Dimming Down Red Headlight

I just bought an Energizer headband flashlight that has both a set of
white l.e.d.s and one red l.e.d. (I'm a bit tired of carrying around
my Rigel Systems Skylite in my mouth.) Only problem with this headband
light is that it's way too bright for astronomy use. Anybody come up
with a simple yet effective way of dimming the light? Masking tape
over the lens perhaps?

-Fleemo

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just bought an Energizer headband flashlight that has both a set of
white l.e.d.s and one red l.e.d. (I'm a bit tired of carrying around
my Rigel Systems Skylite in my mouth.) Only problem with this headband
light is that it's way too bright for astronomy use. Anybody come up
with a simple yet effective way of dimming the light? Masking tape
over the lens perhaps?


5K pot in series.

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 20:48:37 -0300, "jtaylor"
wrote:

5K pot in series.

Maybe. Some of these newer LED flashlights use moderately complex drive
circuits, and you can't simply current limit the LED to reduce the
intensity. I don't know anything about the model in question, though.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

A red LED light on your head will still be too bright for charts. Even if you dim it down so the chart illumination looks okay it will still shine very brightly for anyone in the area. Of course, if you observe alone this won't matter. A much dimmer handheld light that is just bright enough when held a couple inches from charts is best. Just my opinion of course.

-Florian

Use cheap red nailpolish. If you want it really good, do a couple coats of
red and one dark green. Gives a very soft glow and perfect for reading
charts

Doink
wrote in message
oups.com...
I just bought an Energizer headband flashlight that has both a set of
white l.e.d.s and one red l.e.d. (I'm a bit tired of carrying around
my Rigel Systems Skylite in my mouth.) Only problem with this headband
light is that it's way too bright for astronomy use. Anybody come up
with a simple yet effective way of dimming the light? Masking tape
over the lens perhaps?

-Fleemo

On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 11:40:28 -0700, "Doink" wrote:

Use cheap red nailpolish. If you want it really good, do a couple coats of
red and one dark green. Gives a very soft glow and perfect for reading
charts

I'd only do that as a last resort. You're just burning batteries that
way. Filtering a flashlight to reduce its brightness is the same as
driving with the pedal to the metal, and controlling your speed with the
brakes.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 11:40:28 -0700, "Doink" wrote:

Use cheap red nailpolish. If you want it really good, do a couple coats of
red and one dark green. Gives a very soft glow and perfect for reading
charts

I'd only do that as a last resort. You're just burning batteries that
way. Filtering a flashlight to reduce its brightness is the same as
driving with the pedal to the metal, and controlling your speed with the
brakes.

In that case, you could always try using half the batteries. You'd have
to get in there with a soldering iron and some wire though.

It's worth noting that this isn't really an issue with LED lights
though since they use so little power. I have a red LED keychain (it's
too bright, but I don't really get out of the city that often) that
I've had for about 6 months that just runs off an oversized watch
battery.

Ernie Dunbar wrote:
Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 11:40:28 -0700, "Doink" wrote:


Use cheap red nailpolish. If you want it really good, do a couple coats of
red and one dark green. Gives a very soft glow and perfect for reading
charts

I'd only do that as a last resort. You're just burning batteries that
way. Filtering a flashlight to reduce its brightness is the same as
driving with the pedal to the metal, and controlling your speed with the
brakes.


In that case, you could always try using half the batteries.

But half batteries tend to be messy

Florian wrote:
A red LED light on your head will still be too bright for charts. Even if you dim it down so the chart
illumination looks okay it will still shine very brightly for anyone in the area. Of course, if you
observe alone this won't matter. A much dimmer handheld light that is just bright enough when
held a couple inches from charts is best. Just my opinion of course.

Here are two of the things (besides Orion's Red Beam II) I use:

This is the Eddie Bauer "Nano"; note the size:

http://thadlabs.com/ASTRO/PIX/LED_Bauer_Nano.jpg

And here is a cigarette-lighter gooseneck LED that's just perfect for
charts and it plugs into one of my jumpstart batteries:

http://thadlabs.com/ASTRO/PIX/LED_cig_lighter_1.jpg
http://thadlabs.com/ASTRO/PIX/LED_cig_lighter_2.jpg

I bought the Nano at a local Target, and the cigarette lighter LED
either from Costco, Target, or Fry's Electronics.

This is rather getting off topic regarding the original poster's question but i also have a red LED Kensington USB light for my laptop. Is too bright for reading charts or use at the telescope but nice when entering notes into the computer at night...

http://us.kensington.com/html/1207.html

-Florian