RGB LED Flashlight?

Is there a flashlight that uses a "RGB" LED?

I think this would be rather versatile in that one could get in one single LED -
colors: Red, Green, Blue -
then the combinations of:

"white" = red+green+blue
"yellow" = red+green
"cyan" = green+blue
"magenta" = red+blue

What would the practical difficulities likely to be?
eg: balancing and focussing the 3 colors to be coincident so that the "white" is not fringed too unacceptably with colors?

See this thread on combining colors and vision:
LED Colors and Vision (pics)

Thanks

I'm not aware of a flashlight. I would imagine the difficulty would be in making a common focal point. The Sauce products like lightwands mix the colors to produce a white or near white, and I think, but not sure, Techass mixes the colors to produce white in the Zzz-Lite lanterns.

I've thought (a little) more about this use of RGB LEDs for flashlights......

The RGB LED is supposed to be capable of color balance - since its design/purpose/usage is for matrix array screens - where all color rendition would be critical ranging from true white through all the visible colors -

I can only assume that this is achieved by control of the intensity levels of the individual RGB "elements" in the LED.

So I don't think color or white balance is likely to be an issue, if it can be controlled.

Focus might be an issue -
but if the RGB LED is viewed "directly" by the eye and appears to be "white" when all three (RGB) colors are used - surely it means the colors are coincident (otherwise our eyes are likely to detect color fringing/aberrations).

So perhaps the difficulty might be the controlling circuitry required for the RGB LED?

Has anyone experimented with or used a RGB LED - and care to please share their experiences?

Where are the sources to purchase and get information about RGB LEDs?

Thanks,

www.superbrightleds.com has some cheap RGB LEDs (1.95) in a frosted or waterclear 5mm package.

I have been playing with some RGB LED's with built in micro controller.
Connect to a battery and it goes through a whole routine including single colours, combos of two, flashing, dimming etc. etc. Great novelty value

My Land Rover Horror Story

[ QUOTE ]
Streak said:
I have been playing with some RGB LED's with built in micro controller.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that input - I'm really interested in a RGB LED with built-in micro-controller - as it would appear to have some potential for versatile usage.

Could you please tell me the brands and part numbers of the RGB LEDs, and any others you know of?

Thanks

I have a Photon X-Light with a uC controlled RGB led , the X-Color . /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

It does all the flashy things Streak described, and has an electronic on off switch too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


Hope this helps,

I am glad this came up. I have had a performing arts person contact me with interests in just these very LEDs for illuminating 18 foot tall puppets. Yes I typed 18 foot tall puppets! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif That is just the way my life is. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif Would any of you know of prewired banks/boards of these LEDs with battery powered controllers that do a bunch of different colors and maybe wave pattern type stuff?

We did expirement with an RGB TRILIGHT but the balance was way off. The forward voltage of the Red was so much lower than the Green and Blue that it had a pinkish hue. That might be useful for a dive light, but not necessarily for an above water flashlight. The shadows of the light close up were kind of weird. I think somebody liked it and bought it. I hope they enjoy it.

We are seriously considering producing our new drop-light product in a nine Luxeon configuration with three each White, Amber, and Red LEDs. Each color would be configured with a potentiometer to control brightness. This is intended for photography uses and it should produce some very nice adjustable hues without heat. Additionally, it will run from a 12V supply and can be set up remotely with a battery pack.

Would anybody be interested in this product?

shipinretech
That might be kind of cool in one of those fake fire things with the fans and cloth stuff you know. A little overkill being L/Ss but cool.
Actually what I am looking for is a wider spectrum change then would be avalible with this kind of setup but it sounds like it may have some uses. I wouldn't want to see what kids would think of a 18 foot puppet that looked like it was on fire. Kind of scary but may be good for Halloween.

We have put together some display pieces in flashlight format using our 5mm 20 LED flashlight adapters. This runs on 3D cell Mag-LITEs for a long time. We can even install some UV LEDs and some flourescant paints or inks for a really dramatic presentation.

If your pockets are truly deep, we are a design house and can make whatever you need. Please note that the lead time on lighting solutions based on distributed computing systems may take longer than the six months until Halloween. If you can make do with embedded processors controlled by a single server, we can make an LED light show that will be unforgettable.

[ QUOTE ]
B@rt said:
I have a Photon X-Light with a uC controlled RGB led , the X-Color .

[/ QUOTE ]

Ooooh, yes thanks -

Can the X-Light be switched to stay constant on for all the color combinations/permutations?
ie: can one set the light for constant on - red, green, blue - then red+green, green+blue, red+blue and red+green+blue?
Or does it just flash through all the color sequences?

Your post reminded me that the Photon Rav'n Party lights are also RGB LEDs

Thanks

It just flashes through the color sequences. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

shipinretech,
This is one of three projects I have been thinking of helping this guy with. It doesn't look to be any high end application so maybe some High output LEDs sequenced in different colors would work for him with remote battery pack. He has a website at http://stiltwalker.com/ and he was talking about some EL wire for hair on his puppets and legs and arms if I am correct with changing colored LEDs in the head of the puppet as well. The other projects are more my speed, an Indian sort of headdress (more like an alien) with EL wire and laser fishing rods sticking out of it and a matching tail bustle. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif You seemed to be interested so don't be surprized. Let me know what you think okay.

We have some solutions off the shelf that are are not on our web pages that might work for you. Contact Mike at [email protected] for details. I think that this might be a little more expensive than rewiring an LED Christmas light string, but it should be useful in projects for years to come. Mention the tree leaves for MAX, another project he is doing. I think the boards for that would work for you and you could build them into the costume/puppet.

I am pretty sure that those boards work off of 12V, and you can get battery packs for that anywhere.

Patrick

Thanks shipinretech,
I will look into what you have to offer just as soon as I get caught up enough to take this thing on.

Well, it's not a flashlight, but it sure uses RGB LEDs:
http://sub-zero.mit.edu/fbyte/projects/
The Luxeon Helmet is new.

And, the Eternalight Raven works pretty well as a "white" light, though the cyan/magenta/yellow shadows are a bit odd looking.

Example text:
"The first Obelisk had only a single line of LEDs; Obelisk 2 has two lines right next to each other, staggered. LEDs are in groups of four: red, green, blue and yellow, so colors mix easily. Obelisk 2 also has better quality LEDs, far more powerful microcontrollers that drive the LEDs, and a faster data link (it has an Ethernet port and an IP address). There are two segments, each 100 inches long, that can be used separately or stacked on top of each other. A Linux-based GUI controls patterns, and external MIDI or DMX-512 inputs can also be used.

Obelisk 2's primary new feature is a POV mode that displays images in 12 bit color (16 with the yellows). Every pixel in a POV image has 16 possible intensities (4 bits) for red, green and blue; each pixel is individually pulse-width-modulated, giving 4,096 possible colors. This means that any image can be sent to Obelisk 2. "

And not one flashlight? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Very cool stuff and it looks like you guys have a lot of fun at what you're doing as well.

Bart, are the colors that the X-Color produces, bright - like photon-bright?