LED Strip lighting...putting lipstick on the pig (Wurlitzer 2150)

Old Goat · by **Old Goat** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:37 pm

The 2150 is the red-haired stepchild to the 2100, so I've been thinking about how to make her a bit more presentable. The unit has two fluorescent tubes, one at the top and one in the middle. Both have a lens in front of them. Not sure if this is stock, but in my case, one was glass, the other plastic. The plastic one was cracked and the color of coffee with a bit of cream in it. The glass one was more of a golden nicotine color. I began looking at replacements for the lenses, but had little success. I thought replacing the lens with some color (blue or green) would help pretty things up. In my research, I learned quite a bit. Seems like the best source for this sort of thing are theater supply places where the lenses (or gels) are commonly used. I discovered they made tubes, which fit over fluorescent lights in about any color you want. However, the problem with the 2150 is that the top light is almost impossible to remove. In fact, when I did the initial disassembly of the box, I ended up breaking one end of the tube trying to remove it. Reassembly was not a lot better. Needless to say, I wasn't sure it would even be possible to plug in the bulb after placing one of the tubes over the light. Then it hit me...LED strip lighting.

So, for about $40 on e-bay, I purchased 5 meters of RGB strip lighting, three controllers (one remote and 2 in-line), power supply and assorted connectors. For those unfamiliar with LED strip lighting, it is a thin, flexible strip with leds every inch or so. You can cut the strip at pre-identified places, about every three inches. The back of the strip is peel and stick. While you can buy LED strips in a variety of colors, RGB strips can be any color you want. The controllers are used to select your desired colors and effects. Effects include everything from single color flashing to slow transitions across multiple colors. Since my juke is about 32" wide, I was able to cut the 5m strip into 6 pieces of about 31". These were combined into 3 pairs of two strips. I took the power supply and spliced it into three separate lines. Two of the three pairs have an in-line controller and the third has the remote controller. One of the double strips was attached to the top where one of the bulbs had been. A second double strip was placed at the spot of the second bulb, shining up through the title strip holder and the last strip was attached at the same spot, but shining down on the front of the cabinet.

After playing with the settings a bit, I settled on the one at the top as a constant blue. The one shining up through the title strips is set to a green blue. The one shining down on the front is set to slowly fade between colors. I'm very happy with the results as the slow fade gives it that feel of the changing colors you get on bubblers and other boxes that had the revolving glass lenses.

This approach has several benefits:
No more ballast and associated noise/interference
No more fluorescent bulbs and starters to mess with
LED longevity is vastly superior to flourescent
Can be easily converted back to stock as there are no permanent mods...you simply plug the power supply into the same outlet on the amp as the ballast was using and stick on the led strips
Cheap (again, the whole setup was about $40)
Tons of color options (change colors to green for St Pattys's day party or red white and blue for 4th of July party)

Rob-NYC · by **Rob-NYC** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:26 pm

How about some pictures?

I like the idea of LED's , but thinking in revenue service terms, I would only use them for accents. It is essential that people can easily read all the titles.

Rob

DoghouseRiley · by **DoghouseRiley** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:24 pm

I think it's a question of "each to their own."

I made a great effort to find the exact T12s my Rock-Ola 443 was designed to take. I was lucky, as they are now obsolete in the UK. I found a lighting wholesaler who still had some.
Same with the record card insert and the graphic which always fade.
I managed to get a "new old stock" insert and I re-made the graphic with overlaid coloured and frosted acetate. The chrome was great, so now it looks as it was when new.
I'll admit there is some noise from the original ballasts until they warm up, but then they are fine.[

Why not make a YouTube video of your machine, so we can appreciate your efforts?

Here's mine.

No ballast noise. The graphic colours aren't quite replicated by my old little Lumix camera, the purple, is darker than that shown, but the sound is OK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bREaIWiXpKs

Old Goat · by **Old Goat** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:49 am

Rob-NYC wrote:How about some pictures?

I like the idea of LED's , but thinking in revenue service terms, I would only use them for accents. It is essential that people can easily read all the titles.
Rob

While I can't speak to other configurations, the two upward facing strips down below provide more than enough illumination to easily read the titles on a 2150, In fact, I have it set to a light blue green so as not to 'drown out' the color from the top strips.

straycat_gr · by **straycat_gr** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 12:38 pm

well here is mine with the modification...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1iW8WrNDwQ
as posted before...