Blue LEDS

[Bryson]

Maybe not all advances in LED technology are so great....

 

It's an article about how the new Blue LEDs on consumer electronics are a bit distracting, especially at night. It's got some interesting stuff about sensitivity to blue light increasing at low levels that I thought was relevant to backstage working conditions.

 

Some researchers report that, at night, even low-level blue light may be enough to trigger recently discovered receptors in the retina that can depress melatonin production, disrupt sleep patterns and suppress the immune system.

Yikes! Slightly annoying if you have a blue LED on your DVD player. Positively scary if you work in "blues" for hours at a time.

 

I'm now eyeing my Blue LED torch with fear....

 

 

Enjoy

[the kid]

My mum's always complaining about the lorries with the blue LED's. But I'm not suppressed it can do things to you when you look at it it doesn't look right.

 

But then again I suppose the USA could be using them for "interrogation"

[Martin]

Some researchers report that, at night, even low-level blue light may be enough to trigger recently discovered receptors in the retina that can depress melatonin production, disrupt sleep patterns and suppress the immune system.

Yikes! Slightly annoying if you have a blue LED on your DVD player. Positively scary if you work in "blues" for hours at a time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think this would only be a problem if you were to try and regulary sleep backstage under blues. Also this would probably be the last thing to disrupt your sleep :(

 

Generally any light is bad when you are sleeping, as our body uses light to set the body clock. Light is the main reason that it's hard to sleep in the daytime. Even with the curtains drawn, you normally still get too much light in the room.

[Guest lightnix]

"After buying a PC case in May 2004, Li recalled, "I was actually impressed.... The blue light lit up the entire room." "

 

And there's the problem IMHO. It's not the fact that the LEDs are blue that's the problem, it's thoughtless manufacturers using the highest intensity ones they can find. Like the article says...

"There are a lot of products out there that aren't designed intelligently at all," lamented designer Eash.

 

"Some researchers report that, at night, even low-level blue light may be enough to trigger recently discovered receptors in the retina that can depress melatonin production, disrupt sleep patterns and suppress the immune system."

 

Hmmm... note the use of the words "some" and "may" in that sentence :( Drinking alcohol at night can also disrupt sleep patterns, by preventing the sleeper from reaching stages III and IV sleep - the deep sleep that is the most healing and restorative. I don't suppose that revelation is going to stop anybody drinking, tho'

 

NB - Italics used due to

function not working :unsure:

Edit by Peter: It should be working now.

[SimonW]

And there's the problem IMHO. It's not the fact that the LEDs are blue that's the problem, it's thoughtless manufacturers using the highest intensity ones they can find. 

 

There was an interesting paper about enivornmental lighting at Showlight this year. Amongst other interesting titbits was the fact that the presence of light with a colour temperature above 2000 K had an effect on melatonin production. The researchers had managed to significantly improve sleeping patterns on a maternity ward by reducing the colour temperature of the lighting to below 2000K.

 

Simon.

[TeeJay]

I seem to recall that the effects of blue light were debated somewhere a few years back somewhere (Stagecraft list?)

It was mainly the effects on night vision and the conclusion was that red light is far better than blue light for being about to see in low light conditions (all other things being equal).

 

It's why subs use red lights, for example.

[gnomatron]

And there's the problem IMHO. It's not the fact that the LEDs are blue that's the problem, it's thoughtless manufacturers using the highest intensity ones they can find. 

 

No, it is the blue thing as well. The cones in your eyes, which are what you mostly use for sight in low-light conditions, are more sensitive around the blue end of the spectrum, so at the same lumens a blue light will appear brighter than a red one. Anyways, the issue here seems to be sleeping in rooms that aren't dark enough because of blue leds, rather than overall light levels. The obvious solution is to not leave things with blue leds switched on when you're trying to sleep.

 

The reason techs prefer red light for low level lighting is because it's more discreet, and you generally want to be as inconspicuous as possible. Blue would be better if you were concerned about getting the most illumination, but low lighting is more about getting enough illumination without attracting too much attention.

[Guest lightnix]

The reason techs prefer red light for low level lighting is because it's more discreet, and you generally want to be as inconspicuous as possible. Blue would be better if you were concerned about getting the most illumination, but low lighting is more about getting enough illumination without attracting too much attention.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So how come backstage working lights are blue? I'm not having a go, this is something I've often wondered :blink:

 

Red is often used for low level lighting, because it interferes less with dark-adapted vision than other colours, although it's no good in situations where colour rendition is required (like map reading). One manufacturer I was chatting to last year said that they'd done some work on night illumination with the military and found that low level cyan LEDs gave the best combination of colour rendition and night vision preservation.

[Tomo]

One manufacturer I was chatting to last year said that they'd done some work on night illumination with the military and found that low level cyan LEDs gave the best combination of colour rendition and night vision preservation.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Which is why my personal micro-torch uses a bluegreen LED.

I find it's absolutely perfect for occasions where I need discreet light, or simply light in a dark place.

 

I did most of the set alterations to last year's Edinburgh show under the light of it - it's barely larger than the AA battery which powers it, which makes it very easy to hold between my teeth while working with both hands.

I've used it a few times to provide safety light behind the set.

 

Unfortunately I seem to have damaged part of it over the last six months, and it's mostly encapsulated which makes it very difficult to figure out what died. I may have to extract the components and completely rebuild unfortunately.

[Mush]

The researchers had managed to significantly improve sleeping patterns on a maternity ward by reducing the colour temperature of the lighting to below 2000K.

 

Simon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No mention if this was lighting on 24 hours though...

Shooting fish in a barrel against daylight fluro tubes.Below 2000K is going to be distinctly amber, definately what you`d call a warm `cosy` enviroment. Something lot of pubs use with amber lamps, now were over to Lightnix`s comment about alcohol :-)

 

Some researchers report that, at night, even low-level blue light may be enough to trigger recently discovered receptors in the retina that can depress melatonin production, disrupt sleep patterns and suppress the immune system.

 

Yet some more researchers have a different angle on it:

 

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/lightHealt...heimerStudy.pdf

 

Lot of hype with some intersting angles

Remember if lines are busy call later, but do call:

 

http://www.lighttherapy.com

 

Think other thing on original post about annoyingly bright blue LEDs is that they will light with astonishingly low currents, as low as few micro amps,but are fed with current, engineers more used to making a standard olde worlde LED indicator visible, think appropriate.

 

LEDs behave very differently to filament lamps and low level dimming smoothly to zero is always a test worth trying on a latest whizz bang LED fixture.....