Lighting up Blue plex, what LED's?

[JohnyFive]

Hey guys, having a bit of trouble with my project at the moment, as some of you may know my mod has quite a few blue plexiglas panels, im using Blue LED's for the lighting, is this the right thing as they look really dull, is it because blue light and blue plex cancel each other out? Do i need to use white LED's instead?

Cheers in advance!

j5

[Spawn-Inc]

white would help over blue leds but if you really want to light it up i would get some CCFL's in white.

[Mach]

I cannot find my reference but I believe blue acrylic transmits blue light better than other colors. Perhaps your LEDs are not bright enough? What's their rating?

[Drum Thumper]

I ran a similar test with red plex and red vs white leds. I came to the conclusion that since the red leds have a reduced spectrum, they would not work for the application. This leads me to believe that there will be a similar result with blue leds and blue plex. YMMV though.

[JohnyFive]

I cannot find my reference but I believe blue acrylic transmits blue light better than other colors. Perhaps your LEDs are not bright enough? What's their rating?

Im not sure, i bought them quite a while ago, they do seem very bright by themselves though.

white would help over blue leds but if you really want to light it up i would get some CCFL's in white.

I was thinking CCFL's but i dont really have the space for them, especially as i have UV CCFL's ready to go in aswell.

I ran a similar test with red plex and red vs white leds. I came to the conclusion that since the red leds have a reduced spectrum, they would not work for the application. This leads me to believe that there will be a similar result with blue leds and blue plex. YMMV though.

That's interesting, i know from painting experience that to lighten a color you add the color next it in a the colour wheel, so if you where painting red you would use orange or yellow to add a different shade, as white usually turns the color into a pastel shade, im not sure with blue though. I went out today and bought some ultra bright white LED's so ill have an experiment tonight and see what happens i also bought a some yellow and green LED's to see what happens with different colors. Pics will follow.

Thanks for the help guys!

j5

[Drum Thumper]

Be sure to post the results! I've got a few things planned along these same lines.

[JohnyFive]

Hey guys, so i emailed a company called Starscape who specialise in edge lighting. Below is the reply the very helpful guy gave me.

Thanks for your e-mail. I've never really understood the appeal of overclocking - given that the kit is improving as quickly as it is! Still, I guess it's like any hobby - it is its own reward.

Still, I had a look at your website, and it all looks very ingenious.

Moving on to your specific request: blue is the worst colour for sucking the brightness out of light. Our halogen light sources have a blue segment on the colour wheel, and this is the dimmest part of the colour cycle. So, with blue LEDs and blue acyrlic panels you get a double whammy. So, your best bet would be to go with the brightest white LEDs you can find.

The only LEDs we sell are linear types - LEDs arranged in a line on either a rigid strip on on tape.

Another thing that might be worth thinking about is to use the sideglow properties of optical fibres to create some fancy effects. You could power these with LEDs too, and use either thin fibres wrapped around other cables or just use thick solid core light guide. You can see some solid core light guide near the bottom left of our home page. If you've seen the movie Pitch Black, they used thick light guide as a prop in that. In fact sideglow fibres are often seen in sci fi movies and TV to represent "power conduits" or whatever.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Best regards,

Peter Fagan

What a nice guy.

[SXRguyinMA]

hmm interesting info. I've got some red acrylic that I'm going to need to light with LEDs or maybe glow wire - similar to the stuff used on the motorized madness case

[Mach]

Good info! I also stumbled on similar problems with red leds that another modder was having:

http://www.austinmodders.com/modules...r=asc&start=30

[SXRguyinMA]

thanks for the link!