may have also come with a Toshiba FL15N which is 5000K, 820 Lumen, and CRI of 70. Personally I would use a 5000K bulb like the Philips "Natural" 15W T8 you can get at Home Depot because under dimmer lighting in your house 6500K would be very washed out looking.

EDIT: also in response to @stj, yeah the lumen value is only good for the "initial" intensity of the light, but it still has value because it kind of determines how far it will drop. so with two different fluorescent bulbs with similar initial lumen values, you can have a (very) rough idea how they will look with age
 
I just go to lowes and buy the garage FL15 bulb. Works great.
This. If you really want the "original" tube you're going to have to import a metric tube to fit properly in there, otherwise it's gonna be a tight fit
 
This. If you really want the "original" tube you're going to have to import a metric tube to fit properly in there, otherwise it's gonna be a tight fit
Not sure what you mean by this, the Japanese Toshiba tube my NAC came with (which is the FL15D that they probably shipped with) is exactly the same size and fit as the Philips T8 size tube from Home Depot I replaced it with.

ySvdS7b.jpg
 
LED vs fluorescent tubes

I had the same issue with my new net city and blast city. While the replacement bulb from Lowes did fit, it was a really snug fit. I assumed that the Astro cities were similar, i do not own one though.
 
LED vs fluorescent tubes

I had the same issue with my new net city and blast city. While the replacement bulb from Lowes did fit, it was a really snug fit. I assumed that the Astro cities were similar, i do not own one though.
Ah ok, I've only ever had a NAC and in that particular case the tube is an exact match for a normal T8 tube you can get in any US hardware store, in various color temps. In this case it's a lot easier to play around with different bulbs because it seems to be a very common size.
 
Where did you find the screw-in starter? I'm missing it on my Astro..

EDIT, looks like it's either a FG-1E, nevermind..
 
I tried so many tubes to fit in my regular Astro City cabinet, that in the end I just gave up and installed a LED. New Astro City is not a problem, a T8 fits just fine.
 
Everywhere online I was reading said 18", I had to take it back and get a 24", it fits but its pretty tight getting it in there.. I tested AC 100v at the leads so I'm getting power. Hopefully once I get the starter in there, it might fire up..

bbUPz7Bl.jpg
 
Bumping an old thread for the sake of information sharing..............

I bought this for my New Astro City. Works like a champ! The good news is:
  1. Fits perfectly
  2. Available in different color temperatures meeting your preference
    • I picked Daylight 6000k
  3. Light is directional and you can rotate the bulb so that light is projected to the marquee and hopefully away from the monitor/bezel area
    • This is somewhat of a problem for other cabs like the Egret II that have light bleed through the bezel and tube
  4. And and and and, you do not need a ballast starter!!
    • This is a biggie as these things are hard to find. As a matter of fact, I have a set of new ballast starters and had it installed when I flipped the switch for the first time. The light was flickering on and off like an effect in a horror movie. Flipped the cab off. Unscrewed the ballast starter. Flipped the switch back on and whollah! Got clean stable light from it.
    • No modding needed whatsoever. Just plug it in and don't screw in a ballast starter
Drawbacks of course is that it is a mite more expensive, but if you add in the cost of the ballast starter needed for CFL bulbs, factor in the benefits of LED over CFL (less heat and thus decreased fading of your marquee, longer life) you should be +EV in the long run.

Don't have my cab re-assembled fully yet, but here are some pics of it in action:

Here it is off sans ballast starter...........

NAC_LED_Bulb_Off.jpg

.....and here it is on, still sans ballast starter.

NAC_LED_Bulb_On.jpg

Will pull it tomorrow and see if the Egret II uses the same size bulb, if so, will order more. Will also order for larger sizes for my NNC's if I can find any.
 
This is probably known and others probably know this. But glad it helped someone!

I think if you find an LED 'F15T8' bulb with ballast-bypass you should be good. And if you do find one, see if it is rotatale. Although, light bleeding as far as I know is not a problem for the NAC.
 
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After googling quite a bit, I haven't found a single one. They must be either quite rare, or my googling skills suck. The only ones I could find were either not in stock or they don't ship to my country. I will just bookmark yours and have a look later if they open up shipping to other countries. Or maybe I can bother @xtrasmiley once more... :saint:
 
I think I/we might have hijacked this thread a bit because it as intended for OG spec accuracy rather that functional options. Although at 6000K, it fits within the range that @dos posted back here. There is a 4000k option too.

Is AliExpress available where you are? They all come from China anyway: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33016594222.html EDIT: Don't think this has ballast-bypass.
 
I think it does have ballast-bypass as it says in the install instructions to remove the starter and ballast, however that seller also does not ship to the Netherlands.. X/
 
Think there might be enough interest to organize a group buy? I'll ship them to you and you (or anyone else that wants to take it on) can ship them to anyone else in Europe.
 
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