# Red-orange vs Amber Luxeon LED's



## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 11, 2008)

I'm looking for something for a turn signal housing but to the eye which color is more amber?


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 11, 2008)

What about this one?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11013


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## Oznog (Dec 11, 2008)

Red-orange (aka "sunset orange") IS the red you normally see in car taillights. The eye responds significantly better to this wavelength than pure red, and it's closer to what traditional incandescents made through their red filter.

You do sometimes see genuine red in car LEDs. IIRC they come up more often in that "third taillight" in the middle or close to the roof of the car. Probably aftermarket.

So, red-orange is not amber and should not be used for duties requiring amber.


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 11, 2008)

Oznog said:


> Red-orange (aka "sunset orange") IS the red you normally see in car taillights. The eye responds significantly better to this wavelength than pure red, and it's closer to what traditional incandescents made through their red filter.
> 
> You do sometimes see genuine red in car LEDs. IIRC they come up more often in that "third taillight" in the middle or close to the roof of the car. Probably aftermarket.
> 
> So, red-orange is not amber and should not be used for duties requiring amber.



I'm having a hard time finding any Amber LED's I did find one but it's almost $10 for one that has an output of 110lm I'm not sure if the 42lm output Amber LED is bright enough for the turn signal bulbs?


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## Oznog (Dec 11, 2008)

You could do an array of Superflux. A plus there is that the distributed heat doesn't require the same kind of heatsinking.

The thing is you put a single outward-facing point emitter in a taillight and that's going to appear as a very bright spot in the center of the signal, instead of radiating from the whole lens with even illumination. Even though the total lumen value is not exceptionally high this is a potentially blinding spot. Exact effect depends on taillight construction. The further the emitter is from the outer lens the better the lens diffuses it.


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 11, 2008)

Oznog said:


> The thing is you put a single outward-facing point emitter in a taillight and that's going to appear as a very bright spot in the center of the signal, instead of radiating from the whole lens with even illumination. Even though the total lumen value is not exceptionally high this is a potentially blinding spot. Exact effect depends on taillight construction. The further the emitter is from the outer lens the better the lens diffuses it.



No it wont I tried already with a cree P4 and my SSC P7 because both LEDs have a wide angle no center beam.


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 11, 2008)

here is a Cree P4 shined into the fixture.. way brighter then the 60 SMT LED 1157 bulb I brought for $50

and no real hot spot.. when projected on the wall its fine because of the fluted lens.


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## SemiMan (Dec 11, 2008)

The XR-E Crees have a very narrow beam pattern quite unlike a buld. That fixture was designed specifically to have a bulb in it with the associated pattern. Working in the automotive field at times, I generally warn everyone to stay away from trying to put LEDS into bulb fixtures. If you get in an accident, someone is hurt, and you have non-compliant lights, not only are you responsible, but your insurance company is going to be non-to-happy with you. Are you willing to take that chance?

The other issues is I don't want to be driving behind you and be blinding when your light emits a rediculous amount of light in some certain direction.

The standard were developed to balance visibility with not blinding someone. They are also meant to not be overly distracting by throwing light in too wide an area. They are also meant to put out the right amount of light in all cases. When you take that trip through the desest just after sunset and your car is really hot, are your Amber LEDs going to put out sufficient light? Yes car manufacturers do design to those specs and yes, they are tested to them as well....the OEM designs at least. Put any non-conforming thing you bought off the web/parts store into it and you are on your own....figuratively, and if you have an accident, perhaps literally as well.


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 12, 2008)

I think I'm going to go ahead with the amber luexon order anyways. and I noticed I posted this in the wrong area at that too.


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## gillestugan (Dec 12, 2008)

Regarding lumen output. 
You usually have a 21W bulb in the turn signal light. the efficiency of it is 6-7 lumen/ watt, so you get about 140 lumen. 
But... This is white light, then you filter it with the orange glass which absorbs some of the light, lowering the lumen output quite a lot, so actual lumen output is much lower.


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 13, 2008)

*Do you know if I can use the Buck Puck **3021-D-I-1000mA 

to do a PMW to the LED's then when the turn signal is on add a relay or opto-isolator between the ctrl and ref to dim the LED?
*


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## 1-3-2-4 (Dec 13, 2008)

Also the turn signal light has a Fresnel lens I wanted to see how deep the amber color is but I never could get my 1157 bulb to turn on in the 1156 socket.. I could but not as easy as the headlight circuit.


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