Simple Night Light Mod

[rwbradley]

I recently ran across a brilliant idea from someone on this forum for a night light. They were using a Red LED. I thought that was a brilliant idea as Red does not tend to be as bright or throw shadows like white bulbs.
What I needed:
- 1 LED SMD 42 921 bulb in red (couple of dollars from eBay)

Since I have a 21' Hybrid, all I needed was one bulb in a central location and it gives off enough light to cover the entire trailer so I choose the Fume Hood for the stove.

I would have done a night shot but all you would have seen was black.

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum recommended limit of 640px maximum width.

[decoy1]

Yama.......:-)

[YamaDooed]

I use a simple night light in the bathroom 120 v outlet retrofitted with a blue led as it seems to light up the legos and dog toys strategically placed along my walking path...

[dewey02]

But in the middle of the night, I don't need depth and color perception that red light allegedly reduces. I just need to find my way to the bathroom. And my depth perception has never been so poor that I can't hit the middle of the toilet. 🙂

[AstroRig57]

doughere wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

pconroy328 wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
red and yellow actually throw off your night vision... your eyes try to engage the color receptors or something like that.

blue on the other hand does not

downside to blue, it can interfere with your circadian rhythm

Really?
All those years I spent in a darkroom and with my telescope.

Also my 20 years in the military and all the aviators would take exception to the red is bad.

Larry

The old fleet boat I was on back during my mis-spent youth did just fine with red light.

I think you will find that blue light is the worst night light as it will totally destroy your circadian rhythm.

Doug

Having had a great deal of experience with this, and being very well versed as an active astronomer and dark skies advocate, if you must see detail while preserving night adapted vision (reading a star chart, navigational chart, or instrument settings) then a very long wavelength red (564nm or longer)at a very low level is best. But, red really only has an advantage at very low levels.

Rhodopsin is the photoreceptor protein in night vision cells (rods). Rhodopsin in the rods is insensitive to the longer red wavelengths (564nm or longer), which is why we traditionally use red light to help preserve night adapted vision. Red light very slowly depletes the rhodopsin stored in the rods and virtually does not deplete it at low light levels. The red from a long wavelength red light source is instead viewed by the red sensitive cone cells, which allows us to see such things as star charts and maps, while preserving the rhodopsin and sensitivity of the rods for night vision when we look away from the light source.

As for us, since the primary use of our RV's has been as mobile observatories at remote dark sky sites, they've always been modified with red "rig for night" lighting.

Our old motorhome (Coachmen Class-C) had overhead fixtures with two bulbs each, which could be turned on individually with a three position switch. I put one Red LED bulb in each fixture for red "night adapted vision" lighting at star parties. The new RV has two bulbs per fixture, but they can't be turned on Individually. It's all or nothing.

So...I'm installing one each of these in the bedroom and bathroom and two in the dining/living room. The light in the fridge gets disabled and a little battery operated red LED "hockey puck" of light gets put in there. I may also put red LED bulbs (removed from the old RV) in a few of the directional reading lights located throughout the rig as well.

Innovative Lighting Adjustable Bunk Light Red LED White Case


Don't get me started on the adverse health effects of blue/white light unless you have a lot of time. Did you know, that there are cells on your forehead, that can still detect blue/white light even when your eyes are closed thus preventing melatonin production? The health affects of a lack of melatonin production, from disrupted circadian rhythms, to suppressed immune response, to the proliferation of cancer well documented. But...don't get me started.

[WeBeFulltimers]

20 years and 3.5 million miles as a trucker and I ALWAYS had a couple dim RED lights in the floorboard area for night driving which was most of the time.

[doughere]

LarryJM wrote:

pconroy328 wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
red and yellow actually throw off your night vision... your eyes try to engage the color receptors or something like that.

blue on the other hand does not

downside to blue, it can interfere with your circadian rhythm

Really?
All those years I spent in a darkroom and with my telescope.

Also my 20 years in the military and all the aviators would take exception to the red is bad.

Larry

The old fleet boat I was on back during my mis-spent youth did just fine with red light.

I think you will find that blue light is the worst night light as it will totally destroy your circadian rhythm.

Doug

[LarryJM]

pconroy328 wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
red and yellow actually throw off your night vision... your eyes try to engage the color receptors or something like that.

blue on the other hand does not

downside to blue, it can interfere with your circadian rhythm

Really?
All those years I spent in a darkroom and with my telescope.

Also my 20 years in the military and all the aviators would take exception to the red is bad.

Larry

[GordonThree]

I had read it in a technical paper some time ago, can't find the link at the moment. This website captures the just of it:

http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_purpose_of_blue_lights_used_in_a_submarine

[pconroy328]

GordonThree wrote:
red and yellow actually throw off your night vision... your eyes try to engage the color receptors or something like that.

blue on the other hand does not

downside to blue, it can interfere with your circadian rhythm

Really?
All those years I spent in a darkroom and with my telescope.

[TakingThe5th]

We use battery operated LED motion-sensing night lights mounted on the wall near the floor in various locations. When we swing our legs out of bed a light will go on. As we move through the 5fr other lights keep the path lit. Works well for us. We use white light and the people sleeping are not bothered by the light.

BTW-The blackout lights on our military vehicles (the cat eyes or whatever you care to call them) were all red and that did preserve our night vision while driving. Of course that was back in days of old. Now they probably just use night goggles.

[rockhillmanor]

Worked in photography all my life and spend most of my time in a dark room where they use a red light for developing film.

I haven't gone blind yet!

And when I bought my first car that had red lights on the dash instead of white? It made driving at night SO much easier. No glaring white lights in your face that made your pupils close and thereby making night driving more difficult. Such a simple fix making all the lights within the dash red.


OP. Great idea. Red light while sleeping vs a white one is proven to be better for you.

[JaxDad]

In our case there's only tw of us, so I installed an LED licence plate light under the edge of the bed. It doesn't shine in anyone's eyes but just shines a nice glow along the floor.

[rwbradley]

K Charles wrote:
I turn the lights off at night

I'm scared of the dark just like my kids 🙂

[K_Charles]

I turn the lights off at night