My wife said my new led bulbs were too blueish. I thought maybe I could find some orange cellophane. Then it hit me that though only a large laboratory or factory can make an efficient led, the other component in the emitter is just fluorescent material, which is also found in many other things. In fact I had some day glow paint in a bottom drawer. First I tried the yellow model airplane dope I got on EBay, but the light was too green, so I took that off with acetone and tried the day glow orange from a hardware store. It didn’t go on evenly, but the bulb doesn’t show directly and the result was judged satisfactory after a couple of adjustments. Maybe the dye will bleach out, but people’s clothing stands sunlight. About the same time, I read in a scholarly article that led bulbs are more efficient with the wavelength shifter separated from the led itself, so the shifted light, which is emitted isotropically, is not absorbed in the led.
Next I will select my worst led flashlight and try making it a warmer white with a tiny bit of day glow paint over the plastic dome of the led.
Added: I tried it on an incandescent flashlight and it lost its small spot, which must be an image of the filament, rather than of the whole bulb. Looking at my led flashlights, the dome over the led shows from the front, so the throw spot would have a rosy ring around it. I’ll stick to interior lighting.
Would be interesting to see the results of this! Can you post comparison beam shots?
I would think that you can shift the color but at the expense of lumens. Would be interesting to see a number comparison in the IS. Does it look any dimmer by eye?
Ahh, thanks for the update.
I can’t see what lumens are lost. Cree’s warmer color bins tend to have less lumens than the cooler white ones, and I don’t suppose I do as well as they do, in spite of the article that said the efficiency is better if the phosphor is not right on the led. But I think I do better than just using a filter to get the color I want.
Interesting experiment! Any beamshot pic? 