I have rigged up my deck compass with LEDs for a light source. I used 2 1300 mCD (orange) LEDs from Radio Shack, a 47 ohm resistor, a nine volt battery connector, some epoxy, and duct tape. The power source can be either a 9 volt battery or a rechargable 12 volt gel cell. I wired the two LEDs and resistor in series and used a 9 volt battery connector. I potted the LEDs and the resistor in epoxy, sanded the end down to fit it under the glare shield on my Richie Angler compass and put it on the boat. For the field trial for visibility I used a 9 volt battery. For a longevity trial I used a 1.2 AH 12 volt gel cell battery. Both batteries provided adequate light output when the LEDs were located above the compass. Gel Cell had lasted 24 hours when I terminated the test. When I first tried LEDs I put the them below the compass where the manufacturer had an incandescent bulb, that location did not illuminate the numbers on the compass well enough for my eyes to read the numbers. The instructions for sizing the resistor were found on the web. If there is a paddlewiser with circuit design knowledge she may be able to explain how to design a circuit for multiple green LEDs that will work with readily availabe power sources. I have also used small glow sticks that are sold for fishing bobber illumination as compass lights, the work for about 3 hours before they are too dim to be useful. Dana Dickson <snip> > Subject: [Paddlewise] Night Vision > > G'Day, > > Chuck thanks for pointing to the article - they seem to be > having quite a > debate on the subject. At the end of the article he suggests a simple > exeriment comparing different colored LED's. But as well as > the color of > the light what about the intensity rating of the LED? Is a > standard LED > bright enough to read maps by? Is an ultrabright LED too > bright? I followed > the LED discussion a while ago with a lot of interest in the > context of > night kayaking safety lights. On checking our local "Radiospares" or > "Farnell" catalogs (Do you have these in the US?) found > there was a huge > difference in the intensity of LED's available, with not > much difference in > power consumption. A standard red or yellow LED had 5mcd > intensity with > 30degree view angle. I found a range of different colored > ultrabrights with > an intensity of 250mcd at 25degrees, an ultrabright red "AlGaAs" with > 2000mcd at 20degrees, an ultrabright yellow "AllnGaPhas" > with an intensity > of 2500mcd at 10degree and an ultrabright green with 3400mcd > and 15degrees > view angle. All of them have power dissipations of about 100 > to 150mW. The > low intensity LED's cost a few cents, the high intensity > ones cost a couple > of dollars (Australian). Does anyone have experience using > such LED's for > night kayaking? Also I don't really know if it would work > but has anyone > tried using transparent rods as lenses to form sheets of > light rather than > cones - less intensity loss with distance? > > PeterO. > > On 23 Jun 1999 - Chuck Holst wrote > > >The gist of the article, published by the American > >Association of Amateur Astronomers, is that light > >intensity, not color, affects night vision most, and that > >green light is superior to red light because green light > >does not have to be as bright as red to read charts and > >instruments. Green also makes many chart colors easier > >to see. > > >I've been trying to figure out how to illuminate our deck > >compasses for night navigation. Looks like green LEDs > >might be the way to go. > <snip> *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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