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Weird idea: different sets of colours for interior lighting?

Discussion in 'Prius v Accessories and Modifications' started by Encalibur, Jul 28, 2012.

  1. Encalibur

    Encalibur New Member

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    Due to work and the inlaws living out of town, we expect to make frequent 3-4hour trips with our 9month old in the car at odd hours. He would wake up and wail when bright incandescent or white LED lights are turned on, but is oblivious to red light when he's asleep.

    So, my bright idea (pardon the pun), is to fit our car with both red and white interior lights. Maybe red for the center lights so we can turn it on as needed should we need to see but not hear a screaming baby?

    Would it be too odd though? and would the car light up pink when all the interior lights come on?
     
  2. n0na

    n0na Junior Member

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    Amateur astronomers, military personnel, and others who work in the dark and don't want to ruin their night vision use red lights for illumination. With exposure to white light, it can take 10 to 20 minutes for the eye's sensitivity in dim light returns. Dim red light doesn't affect night vision too much. My felow amateur astronomers don't find red lights "odd" and we often convert our cars, RV trailers, flashlights, etc. to red light. And, yes, white and red light will combine to form pink, though it depends on the relative brighnesses, how close to each other they are, etc. By the way, your baby may be responding to the intensity of the light more than to the color as red lights are often dimmer than white ones (because a red filter is used on a white light to produce the red color and that results in a dimmer light). If you switch to red bulbs, make sure they aren't too bright or you might not solver your problem. Good Luck.
     
  3. Encalibur

    Encalibur New Member

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    Thanks for the info! a strong case to go red
     
  4. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Cute kid!!!
    Actually on submarines we used red, blue and grey. It's been a while since I knocked holes in the ocean, but in the fire controll spaces, they used blue lighting during Battle Stations. The word on the streets at the time was that somebody (probably paid about 7-8 figures) did a study and determined that red was an "angry, aggressive color" and that blue would be more 'sooooooothing.'
    Personally?
    I think that the kids in the weapons department just wanted a different color than the OPS weenies, because they used red.
    That's the military for you.
    In the control room spaces during periscope ops, we just 'rigged for black', meaning we turned off all the overhead lights. The ambient lighting from the zillion lighted dials, gauges and such pretty much kept you from bumping into things.
    Well.
    Mostly...
    On a submarine you always bump into things!
    Finally...they figured out that if you diffused the white lighting to a veeeeery low "grey" this produced about the same results, and thusly we "rigged for grey...or rigged for cave" when it was dark topside, but we weren't actually performing periscope or surfaced operations...in case we had to go up-stairs in a hurry.
    So....my take-away is that you might be able to diffuse the white lights to a much softer grey light. Something as simple as placing a piece of paper or plastic in the bulb holder---being very careful if your lights are incandescent!!, might save you from having to play with the wiring.
    Today...there are lots of kids (meaning kids bigger than yours is) who do blue, red, green, pink, etc LED interior lighting, and this may actually look "better" (YMMV) and the kiddo might like it better.
    You never know with kids.....remember the red-versus-blue thing?
    It doesn't stop when they put down the bottle and pick up the cell phone. ;)

    Good Luck!
     
  5. Encalibur

    Encalibur New Member

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    The red light districts are red for a reason. Odd but true that particular colours can promote certain moods/emotions/actions.
    I'll see how our little pooper like the OEM lighting first, but the red light is sounding like a good idea.
     
  6. tanasit

    tanasit Member

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    First I changed my V's door light to the blue LED then later changed to the changing colored LED which gets better attention when you open the door at night so the cars coming from behind can see.