F

Flying Scotsman

Well Known Member
What are your thoughts about the color of night lighting in the cockpit? Red is "traditional", but I know there have been studies by the military that determined a sort of blue-green was better. People are using various strips from aviation and automotive suppliers for LEDs, etc.

What have been your experiences with different colors? Red, green, blue/blue-green, etc.
 
FWIW,
I went with the Blue LED strip with dimmer. Looks nice but don't have much night time so not really sure if it's better than Red or not.
YMMV

Bill
 
Stein told me once that the blue or green is better for not washing out the glass screens. He also mentioned that the heavy iron has gone to blue or green.

I took his advice and went blue....
 
My wife's Mazda CX-9 has a couple of blue LED's that stay on all of the time in the interior when the lights are on. They work great for giving a bit of cabin light to see the various controls.
 
Dark-adapted eyes are most sensitive to blue-green light, in brighter conditions yellow-green.

Pure blue light will limit acuity (sharpness) of vision, because the eye isn't well adapted to monochromatic blue light.

Red light is better for acuity, but may make near vision (e.g. reading charts) more difficult if you are much over 40. Aviation charts (if any of us are still using paper charts) are designed to be readable in red light.

The military uses blue-green mainly for compatibility with night vision goggles

Dimmable green or white are probably the best choices, but it really doesn't make that big a difference
 
What about mising colors?

I already have some red led (the side mounted eyeballs) that point at the panel. If I add blue/green one under the glare shield and have them both on at the same time, do I have a problem?

Kent
 
My vote is green

Our helicopters are outfitted with green to be NVG compatible. With or without the NVG's, my vote would be green. Glenn
 
As James mentioned, blue isn't great for seeing at night. I will be using red and white, or maybe a green/blue.

I made a flashlight out of blue LEDs once before LED flashlights were mainstream. The blue light was horrible to work in and was disorienting.
 
I like green

I noticed years ago that red was much more blurry at night for me, and my glasses correct for near vision only (presbyopia), so I don't have any problem but typical age related stuff. I have a green LED pencil sized flashlight that I use and discovered that green works real well for me. I'm going all green LEDs in mine, dimmable of course.
 
Slight topic hijack -

I've been procrastinating installing any inst. panel lights because I wrapped my panel 'dash' in padded leather. So I need a custom install - and want LED.

Anyone want to design me a dimable LED system?

And for the record - and back on topic - I prefer green lights.
 
Gsuit said:
Slight topic hijack -

I've been procrastinating installing any inst. panel lights because I wrapped my panel 'dash' in padded leather. So I need a custom install - and want LED.

Anyone want to design me a dimable LED system?

And for the record - and back on topic - I prefer green lights.
Click to expand...

It is easy enough to build your own LED array. What are you looking to do? If you like, you can shoot me a PM and I can help you along.
 
There is an option...

WingsOnWheels said:
As James mentioned, blue isn't great for seeing at night. I will be using red and white, or maybe a green/blue.

I made a flashlight out of blue LEDs once before LED flashlights were mainstream. The blue light was horrible to work in and was disorienting.
Click to expand...

...for using an LED strip that is both white and red.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/flexibleLED.php

Use two seperate dimming knobs, one for each color, and you can pick the color most appropriate for the task/ambient lighting present.

I helped install one of these strips on another homebuilt, and the outcome was quite effective.
 
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