Hello,
I purchased some 5mm 20ma tri color LED's, red, green, and blue. I had one already but it was a higher power device. With the higher power device i noticed that the colors do not 'mix' well because the lens was water clear. They make these LED's with three different color LED's internally, the red green and blue, and unfortunately that means they are spaced apart inside the LED. That spacing means that the light comes out of the LED at different angles and does not mix well.
The smaller ones (the 20ma ones) have a different epoxy in that it is not water clear but is foggy white which diffuses the light and makes at least some attempt to properly 'mix' the three different colors. Mixing properly would mean we could get any color of the rainbow: yellow, violet, orange, etc., as well as the three primary colors.
The problem is that even with a foggy lens the colors do not mix very well. You can see blue coming out mostly on one side (and toward the front) and red coming out the other side and green out at a different angle, more or less. You can see some mixing but not much. The result is that the colors look independent not one continuous color like yellow for example.
If i hold a piece of foam packing material (not the regular foam although that may work too) i get much better mixing. The color appears to be consistent and much more even. However, this foam is 1/4 inch thick and not very stable physically.
I was hoping others ran into this too and have some other ideas for diffusing the light.
The LED's as they are make nice indicators without a diffuser, as you can light up the red, green, and blue to indicate different modes of operation for your application. However, i would also like to get the in between colors like yellow, orange, violet, etc., which requires mixing two or more colors and that requires some sort of diffuser.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
I purchased some 5mm 20ma tri color LED's, red, green, and blue. I had one already but it was a higher power device. With the higher power device i noticed that the colors do not 'mix' well because the lens was water clear. They make these LED's with three different color LED's internally, the red green and blue, and unfortunately that means they are spaced apart inside the LED. That spacing means that the light comes out of the LED at different angles and does not mix well.
The smaller ones (the 20ma ones) have a different epoxy in that it is not water clear but is foggy white which diffuses the light and makes at least some attempt to properly 'mix' the three different colors. Mixing properly would mean we could get any color of the rainbow: yellow, violet, orange, etc., as well as the three primary colors.
The problem is that even with a foggy lens the colors do not mix very well. You can see blue coming out mostly on one side (and toward the front) and red coming out the other side and green out at a different angle, more or less. You can see some mixing but not much. The result is that the colors look independent not one continuous color like yellow for example.
If i hold a piece of foam packing material (not the regular foam although that may work too) i get much better mixing. The color appears to be consistent and much more even. However, this foam is 1/4 inch thick and not very stable physically.
I was hoping others ran into this too and have some other ideas for diffusing the light.
The LED's as they are make nice indicators without a diffuser, as you can light up the red, green, and blue to indicate different modes of operation for your application. However, i would also like to get the in between colors like yellow, orange, violet, etc., which requires mixing two or more colors and that requires some sort of diffuser.
Any ideas would be appreciated.