Instrument LIGHTS experiment - Part 2

[TMR]

Very nice work Tony. Keep us posted!

[Joeaksa]

Tony,

Thanks much for a reply and feedback! Was worried that you had been in an accident or ???

Keep plugging away and let us know how it turns out!

JoeA

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by Early_S_Man


Another option most here have overlooked or forgotten ... as I have mentioned it before -- is to build your own higher-power incandescent bulbs by unsoldering the old envelope from their bases, and soldering & glueing a higher power bulb to the brass base.

I haven't forgotten.

I even bought a new bulb holder. I thought I might be able to match the OD to another style of bulb holder, but I think the original with the long neck is going to confuse the search.

list price at dealer is $3.84
pn 999.632.002.00

I didn't bother Wayne with this............ Ron

[TargaRob]

Your progess is looking very good. I think the red is a nice touch. My gagues are getting hard to see, I will be glad when I can update mine. Keep us posted.

[GSpreeman]

I think red causes less eye fatigue but after you see oncoming lights the last color the eyes are able to see clearly is red. Ideal for ships and planes, theoretically bad for cars.

[APKhaos]

I've had the chance to try all the colors, and red is my fave.
The blue is cool, and probably better for people with weak night vision.
The other colors [greens etc] are pure rice IMHO.

[Joeaksa]

Tony,

We have used red in airplanes for years, and submarines as well. The govt has spent a lot more money than we have on research than we dream to have and red is the color they recommend. Glad you like it as well!

Joe

[Randy Webb]

Red ... eye fatigue .. govt. research .... etc.

I posted on this a month or two ago -- search for it and you'll see the reasons for red and for green.

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by GSpreeman
I think red causes less eye fatigue but after you see oncoming lights the last color the eyes are able to see clearly is red. Ideal for ships and planes, theoretically bad for cars.

I can't comment on noticable personal experience with other colors than red light..
but a boat with red gauges is less work for me to move eyeball focus from dash.. to ocean light and beacons.

but the red gauges don't measure in awareness as sharp as White does. so I gotta spend more time digesting what the gauge reads with red light.

so I think I need stock gauges that can register more sharply. so I can very quickly scan needle position.

but my eyes are tired, old, and beat. Who knows about LEDs.
I want more gauge action now.
I'll eventually do a Warren style project.
I'll invest is an LED option also.
I don't know what I want

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by RoninLB

I don't know what I want

OK..
how about a "black light" disco style gauge that only glows the needle and a few slashes ?
does that make sense for a very quick scan of needle position ?
huh..... Ron

[jase007]

I think red causes less eye fatigue but after you see oncoming lights the last color the eyes are able to see clearly is red. Ideal for ships and planes, theoretically bad for cars.

I think this would "theoretically" be true.

I ran in a night enduro earlier this year and the glare from other cars sporting 4 or 6 lights on their light bars made it almost impossible to refocus on my own guages (were in the standard OEM white). I can't imagine what it would have been like to try and refocus on a red guage panel.

Although...the shift light was the brightest I had ever seen it

Keep the "12 hours at the Point" in mind.... (light to dark).

Jason

[1fastredsc]

I'm a little curious, do you guys think that maybe polishing the inside of the gauge bucket could better distribute the existing light, mabye making it a little better?

[APKhaos]

There are a few tricks that help withe the stock bulbs.
- painting the inside of the gauge cans white
- lining them with polished aluminum tape [Al heating duct tape]
Polishing is a lot more work, and should not produce a dramatically better result than either of the two above.

The improvement is marginal - still too dull for most people.

[bryanthompson]

I have an idea for a simpler (maybe?) way to get the even light distrobution. Im not sure if it'll work, but for what i've used it on, it works fine.

Take a piece of 1/4" plexiglass and cut a circle out of it. sand down the edges to get them smooth and flashy. Now, drill 4 holes around the cylindar. Polish those up too. You should have a square piece of glass with a round circle in the middle with 4 holes; one at 0 deg, 90 deg, etc. Put 4 LEDs in the smaller holes and turn them on. You should get an even glow from the edges of the plexiglass.

I'm using a mouse pad I've done this with, and the edges of the glass glow real bright and cast a glow about 4" away from it in the dark. It really looks good.

I think by doing this kind of thing a plexiglass type of cutout can be made for the dial-set for the different models and just be a plug in type of operation. Then again... it could turn out to be a totally sucky idea. either way, it's probably worth a shot.

[APKhaos]

Thats not just a good idea, it was used extensively for flight nav and radio panel lighting for many years. The front panels were made of plexiglass, coated with a fairly thick black finish coat. The panel markings [switch positions, labels etc] were engraved into the panel through the black coating. Drop a few incandescent bulbs to provide edge light sources, and ....voila! The engraved areas [only] lit up at night.

This works with incandescents, but LED throw a very condensed beam - very little light at the edges. Lenses help a little, but not enough to produce the kind of light level required in these gauges.

Its a good idea, and it certainly works. An experiment is well worth trying. Good thinking!

[jyl]

How about luminous paint such as used on watch faces?

So your instruments can look like this:

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/message?forumid=78440&messageid=1071192282

[bryanthompson]

that looks really badass. Would it take a Black/UV light to get that paint to glow? From my experience with a pet snake and tarantula using black lights, they seem to get a lot warmer than typical ones. I'm going to look and see if they have blacklight LEDs... i may want some of those just to play with.

[jyl]

Watches use either (1) radioactive tritium mixed with a phosphor, or (2) a non-radioactive luminous material (like Luminova or SuperLuminova). I'm not sure if tritium paint is readily available. You can buy the Luminova paint from watch supply shops like Frei & Borel in Oakland CA, in various colors (amber, blue, white, etc). I think it is painted on with a brush.

Tritium paint glows all the time, as the phospor is excited by the radioactivity. Luminova and similar absorbs energy from light (sunlight and incandescent work, maybe UV would too) and then glows for several hours, duration and intensity of the glow depends on the amount of the luminous material and the amount of light to which it was exposed.

So if you had luminous material on a gauge, you'd shine a bright light on it for a minute or so before driving off.

Another option might be to have a black light source positioned to shine on the gauges, and the gauges painted with Luminova. Then the black light would cause the Luminova to glow, as long as the black light is on (and for some time thereafter), hopefully without also noticeably illuminating the parts of the gauge not painted with Luminova. Maybe the black light could be inset into the dash for a clean look.

This is an interesting idea. I will look into it a bit.

[jyl]

Well, here are some sources.

Here's the specs on Super-Luminova and yes UV does activate it.
http://www.rctritec.com/w_sln2.html#act

And on Luminova. Not sure what the difference is, but the Super is apparently "better" for watches - not sure it would make a difference for gauges.
http://www.umccorp.com/luminova.htm

I haven't found a retail source yet for Luminova or Super-Luminova, but I;m sure there is one - I'll browse some watch forums and see. Frei & Borel does not carry it, I was mistaken.

UV tubes, quite small
http://www.specialtyoptical.com/Black%20light.htm

UV LEDs
http://www.ledsupply.com/l3-0-u5th15-1.html

Now, does anyone know if low levels of UV light is harmful to the eyes or detrimental to night vision or to car parts?

[jyl]

BTW here's the pic I linked to earlier