Exactly what a Red LED is used for?

BlindTiger

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
Messages
143
Location
NY State
I just picked up a photon 2 that was mispriced at $6 with the red LED. Stated on box that it's to preserve night vision. What does this mean to the ordinary layman?
You see plenty of red lights used in those submarine movies but what else? What's the everyday practicality for it?
 

FlashlightOCD

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
931
Location
Central FL, USA
Might be best explained by an example: an astronomer might use a red led to read a star chart, he could then resume viewing stars without waiting 20 minutes for his eyes to re-adjust to the darkness [like he would if he used a Tigerlight or M6 to read the star chart].
 

BentHeadTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,892
Location
A very strange dark place
Blind,
Red light in low doses preserves your night vision. Has to do with rods and cones etc. Basically, low level red light does not blow out your night vision and that is a very useful thing. The military buys the Photons in red so they can see at night and not attract attention from longer distances. They call it "blackout conditions" were red is the color to use. Turn a white light on and you can be seen from long distances which is not a good thing.
I built a 1 watt LS in a 2D Mag for a friend of mine. From what I understand, animals are not distracted by the light but it reflects off their eyes so he can see them. I guess it works well at 5AM walkign through the woods. It is very bright so if you look at it directly, it will affect your night vison.
When Wal-Mart gets their restock of Dorcy AAA lights in, I will be putting a red Luxeon in place of the 5mm LED. This should give me a nice red light to get up and go to the bathroom without waking my wife.
 

EMPOWERTORCH

Enlightened
Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
743
Location
Coalville, Leicestershire, England
Historically red was the first visible solid state lamp colour, therefore all the earliest LED torches were red!
My first mod was a rubber torch with a single red LED! I havn't got many reds in my entire torch collection, but when I use one it is to preserve night vision, as per the previous examples. It is also noted that some kinds of low light video cameras are very sensitiv tto this low frequency rnge.
Other uses of red LED's include a "healing torch", in which the red light is percieved to have beneficial properties when administered to the skin! I don't know whether it was mentioned on this site! If so, post a link to it!
 

BlindedByTheLite

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 6, 2003
Messages
2,170
Location
Bangor, Maine
think of it like this..
red LEDs appear to be much less dense in the air than the other common LED colors..
that makes it much softer on the eyes..
 
Top