Ghosting Explained!

The phenomenon of of pinball LED ghosting explained. Ever wonder what makes the pinball LEDs have that faint glow? Read on to find out ...

What is this “non-ghosting” thing I’ve heard about? It’s a question that comes up often, especially from people who are relatively new to installing pinball LEDs in their games.

I’ll try to make this simple: Lamps that are controlled by the boards (i.e. insert lighting primarily) sometimes have very small amounts of current going to them even if they’re supposed to be OFF. Now, in an incandescent lamp, this tiny amount of current isn’t enough to illuminate the lamp however, since LEDs require such little power/current to turn on, that small amount of current that may be going to the lamp socket might be enough to illuminate the LED ever-so-slightly, and could produce a faint glow. This faint glow is what has come to be known in the pinball world as “ghosting”.

To prevent this from happening, we have available the Non-Ghosting bulbs that you could buy. The components contained within the lamp itself keep the ghosting from happening, and when the lamp is supposed to be off, it is truly off!

Now, some games are more prone to this than other games. Nearly all Electro-Mechanical pins will have this issue. For Solid State games or DMD games, some games are worse than others and it really just varies.

Another important factor to consider is the conditions in which you play. If you play your pinball machines with a lot of ambient lighting, then the ghosting issue will likely be less noticeable since the ambient light will likely dilute any faint glow coming from the LEDs. Conversely, if you play in complete darkness, any glows coming from LEDs will likely be more noticeable because there is little or no ambient light.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have with pinball LEDs or with any other questions regarding this blog, pinball LED kits, etc.