How to test light bulbs to see what color light they produce?

[gary350]

What color light comes from each type of light bulb? Online search shows nothing I probably not using the correct words for word search?

Is there a way to test light from each type of light bulb to see what type light is being produced?

College class I recall teacher said, a mix of several different type light bulbs will produce light much closer to sun light. Incandescent lights are mostly red light. Fluorescent lights are mostly blue. I have a quarts light how can I test it to see what colors it produces?

 

[Diver300]

There all sorts of devices to measure the light. You can have a optical spectrometer which allows you to see the spectrum, and there are colour meters that show you how close the overall balance is to white. There are colour meter apps.

 

[alec_t]

Datasheets for the lights should give their colour temperature rating. The higher the temperature the bluer the light output.

 

[schmitt trigger]

If the "quartz light" you are referring is a halogen incandescent, which is housed in a quartz bulb? Those are the ones that spectral-wise are the closest to the illuminant D, which is cloudless daylight.

That is the reason halogen incandescents are the preferred artificial light source in art museums, as they render the colors the truest.

 

[gary350]

If the "quartz light" you are referring is a halogen incandescent, which is housed in a quartz bulb? Those are the ones that spectral-wise are the closest to the illuminant D, which is cloudless daylight.

That is the reason halogen incandescents are the preferred artificial light source in art museums, as they render the colors the truest.

My quarts light is a 400 watt shop light it looks like a glass tube about 6" long.

I have seen halogen incandescent lights at Dollar store and Lowe's. I put 2 in the living room it is much brighter than before.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

My quarts light is a 400 watt shop light it looks like a glass tube about 6" long.

I have seen halogen incandescent lights at Dollar store and Lowe's. I put 2 in the living room it is much brighter than before.

This isn't the 1960's

What's wrong with using modern efficient LED lighting? - more light for 10% of the power.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Look here https://www.hunker.com/13412740/incandescent-vs-fluorescent-light-spectrum and here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_mass_(solar_energy) for some insight.

I put together a system to do QE (Quantum efficiency) measurements for solar cells. it measured the solar cells response to different wavelengths.

You would probably have to capture the light of a bulb with an integrating sphere and know the relative response of the monochrometer and feed that to a pyroelectric detector.

The QE measurement system took a "reference" of wavelength vs optical power. It had an integrated chopper amplifier.

Then the measurement system incorporated a white light source, a monochometer, it;s own chopper, the solar cell and a I-V converter.
A QE of 1 is 100% of the incoming light is captured at that specific wavelength. Using the stored reference, you can get the amout of light converted t converted to energy at each wavelength.

You can integrate the QE curve with the solar cell spectra and actually compute Jsc.

 

[shortbus=]

This isn't the 1960's

What's wrong with using modern efficient LED lighting? - more light for 10% of the power.

I thought this was for his "day light" panel? The pseudo science cure for SAD(seasonal affect disorder). I think he wants to light the whole house this way, when anything I've ever read about it says sitting in front of one for less than an hour will work.

But I agree if doing this for myself it would be using different wave length LEDs to make a panel, one like they make for grow lights that imitate sunlight. But maybe he is wanting to heat his house while using the lights too.

 

[gary350]

This isn't the 1960's

What's wrong with using modern efficient LED lighting? - more light for 10% of the power.

Do LED lights make real light like plant grow lights? I am growing 106 tomato plants in the house I need real sunlight soon as seeds sprout.

I had LED lights in all the house light fixtures. Wife says lights are not bright enough. I put Y adapters in the light sockets to get 2 LED lights in each fixture. Wife said certain lights still are not bright enough now I have 1 LED & 1 Halogen light bulb in each Y adapter. Wifes bathroom light has 4 light bulbs she is good with it now. I tried 2 Y adapters inside living room light fixture but no room for 4 bulbs inside that round white color glass globe.

 

[Reloadron]

Well you can do a Google of "color temperature sensor" and find everything from cheap off the boat sensors with assorted outputs to expensive sensors or you can Google "color temperature meter" and find all sorts of off the shelf turn key solutions.

As to the tomato plants? A Google of "tomato plant grow lights" will bring up LED lighting tailored for tomato plants. Tomato plants in my experience like at least 8 hours of light per day and warm environment. Mine always fare well with warm humid evenings, warm being 70 F or better.

I had LED lights in all the house light fixtures. Wife says lights are not bright enough. I put Y adapters in the light sockets to get 2 LED lights in each fixture. Wife said certain lights still are not bright enough now I have 1 LED & 1 Halogen light bulb in each Y adapter. Wifes bathroom light has 4 light bulbs she is good with it now. I tried 2 Y adapters inside living room light fixture but no room for 4 bulbs inside that round white color glass globe.

Listen to she who must be obeyed.

I use LED floods in the kitchen and pantry and they do just fine for illumination. I like the warm verse daylight but whatever trips your trigger. The garage is 24 wide by 32 deep and I use all LED lighting and the place is plenty bright, 4200 Lumens at 5000K Daylight White. They hardly use any power which is cool and they run cool. Currently 10 of them flood the garage.

Ron

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Do LED lights make real light like plant grow lights? I am growing 106 tomato plants in the house I need real sunlight soon as seeds sprout.

I suspect growth rate is more linked to light intensity than just colour.

I'm several decades out of date on the subject, but I think photosynthesis works by energy input from light breaking molecular bonds and allowing different molecules to be formed.

How fast that can happen is surely based on light intensity or power levels?

As a parallel, consider the output from solar panels in direct sunlight to the same panels in artificial light - you are dropping from 1000W+ per square metre area of input power in sunlight to a few tens of watts per square metre at best in artificial light.

I think you may find raw power of light is the key to proper plant growth, not just the type of lamp.

I do know for a fact that two identical plants have massively different growth rates if one is in a light area but never quite in direct sun and another does get direct sunlight for a few hours a day!

 

[BobW]

I suspect growth rate is more linked to light intensity than just colour.

It's a combination of both. There are certain wavelengths of light that are conducive to plant growth (one in the green region for photosynthesis, and another in the long ultraviolet). Other wavelengths are mostly a waste of energy. I worked on the design of a plant biotech lab many years ago, and we had to design the lighting for a number of "plant growth chambers" (basically greenhouses that have completely artificial lighting). In their previous installations, they had used some much older tech lighting that was very inefficient. I suggested that modern (at that time) HID lighting might be better. HID, or high intensity discharge, was the general term for mercury vapour, metal halide, and high pressure sodium. I figured that metal halide might be acceptable, because it had been designed to have a broader colour spectrum. (Compare this with the old mercury vapour street lighting that has it's main spectral components in the green and blue end of the spectrum. Why humans perceive this as white, is a tribute to the brain's ability to cope.) After reviewing the info on metal halide, they approved it, and that's what we went with.

There are a number of specifications that can be confusing. For example: colour temperature. That's the parameter that distinguishes between warm white, cool white, and daylight, etc. A more important parameter is the colour rendering index (CRI). The old cool white fluorescents had a bad CRI, and the warm whites were even worse. These used one or two phosphors that had a couple of narrow wavelength peaks that gave a general impression of white. If you were doing work that required critical colour discrimination, like evaluating colour photographs or artwork, they were completely inadequate. Then, they came out with what has now become known as "full spectrum" lamps, and these are very much better.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Do LED lights make real light like plant grow lights? I am growing 106 tomato plants in the house I need real sunlight soon as seeds sprout.

I had LED lights in all the house light fixtures. Wife says lights are not bright enough. I put Y adapters in the light sockets to get 2 LED lights in each fixture. Wife said certain lights still are not bright enough now I have 1 LED & 1 Halogen light bulb in each Y adapter. Wifes bathroom light has 4 light bulbs she is good with it now. I tried 2 Y adapters inside living room light fixture but no room for 4 bulbs inside that round white color glass globe.

As LED bulbs are considerably brighter than incandescent ones, you're obviously using too small LED bulbs - why not just buy decent size LED bulbs rather than mess about with Y adaptors?.

 

[shortbus=]

why not just buy decent size LED bulbs rather than mess about with Y adaptors?.

They don't sell them at a dollar store.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

They don't sell them at a dollar store.

Why buy crap?, buy decent bulbs instead

If you're buying bulbs that don't last very long, and cost ten times as much to run, then it's not a very cheap deal.

 

[shortbus=]

Why buy crap?, buy decent bulbs instead

Seems to me almost everything he gets is either dollar store or Harbor freight, batteries, etc.

I have seen halogen incandescent lights at Dollar store

 

[Reloadron]

Buy once and cry once. I put those LED lamps in the kitchen and pantry areas years ago. They burn 24/7 the past two years and I have yet to replace a lamp. Each in 3 lamp fixtures is the equivalent of a 75 watt incandescent lamp and were worth every penny I paid for them. Which brings us to how many lumens lamps did you use that you needed to double them up? Give or take a little a 75 watt incandescent bulb is approximately 1100 lumens. The same light is about a 9 to 13 watt lamp. This is not very complicated and choose the color temperature based on what you find visually pleasing.

Ron

 

[Visitor]

Why buy crap?, buy decent bulbs instead

At the risk of being banned (again) for disagreeing with a "super moderator", the bulbs currently sold at "Dollar Stores" are state of the art, using a line-level active regulator chip.

JonSea took one of these bulbs apart in this and the following forum posts.

The problem with moderately-priced LED bulbs has been that nothing over 60 watts(equivalent) has been available. Larger bulbs commanded a much higher price than 40w or 60w equivalent bulbs. This situation has started to change recently. Being an early adopter, I modified some large table lamps to accommodate four horizontal bulbs on one circuit and a 5th vertical bulb on a separate circuit when lower light levels are desired.

 

[Reloadron]

Eco-Smart, Cree and others are all marketing 60, 75 and 100 Watt equivalent lamps available in any home improvement store or online. Here are a few examples and the cost has come down. I just prefer a warmer color than daylight but there are plenty to be had and relatively inexpensive.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

At the risk of being banned (again) for disagreeing with a "super moderator", the bulbs currently sold at "Dollar Stores" are state of the art, using a line-level active regulator chip.

You don't get banned for 'disagreeing', I welcome polite discussion - you get banned for been abusive and ignoring warnings.

As for dollar shop bulbs, from what was said I presumed LED bulbs weren't even available?, and if they were I'm dubious as to their quality. Certainly over here, Pound shop products are low quality as you would expect for the price, with the odd exception where they buy in bankrupt stock.