blue cover or blue led's for hunter

blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

I read about the red led's being better than a red cover.I was wanting to know if the same holds true for the blue cover or blue led as in an a2 aviator for tracking wounded game.(ie) blood trail in the event that ever happened near darkness.
thanks in advance for replies

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

Blue cover over a white LED would produce more light than a blue cover over an incandecent.

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

all of a colored LED's output is in one particular color (or nearby in the spectrum), whereas a white light (LED, incan, or otherwise) has only a small part of its output in any one color. So, when you get a colored beam from a white one using a filter, what you are really doing is blocking the majority of the light's output and letting only the color you want pass through. No light gets turned into another color.

You will always get more "bang for your buck" with an LED that is the right color to start with.

What is it exactly that blue does for blood? I know there are UV LEDs that cause it to flouresce.

Scott

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

beezaur,I think that a blue light makes it more visible after dark .I suppose it fluorese's but I'm not sure.someone here proably has the answer.

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

I don't know if this would interest you, but I thought these UV LED lights are really cool:

http://www.xenopuselectronix.com/xeled.html

Scott

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

Do not use a blue LED for tracking blood! A blue filter over a good incandescent (60+ lumens) is superior to any blue LED. LEDs hardly have any red in their light spectrum. Blue LED light and white LEDs with a blue filter both make reds look a dark brown color. In contrast, a good incandescent with a quality blue filter does what it is supposed to do, everything is different shades of blue except that red (and fluorescent)things glow brighter and draw the eye's attention. Experiment with blue soda caps first if you aren't convinced. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

leukos,thanks a blue cover for my e2e it shall be,
my son shot a large buck a few years ago at dusk, and could not track it with a regular light.I was hoping if it happened again we would be better prepared.
though he found it the next day but it was ruined.
thanks everyone for the help.

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

That's interesting, leukos.

So, you need to rely a little on the filter's inability to get rid of all the red? That's kinda clever. I learned something!

Scott

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

Blue filters for incandescent light sources have to be designed to pass a lot of infrared energy or they'll get very hot, which will melt the filter if it's made of plastic. The manufacturers vary in their ability to create products that selectively pass the infrared while blocking close wavelengths of red light so you will sometimes get a lot of red light through a blue filter. Manufacturers of "gels" or filters for theatrical lighting publish transmission spectra for their filters and you could use these to pick the blue filter that passes the most red. A sheet of "gel" that is about 3.5 sq. ft. will cost about $7 from a theatrical or film supply house. Don't place it touching the flashlight lens, it still might get hot enough to melt depending on the light you're using

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

SF's FMxx series locking blue filters are coated pyrex and do a nice job.

Re: blue cover or blue led\'s for hunter

I doubt decent theatrical spec colour gel will melt on the front of a flashlight - it's designed to sit in front of lanterns of .5/1/2KW+ They get pretty damn hot!!!

To give you an idea of the heat - we sometimes make 'impropmtu' gobos (used to create shapes/patterns/words in the light) out of alu cans (for short term use only!)... they sometimes start to melt! Admittedly they sit inside the lantern, but the gel is only several inches further away!

Having said all that, I'd still recommend buying a proper glass bezel mounted filter - the whole thing is much more robust and convenient! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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