making seouled bike light warmer with a lux3 red-orange?

[RustyKnee]

would making one of thr leds in a seoul based bike light improve the light colour? this is for offroad/race only so not worried about have red lights on the front.

I have never played ith mixing light colours before. the data sheet seems to show that the seoul outputs predominantly blue and yellow/green. am I reading the plot correct? would adding some red to this mix warm it up....and more importantly improve colour renditon?

Stu

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

Hey Stu, ...... try it, .....just stick a red filter on your P1D-CE
gaffa tape it to your bars along with the triple shot,wait till it gets dark, BINGO!!

 

[2xTrinity]

Hey Stu, ...... try it, .....just stick a red filter on your P1D-CE
gaffa tape it to your bars along with the triple shot,wait till it gets dark, BINGO!

The Fenix has the same problem -- most LEDs are deficient in the red portion of the spectrum. Filtering out almost all of the output of a Fenix will be much less efficient than wiring in a proper red LED, some of which are very efficient. I would wire in one Luxeon LED, with similar optical pattern to the others, a red (not a red-orange, if you have the choice) along with the white LEDs in your string, with the same kind of reflector.

I have experimented with a red flashlight and several white flashlights, and it does very much correct the color rendering. I was very surprised at how significant the effect was. Red is better than red-orange, and one of them can correct for several Seoul LEDs. Red is the better choice than Red-orange as you're not after getting additional lumens, but correcting the red deficiency. Doing that though will dramatically improve the performance of the light. I'm actually in the process now of working on a Multi-LED flashlight using these scheme (multiple white LEDs plus a red for balance).

 

[RustyKnee]

The Fenix has the same problem -- most LEDs are deficient in the red portion of the spectrum. Filtering out almost all of the output of a Fenix will be much less efficient than wiring in a proper red LED, some of which are very efficient. I would wire in one Luxeon LED, with similar optical pattern to the others, a red (not a red-orange, if you have the choice) along with the white LEDs in your string, with the same kind of reflector.

I have experimented with a red flashlight and several white flashlights, and it does very much correct the color rendering. I was very surprised at how significant the effect was. Red is better than red-orange, and one of them can correct for several Seoul LEDs. Red is the better choice than Red-orange as you're not after getting additional lumens, but correcting the red deficiency. Doing that though will dramatically improve the performance of the light. I'm actually in the process now of working on a Multi-LED flashlight using these scheme (multiple white LEDs plus a red for balance).

yeah I don't actually own an incan torch...or any red filters hehe.

I suggested red-orange due to its higher lumen output. but like you szy colour improvement is what I want to achieve. hoping this proves as important as light output.

I figured go with same reflector as the floodiest white. lux3 are cheap enough to try both.

thanks for the replies chaps.

i'll order some leds to play with tonight.

Stu

 

[AndyTiedye]

Added to Bike Light Thread Links

 

[RustyKnee]

Cheers Fella

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

........... or 1 red 1 white 1 cyan

 

[RustyKnee]

that might be an option too....I would like to keep the brightness/lumens that the white seouls provide. worth considering/trying though. It might bring out the greens you get offroad on a mountain bike.

Plus if I make em flash we can have an impromptu disco on the trail

Stu

 

[RustyKnee]

how well rgb leds such as the seoul p5 work in reflectors? would an orange peeled reflector make sure the light is evenly spread? or will it end up with different colours here and there in the beam.

Stu

 

[2xTrinity]

how well rgb leds such as the seoul p5 work in reflectors? would an orange peeled reflector make sure the light is evenly spread? or will it end up with different colours here and there in the beam.

Stu

IMO the RGB is a poor way to go as the green is generally very inefficient. Eventually I think that will be ideal, but for the time being, most RGBs I've seen are fairly inefficient. The advantage of the RGB is that it's possible to change the color-combinations, on-demand, but if that isn't a requirement, IMO going for white + red will be cheaper and more efficient.

4 seoul whites plus a Luxeon red (all driven at the same current) is a pretty good combination, really brings out things like wood etc. yet will still be very efficient, as almost all the lumens are coming from high-efficiency white LEDs.

 

[RustyKnee]

IMO the RGB is a poor way to go as the green is generally very inefficient. Eventually I think that will be ideal, but for the time being, most RGBs I've seen are fairly inefficient. The advantage of the RGB is that it's possible to change the color-combinations, on-demand, but if that isn't a requirement, IMO going for white + red will be cheaper and more efficient.

4 seoul whites plus a Luxeon red (all driven at the same current) is a pretty good combination, really brings out things like wood etc. yet will still be very efficient, as almost all the lumens are coming from high-efficiency white LEDs.

cool, the red does make life simpler....less things to control.

seeing wooden things better offroad is a definite plus hehe

cheers

Stu

 

[RustyKnee]

my lux 3 reds turned up. only had a quick play, but initial impressions are good. you were right. it doesn't need much red to help out. like you say wood comes up nice. red jumps out instead of looking dark and murky.

for 3 white I don't think full current is required in the red...even better for efficiency.

will do some more playing when it gets dark.

Stu

 

[Bandgap]

How about adding a green led, as 'white' leds have not got much green either -

Off-road has an awful lot of foliage!

Steve

 

[2xTrinity]

How about adding a green led, as 'white' leds have not got much green either -

Off-road has an awful lot of foliage!

Steve

While a lot of cheap 5mm LEDs are weak in green (almost all blue output) the high-efficiency LEDs usually have plenty of green -- as the phophor primarily converts blue light yellowish green light. That is one of the reasons the lights are so efficient -- the eye is very sensitive to green, so the more the LED emits in that part of the spectrum, the more lumens it has. (for example, the blue Cree Emitter is rated at something like 35 lumens, throw on a phosphor and it's up to 180) One of the most common complaints on these boards is that a lot of LEDs such as Crees have a very strong greenish tint to them -- which would mean that only the red is really missingd.

Adding additional green probably wouldn't hurt the color rendering of the setup, but it would hurt the efficiency -- green LEDs are the least efficient LEDs on the market. I'd look for white LED bins that are known to have a strong greenish tint. Also, adding the red makes the green foliage stand out a lot more as well --as the contrast between say greenish plants, and reddish wood, or dirt, is a lot more sharp than green against black.

 

[RustyKnee]

yeah looking at the plot in the seoul data sheet...green and yellw are pretty strong. I have taken some quick piccies with the white balance of the camera fixed. I will take better piccies tonight.

I used a toy A Team van BA and a model kawasaki in kawasaki green .

In the quick photos BA seems to show that the red has really helped...he is not far from typical offroad colours with his skin and camo gear...apart form the gold lol The green remains pretty much as is...but is pretty bright...and the red details on the van get highlighted really nicely.

I will take better ones when its a bit darker and I have time to set a scene that doesn't show how messy my room is hehe,

Stu

 

[RustyKnee]

Got a couple of piccies Edit...both pics were with the same white balance setting as well as being same manual settings....also...I am 30...although the items in the pic may not make it look that way hehe.

Both are with 3 P4s at 0.7Amp, two narrow khatods with frosting in front and 1 wide khatod with out frosting. The Red was in the same wide kahtod type reflector running at 0.3Amps

Without Red

With Red

Tickled pink as it were hehe

Stu