1

Had an interesting conversation with an LED engineer the other day about how leds make a person feel.

To put this into context, I would like to know how variable LED temperatures, CRI and brightness effect your mood and environments?

For me - I really like warm LED lighting in my flashlights/lanterns at about 4500K. It gives a warm and welcoming environment to where the product is used. I also like to have led colour and brightness options, to change the mood or to even, reflect my own mood or environment currently in.

How do the LEDs in your flashlights effect you?

2

I just know that I like the light from my Nichia 219c in my Manker E03h very much. :)

Its a warm white(close to NW) high CRI version I think, dunno about the model and bin numbers.

3

Cold led temperature makes me feel like I am in a hospital, seems like my stress levels are increasing a bit.

Warm led temperature makes me feel like I am on a beach under sunshine and my stress levels are decreased.

That’s why, a few years ago, I’ve thrown away every cool temperature bulb in my house and all the new ones are warm. Even my monitor is warm-ish adjusted.

Anchors or real effects, I don’t know.

4

I’ve heard very good things about the Nichia leds with regards to CRI. There very hard to get hold as single chips though for modding :confused:

5

Recently I have been carrying a shorty convoy S2 by PFlexPro. It sports an XPL HI 7A and the advanced programing driver. Wonderful EDC for me. The tint is very warm, closely mimicing the incans. To me warm white light does not light things up as well as whiter lights. But it is soft and comfortable to look at.

6

I like daylight temps (5000k - 5700k) in a flashlight, since the whole reason for using it is to light something up like day, while working on, or trying to find something. Camping lanterns warmer in the 3500 to 4000k range.

7

It really isn’t. Would you like some help?

edit: It took a little digging but one of the better European sources is Ledrise.

8

Thanks, shop looks nice. But shipping seems to be 19.99 € for orders below 100 €? Plus taxes?

9

Thanks Parametrek for the link. Thats really helpful :slight_smile:

Any other sources?

Thanks

10

I like daylight or slightly warm
but my EDC is cool white at best, Utorch UT-01
I like it because it is small and bright and has an un-painful UI
and cheap

I don;t need my flashlight to alter my moods

5 minutes a day is not enough to matter

wle

11

What did he tell you?

There is data that CW reduces sleep hormones and doubles the rate of Prostate Cancer, but it may be appropriate when wanting to remain alert. I occasionally shine a CW light in my car, if Im on a long drive and start to feel drowsy. Also if my brain is acclimated to the White Balance of daylight, I prefer a light that is CW, but I hate it after my brain is acclimated to the White Balance of my home Incandescent lighting.

Relaxing at camp, and near bedtime, I prefer Warm White.

Some applications call for a flashlight that is similar in Color Temperature to Sunlight, other applications call for a flashlight that is similar in Color Temperature to a candle or campfire. And then there is the inbetween Color Temperature that we call Neutral White (often confused with Neutral Tint)

how it makes me “feel” is beyond the scope of most online forum discussions, where people tend to post about how bright their light is, in which case they tend to want CW

12

I totally agree. I use flashlights to see in the dark and use them intermittently and don’t care about color rendering or anything else. I just want white light to light up what I want to see and that’s why I prefer CW.

However, like you stated, a warmer color is nice on a light that is going to be on for long durations.

13

There is more than one color temperature of white light. There is CWhite, NWhite, WWhite. They are all White.

How we see those color temperatures is an interaction with the White balance of our brain at the time. Our brain changes white balance based on the color temperature of the environment it has been in for the past 30 minutes.

14

I like warm light but I can’t stand yellow/green, because it makes me nauseated that’s why I go for tint on or below the BBL for a rosier tint, which makes me feel comfortable and inviting. I like 3000k for my bedside light and 4000k-4500k for daytime/work use. I also use my flashlights for work and sometimes I have to visit dark damp basements of 100+ year old apartment buildings that no one has been in for many decades by myself to perform field measurements and inspections and when using CW lights, it makes the environment creepy and depressing as hell. When I use a warmer (preferably rosier) light, it makes me feel more calm and the environment more inviting, or at least less Resident Evilish. In general I do feel CW makes me feel more stressed, tensed, and depressed, whereas warmer light makes me more relaxed and happy.

Also I read many articles that say CW light is carcinogenic and contributes to insomnia. For that reason newer smartphones have blue-filter (true-tone) features to make colors less Cold (particularly at night)

15

Parametrek, do you have a source that can ship those to the US? It’s so hard to find 219b nichias now. Thanks!

16

I have some lights duplicated. Normally on CW one NW.

I find the NW though not so “powerful”. Are much easier to distunguish the area you looking at than the CW.

They throw further. with a wash out as far as colour concerned.

Convoy S2\S2+. same drivers\chips.and 2 x Sofurn C8’s.
the CW is much higher output than the T (NW)
but the T gives much more definition as to what you looking at at the extreme ranges.
I’m slowly giving away my CW lights and replacing with 4000\5500 chips.
Apart from the diving\boat lights.
They need the CW to blast through the moisture in the air at sea.