Questions on Trit vial brightness.....

scott011422

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Feb 5, 2008
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Hey all, Decided to make my wife a stainless trit necklace for our anniversary. Bought an ice blue 3mm x 23mm and it is very dim. How bright should they be? I see pictures of trit in flashlights and whatnot and this is nowhere near that bright. I took a pic of it in a mostly dark room. For some reason the camera makes it 10x brighter than it is. If you hung it around your neck in a clear tube, it would have to be pitch dark for anyone to notice it. What do you guys think???

2012-02-03_11-47-40_206.jpg
 

calipsoii

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Most of the pictures you see here are carefully staged using either long exposure times, UV light, or both.

A trit vial the size of the one you have there should be noticeable in a dark room, but will just appear as a white tube if you have any other sources of light going on.
 

scott011422

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So, to be able to see this in a dimmly lit room, say a theater. Would a larger vial = more light? Or is this not going to happen? If its going to have to be that dark, she wouldn't be wearing the necklace.
 

AnAppleSnail

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So, to be able to see this in a dimmly lit room, say a theater. Would a larger vial = more light? Or is this not going to happen? If its going to have to be that dark, she wouldn't be wearing the necklace.

I have made brighter 'tritium vials' using SMD LEDs and small batteries - it's a sexy solution in a different way. A few people here have lanyard beads that are quite pretty on their own, with tritium inserts for 'in the dark' appeal.
 

bshanahan14rulz

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The tritium is usually for locating things in the dark. A necklace pendant with trits helps you locate her Trits in green are a little bit brighter than trits in ice blue, but still will show as a white vial in the light. That is really the only thing disappointing about tritium. You did get a larger vial than the 0.5x5mm that I got to play with, so that's good.

I think it would be neat to make an artful stainless steel pendant, where the main features are the carving and machining of the pendant. Then, at night, you also can notice the glow coming from within.

Also it will look nice on the bedstand or dresser too at night. Not distracting in the least, but still something that she could see in your room at night, and be reminded of you.
 

Launch Mini

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I have able trit in a skull bead around my neck. I've been surprised at how many comments I've had where people noticed it is glowing.
 

CKOD

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A 3x23 mm tube should be decently bright. I got a few b@rt 4x20mm trits embedded into the base of a change jar that I made, and the rest of the base filled in with GITD epoxy, and if I charge the epoxy with a flashlight it glows nicely, but even if its just the tritium it's noticeable in a dim room, and very noticeable at night when its dark. In an area with ~5 lux ambient lighting, the glow is noticeable, and with 12-13 lux ambient lighting, the glow is drowned out, but the vial itself is still clearly blue.
 

Gregozedobe

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Tritium tubes vary in intensity. Some colours are brighter than others (IIRC green is brightest at 100%), ice blue one is 60% ). Old tubes lose their brightness as they age, so freshly made tubes are brighter. Some sellers talk about "high pressure" tubes being brighter ( I think they fit more of the actual gas in if it is at a higher pressure).

My 3x23mm green trit tubes are noticeable in light levels that are low but I can still read by, and quite bright in total darkness. My 3x23 ice blue tube is distinctly less bright, but still glows noticeably.
 

AutoTech

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I've got a few tritium markers. Interestingly the one I've had the longest glows the brightest. I actually got it on some car keys on a used car I bought coming up for 7 years ago, I had no idea what it was at first, it just looked like a little keyring. Later I noticed the glow and just assumed it was glow in the dark light activated. Obviously after a while I realised it wasn't and ended up searching online for info. It's in a nice little tube with metal ends and as I say I've had it coming up for 7 years and it was quite second hand looking when I got it, so it's old. I can't find pics of anything The same on the net, I presume the guy I bought the car off must have been into that stuff.

I bought a couple of the firefly markers in green and pink (for the mrs) the pink one is very dim and quite a let down. The green is pretty decent but still my original one really catches the eye.

I really want to mount one on my V10r but struggling to sort it. I think what I'll do is just buy another marker light with the flexi wire loop and hook it throu the clip.
 
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