On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 05:45:29 +0000 (UTC), (Don
Klipstein) wrote:

In article , Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:56:35 +0000 (UTC), (Don
Klipstein) wrote:

In article , Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 8 Dec 2006 10:42:09 -0800, "Chris Snyder"
wrote:


Mark Lloyd wrote:
And hopefully the colors don't fade and lose color as badly as the
incandescent ones do. I've had to replace too many of those
(incandescent's) that weren't burned out, but looked bad because bits
of the colored coating were missing.

That won't happen with LEDs. The LED bulbs project a very specific
color, specific to what element is in the chips producing the light.
The coloring of the plastic reflectors is for reasons unrelated to
light output: consumers expect it, and to be able to identify the color
of the bulbs when the strand isn't plugged in.

-Chris

Yes, LEDs are made for specific colors (and NOT white, which isn't a
single frequency).

Well, they do make white LEDs and there are white LED holiday lights,
and some of those are called "winter white" due to the usual icy cool
color of most white LEDs.


The LEDs are actually blue, as you know.

In the usual white LED, the LED chip is a blue-emitting one coated with
a phosphor that absorbs some of the blue light and converts that to a
"broadband yellow" (mid-green through mid-red) fluorescence. The
combination of the phosphor's fluorescence and the portion of the LED
chip's blue light that passes through adds up to a white whose color
rendering index is usually 70 to 85.

- Don Klipstein )

BTW, I've seen 2 different "whites" in LED holiday lights. The
difference is obvious when you see them together. One is as you
describe, the other is somewhat between that and incandescent lights
in appearance.

I suspect the latter is "warm white" version of "LED white", where
the phosphor dose is higher to make the overall color less bluish and more
yellowish. The overall color of that is often to typically a
yellowish-orangish white shade similar to that of many fluorescent lamps
of rated color temperature either 3000 or 3500 K.
Don't plan on anything of that ilk "sufficiently resembling
incandescent" in color unless you find sufficient sufficiently independent
reviews saying that is the case.

This doesn't look very much like incandescent, just more so than the
other LED lights.

"Semi warm white" (my words) LEDs may do well, but my experience tells
me that mixing these with incandescents will make them look ugly in color
in side-by-side comparison with incandescents, especially when total light
is on the dime side and/or when the non-incandescent is the one to be
dimmer by any detectable margin.

Not that I discourage "warm white" LEDs and advancement thereof!

- Don Klipstein )
--
14 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"How could you ask be to believe in God when there's
absolutely no evidence that I can see?" -- Jodie Foster