So has anyone actually tried this thing of installing a red Glass 1157/2057/2357 bulb in there tail light with a red lenses ? Did it make a noticeable difference ? Or was it a safety hazard ? just asking.
I am not familiar with the bulb in question but back when we used to use red bulbs because the lens was broken when we finally got a new lens the red bulbs were not as bright as the white ones.
I guess you can get the bulbs at ebay and some motorcycle guys use them. The deal is, that the red bulb used with a red lenses will make a( "fuller?/richer?") red wavelength to your eye ??? I was just wondering if anyone has actually tried this ?
Well when I told you what happened when we replaced the lens that should have clued you to the fact that we tried it. Maybe a modern bulb like an LED used behind euro lenses would be brighter that an old incandescent bulb.
Bingo. The winner. A fuller brighter , richer wavelength ? Nonsense. Try looking at a light through a tinted pair of sunglasses. Then add another pair of sunglasses and see if the light looks brighter. Good grief, the intelligence level of some questions
I asked this question because of information that I read at www.superbrightleds.com/cb/car.lens_color.html . The information is about automotive LED bulbs, and not standard incandesent bulbs. But after read the information about the LEDs I thought why not ask a unintelligent question, about the possibility of a red 1157 in a red lens could have the same effect? So maybe the level of intelligence of the question..might be more than the answer ? But then again what would the people at www .superbrightleds.com know about the color of bulbs, and what lens works best ? As I said they were talking about LEDs and not a bulb like an 1157. Thanks to the rest of you for your reply's.
a filament bulb has more colors in the spectrum vs a led which is tight on the color . also the light is more spread out ( reflected ) vs the tight focus a LEd has . have used red bulbs behind red lemses and it makes no improvement . but a white Led the light was dimmer behind a red lense vs a red LED
This is correct for LED bulbs. I took a couple of my 56 Chevy Lenses to a local auto parts store and was able to compare the visibility with a white LED and a red LED. The red LED bulb was more visible with the solid plastic lens. My other lens was a blue dot and neither color LED bulb would work well. My 37 Chevy had glass lenses which are small and when the sun is behind you they were not very visible even though I also had reflective diffusers in the light fixtures. These were also blue dots lenses which I replaced with red plastic lenses and red LED bulbs. They were much better but I did find that the distance between the LED bulb and the lens can also make a difference. My final decision was to install the LED lenses which I got from Rodworx. I am also considering a similar upgrade for my 56. This turned out to be the best and safest solution for me even though I had to give up the blue dots. which I have run on many of my cars the past 40 years.
I don't like LED lights. Something about em, not "realistic" enough for me. If you do wish to make your stock lights brighter it's best to go back to the basics. Paint the inside of the housing flat white. Night and day difference.
Maybe someone has already mentioned it but, the LED bulbs generally project the light in a very narrow band (brighter perhaps) whereas a conventional bulb projects it much wider. I'm not a fan of the LEDs though I have used them on occasion, in a pinch. Ron Francis and others have marketed so called "Brite Bulbs" over the years which diffuse the light like a conventional (eg.1157) bulb, but the filament creates a much brighter light.
I like the analogy of two pairs of sunglasses. A white light bulb, either an 1156/7 or an LED, puts out a more or less full spectrum of visible light. When this light passes through a filter such as a red tail light lens, the lens absorbs, or blocks, all of the color spectra except red. Any color filter, be it sunglasses, photography camera filters, theatrical color media, or a tail light lens will have a transmission rating, that specifies what percentage of the light source is able to pass through the filter. This can be both an aggregate rating or ratings for various portions of the color spectra. The red lens may pass 90% of the red wavelength, while only passing 10% of the green wavelength. If you double your filter density by using both a red lens and a red coating on a lamp or tail light bulb, then you will lower the total light transmission, even though both filters are passing and blocking roughly the same color frequencies. Gee, ain't light physics and color theory fun? Later, Kinky6 Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Im running a red bulb behind a red lens. I dont see it as any difference in brightness. My hope was that it would make my plastic blue dot illuminate better.... it doesnt. Plastic blue dots suck. That is what I learned from it. The good part of a plastic blue dot sucking, cops dont pull me over.
Gearhead, if you have a red tail lamp, you are putting red light (w/ no blue) through a blue dot, the blue dot won't show well because it has the wrong light color. If you use a white lamp, you will have red spectrum for the red lens, and blue spectrum for the blue dot. That way they'll both look right. To expand on this, if you start with a white light source (i.e., all colors combined), the red lens will only allow the red light to pass through it, while the blue dot will only allow the blue light wavelengths to pass through it, while blocking the red and all other light wavelengths. K6 Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The red lens will cancel the red light from the bulb and there will be no light at all. At least that's what the voices in my head say.
Its actually the opposite; the red lens will "pass" red light only, and will "block", or capture all other wavelengths of the white light spectrum. K6
I thank those of you that gave some real information. There's no such thing as a stupid question...well you guys know the rest. Thanks
I recently installed an LED into a 56 Ford rear antenna. The antenna has a red base near the body that the customer wanted lit up. I played around with a red, a clear and a white LED. The red looked the best shining thru the red base. I also used a 120 * view angle LED to get the maxium display of the color. I say red on red! Oldmics
.............................Where did you find those 120 degree LEDs? Are they available to replace 1157s? Thanks....................Don.
Here ya go. You will need a bezel to fabricate a mount for the LED.They have green also http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/25-5768
There is a dude in England with a large range of halogen bulbs to replace std bulbs so idiots can see you (hopefully) these are to me a better choice to LED as I think they look shitty but they are getting better. You'd have to google the halogen bulb guy, probably others about.....
Won't the halogens put out more heat also? I tested some Advance Auto leds in the sedan and found the tail light or stop light put out the same amount of light, so they were definaitely not correct. I just use the heavy duty 1157 incandesents and paint the inside flat white as mentioned above. Doing the same for the coupster and the turn signals will work well too.
for tail lights I have been building some boards with the surface mounts LEDS as they are a 180* lense and work quite well plus they are thin , get them from superbright .
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