Making white lens red.

[ccscott49]

Why would the OP want to read charts by the courtesy lights on his steps?

Ah! Somebody who reads the post!
Yes they are at feet level, I dont use them for charts, the ones I have, some came with red lenses, so the LED's do work through them, but I only hadf a few, so need more and they are now un-obtainable, so it looks like nail varnish!

 

[ccscott49]

You soddin ole skinflint you!

Ah well, - You can buy pure red filter gel from theatrical lighting shops and cut to shape. I have a disc of it cut to fit behind the rubber seal on my halogen bulbed head torch. It will of course reduce the light output and if the red content in the spectrum of your LED light is minimal then like any filter it will only let that through giving poor results. Nail varnish being nothing more than expensive cellulose paint will damage your plastic lenses permanently and could over a period result in their shattering or distorting and falling out. Replace 'em mate! Remember that blue is just as good as red when it comes to maintaining night vision.

Merry Christmas to you and Belinda and have a great Hogmanay.

Chas & Sheila - The Cronins also send theirs!

Merry Christmas to you all as well!!

The lenses I have are made of un-obtanium, I have a few red, but need more, so its the theatrical gel stuff or nail varnish, dont even know whetre I can get lights complete to replace these, especially in 24 volt.

 

[CharlesSwallow]

Merry Christmas to you all as well!!

The lenses I have are made of un-obtanium, I have a few red, but need more, so its the theatrical gel stuff or nail varnish, dont even know whetre I can get lights complete to replace these, especially in 24 volt.

Peter had some 24volt ones with white covers when I was in there last. Give him a ring. Bit "Modern" for her floating ladyship though!

Chas

 

[BrendanS]

OK, help here guys and guyesses!

I have some white, semi opaque lenses on my LED courtesy lights on the steps of my boat, they are plastic lenses, I want to make them red, what can I use to do this, I have been told poster paint, nail varnish, red paint etc, what is best and not so as to obliterate the light? thanks for any help.

Get some light paint, the car nuts use them all the time to colour interior courtesy lamps to custom colours etc, and dirt cheap - eg
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tuning-Li...arParts_SM&hash=item43aa0e66f6#ht_1360wt_1139

works fine on lenses as well as bulbs and if you get it a bit wrong, can take it off quite easily with a plastic kitchen pad.

 

[CelebrityScandel]

Filament lamps (and some othe types of light source)emit a wide range of frequencies.
Colour filters work by absorbing the unwanted frequencies emitted, letting through only the frequencies (colours) that are wanted.
Filters do not work with LEDs, which emit a very narrow frequency band - near the blue end of the spectrum for a white LED.
To get red light from LEDs you wiould have to use red LEDs.

As Newton demonstrated and has not been proven wrong since, white light is a mix of colours so while LEDs are close to being monochromatic it is a fact that white ones must emit a broad spectrum over the visible range else they would not be white, would they?

As far as I know they normally do that by having a phosphor coating which is excited to emit other parts of the spectrum by the close to monochromatic output of the base LED.

So the spectrum of white LEDs can indeed be filtered to give, for example, red.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Check with a crafts shop. There is a paint that is used for making imitation 'stained glass' panes. No idea what it is called.

 

[rib]

buy some red tinted sun glasses,job done

 

[William_H]

As Newton demonstrated and has not been proven wrong since, white light is a mix of colours so while LEDs are close to being monochromatic it is a fact that white ones must emit a broad spectrum over the visible range else they would not be white, would they?

As far as I know they normally do that by having a phosphor coating which is excited to emit other parts of the spectrum by the close to monochromatic output of the base LED.

So the spectrum of white LEDs can indeed be filtered to give, for example, red.

There seem to be 2 different types of White LEDs. Older white have a mix of materials that give off light at a few frequencies to give an impression of white light. I think these are the type with a lens in the tip and fairly narrow field of light. Not good for a colour filter.
The later types 5050 is typical have the phosphor and typically radiate a beam 90 degrees wide. They have a milky look to them. The phosphor converts UV LED light to visible white as in a flourescent tube. So Ok for a coloured lens. olewill

 

[misterg]

Get some light paint, the car nuts use them all the time to colour interior courtesy lamps to custom colours etc, and dirt cheap - eg
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tuning-Li...arParts_SM&hash=item43aa0e66f6#ht_1360wt_1139

Ha!

By a strange coincidence I was in a Motor Factor a few years ago and a 'yoof' came in for some little coloured bulbs to 'pimp his ride'. After he'd gone, the guy said that all they did was to dip clear bulbs in nail varnish and sell them for twice the price

Andy

 

[ccscott49]

Get some light paint, the car nuts use them all the time to colour interior courtesy lamps to custom colours etc, and dirt cheap - eg
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tuning-Li...arParts_SM&hash=item43aa0e66f6#ht_1360wt_1139

works fine on lenses as well as bulbs and if you get it a bit wrong, can take it off quite easily with a plastic kitchen pad.

Perfect! Just ordered a couple of bottles! Thanks Brendan.

 

[CharlesSwallow]

Perfect! Just ordered a couple of bottles! Thanks Brendan.

If it I an LED it won't work for the reasons previously stated (nearly) by myself and others.

Chas

 

[nigelmercier]

Red is the best and only color that will allow you to use your Photopic visual system without destroying the night vision in your scotopic system. No myth its just simple visual physiology.

Quite right ...

If it I an LED it won't work for the reasons previously stated (nearly) by myself and others.

Quite wrong. White LEDs have a coating that fluoresces at various points in the spectrum, giving the appearance of white. If you block all but the red parts with a filter, the red will still show through.

 

[Adrian Jones]

OK, help here guys and guyesses!

I have some white, semi opaque lenses on my LED courtesy lights on the steps of my boat, they are plastic lenses, I want to make them red, what can I use to do this, I have been told poster paint, nail varnish, red paint etc, what is best and not so as to obliterate the light? thanks for any help.

It gets a little complex!

All white LEDs start as blue LEDs. As mentioned by others blue LEDs have phosphor elements added to change to white light. The blend of phosphors determine how the white the output looks. A cool white light has phosphor elements added that output a relatively low level of red light. By contrast a warm white LED will have phosphor elements that provide a much larger red output.

If your existing LED is a cool white then it will not be outputting very much red light to start with therefore the output through a red filter will appear very poor. Conversely a warm white LED lamp with its much higher red wavelength will pass adequate red light through a red filter and results in a brighter red output.

So it all depends on what LEDs are installed in your existing courtesy lights.

My guess is that adding red filters will not give you a satisfactory output because they are probably cool white. These tend to be used as step lights as they have a higher Lumen output and look much brighter than similar sized warm white LEDs.

 

[ccscott49]

It gets a little complex!

All white LEDs start as blue LEDs. As mentioned by others blue LEDs have phosphor elements added to change to white light. The blend of phosphors determine how the white the output looks. A cool white light has phosphor elements added that output a relatively low level of red light. By contrast a warm white LED will have phosphor elements that provide a much larger red output.

If your existing LED is a cool white then it will not be outputting very much red light to start with therefore the output through a red filter will appear very poor. Conversely a warm white LED lamp with its much higher red wavelength will pass adequate red light through a red filter and results in a brighter red output.

So it all depends on what LEDs are installed in your existing courtesy lights.

My guess is that adding red filters will not give you a satisfactory output because they are probably cool white. These tend to be used as step lights as they have a higher Lumen output and look much brighter than similar sized warm white LEDs.

OK, some of the courtesy lights have red lenses, they are fine, give off a nice red glow, which is adequate for steps at night, the other lights, didnt come with red lenses, they were not added to the boxes, cant now get red lenses, hence the questions, whatever LED bulbs I have in the lights work.

 

[Adrian Jones]

OK, some of the courtesy lights have red lenses, they are fine, give off a nice red glow, which is adequate for steps at night, the other lights, didnt come with red lenses, they were not added to the boxes, cant now get red lenses, hence the questions, whatever LED bulbs I have in the lights work.

You need to try a red filter in front of your existing white lights. If it doesn't produce bright red light through it, it's because the original LED bulb is cool white for the reasons mentioned earlier and doesn't contain enought red light to pass through the filter. If that's the case you will need to change the lights for red ones.

 

[CelebrityScandel]

...whatever LED bulbs I have in the lights work.

You are obviously not repeating yourself enough .

 

[st599]

You need to try a red filter in front of your existing white lights. If it doesn't produce bright red light through it, it's because the original LED bulb is cool white for the reasons mentioned earlier and doesn't contain enought red light to pass through the filter. If that's the case you will need to change the lights for red ones.

Just change the LEDs for 660 mm GaAs ones.

 

[Impaler]

Cheaper still, close one eye while down below. Right eye if you shoot right handed obviously.

 

[Csail]

OK, help here guys and guyesses!

I have some white, semi opaque lenses on my LED courtesy lights on the steps of my boat, they are plastic lenses, I want to make them red, what can I use to do this, I have been told poster paint, nail varnish, red paint etc, what is best and not so as to obliterate the light? thanks for any help.

got proper filter stuff here if you want a sheet free.

 

[chewi]

Just change the LEDs for 660 mm GaAs ones.

He'd need a very big boat to fit them!