Coloring LED strips?

[takaaaa]

Greetings,
So I have a bit of a problem. I ordered a long roll of LED strips. its the RGB multi color LED strip and I mainly needed orange, which it doesnt have (only yellow). I got a refund and got to keep the roll. Im on a deadline and cant order a new roll. So Im thinking of ways to change it to orange.
Its "water proof" so it has the clear, silicone-like material over it, but I believe its only "water proof" until you want to cut it shorter.

So I have a few question for electronic buffs. I want them as bright as possible so as little diffusion as possible. I have colored clear material (acrylic, polycarb, etc) before with fabric dye with great results, and Im willing to give it a try with this, but of course I will have to submerge it in hot water for 2-5mins. Now I was told, as long as I let it completely dry out, then dry out more in rice or silica packs that the LEDs will be fine. Does that sound correct to you guys?

Another option is using orange tint spray I have but its pretty strong tinting and will greatly dim the LEDs.

What other option would you all suggest? I will be using about 32 feet of strips and time is not on my side..

 

[Gixxerfool]

Do you have a link? Are the waterproof or water resistant? Are these addressable LEDs or pre colored?

 

[robstyle]

Unfortunately with the basic RGB LED strips your limited to set color tones. The orange or "amber" color obviously your best off sourcing that stand alone color. Amazon has one day shipping.

I assume youre using 5050 strips and not 3528.

For using what you have, look at lighting gel (gel sheets, gel filters, gel role...) but youre right back to light loss due to diffusion. One other issue youll be dealing with is the output of those RGB LEDS and consistency vs flickering if this is to be used on camera. To get that "orange" or any color multiple LEDs are used (Red Green Blue) and not all are dialed in. The brightest output you will get is white. Start there then work up to the orange/amber with gels. My gut feeling is youll be adding multiple strips of LED's where you budgeted for one individual strip to get the light output youre after. There are gels designed for less diffusion.

 

[takaaaa]

Do you have a link? Are the waterproof or water resistant? Are these addressable LEDs or pre colored?

Some roll off ebay but its already precolored and wired. The add says "waterproof" but I wouldnt trust it can withstand water too long. But it does have that silicone coating on top that Im going to try orange plastic stain instead of fabric dye it.

Unfortunately with the basic RGB LED strips your limited to set color tones. The orange or "amber" color obviously your best off sourcing that stand alone color. Amazon has one day shipping.

I assume youre using 5050 strips and not 3528.

For using what you have, look at lighting gel (gel sheets, gel filters, gel role...) but youre right back to light loss due to diffusion. One other issue youll be dealing with is the output of those RGB LEDS and consistency vs flickering if this is to be used on camera. To get that "orange" or any color multiple LEDs are used (Red Green Blue) and not all are dialed in. The brightest output you will get is white. Start there then work up to the orange/amber with gels. My gut feeling is youll be adding multiple strips of LED's where you budgeted for one individual strip to get the light output youre after. There are gels designed for less diffusion.

Yeah they have set tones that cant be changed so Im planning on changing the silicone coating on top which makes it "waterproof" so Im going to be coloring that. Just trying to figure out some other options to color the silicone gel coating. Im assuming its silicone, which in the past never took color too well, so I was thinking of fabic dye but the more I think about it, the ore I think it wont work and will try plastic stain or last resort is tint spray but that diffuses it a lot. It will work but be too dimming, so looking for more options that I missed.

 

[takaaaa]

as I thought, plastic stain did not work too well on the gel coating hahaha orange tint spray is my last resort haha

 

[kruleworld]

I would have used Acrylic orange clear paint from Tamiya. it's used by modelers to replicate amber taillights so should work. just keep applying coats until it's dark enough.

 

[robstyle]

I dont think any amount of colorant added to the silicone itself will get the color youre after without severely defusing the light output. As shown above the old skool way was to tint incandescent bulbs by coloring the glass. With LED's anything coating the surface, as prior mentioned, negatively affects the light output. Youre wanting to change the color yet keep light output as a maximum. One of those is going to give. If you are completely dead set on coloring a surface to tint the light, try coloring an alternate surface then shine the light through it. This again comes back to lighting gel but maybe something you have on hand will fill in for the plastic sheet that you can color.

And yes, they should say "water resistant" vs "water proof".

 

[Rik1138]

Nah, the silicon coated ones like he has in the picture are pretty water proof. I've used them under water with no problem. Anywhere you cut them obviously is not longer water proof, but a big glob of hot glue after you solder fixes that...

They may not be permanently waterproof as the silicon degrades rather quickly with exposure to sunlight and probably other chemicals, (by quickly I mean months...) and will start to peel and crack... But for short applications with new LEDs, they'll work underwater.

As for coloring them, I would think if they make something like strips of colored plastic (like light gels) you could put over it would work the quickest. Not sure you will get the color you want, but it might be easier than trying to paint 32 feet of silicon...

 

[takaaaa]

I would have used Acrylic orange clear paint from Tamiya. it's used by modelers to replicate amber taillights so should work. just keep applying coats until it's dark enough.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Nx81YdvIL._SX342_.jpg

Ahhh this was another option I thought of. But I always had problem when painting on silicone. Do you know if this will paint well on silicone?

Nah, the silicon coated ones like he has in the picture are pretty water proof. I've used them under water with no problem. Anywhere you cut them obviously is not longer water proof, but a big glob of hot glue after you solder fixes that...

They may not be permanently waterproof as the silicon degrades rather quickly with exposure to sunlight and probably other chemicals, (by quickly I mean months...) and will start to peel and crack... But for short applications with new LEDs, they'll work underwater.

As for coloring them, I would think if they make something like strips of colored plastic (like light gels) you could put over it would work the quickest. Not sure you will get the color you want, but it might be easier than trying to paint 32 feet of silicon...

Ahhh so they can go under water well. So maybe I will try use fabric dye on a small sealed strip and see how it goes. would be less headache to just soak it in color than paint for sure haha.

 

[cavx]

You should be able to select the colour you want by biasing the colours of the LEDs themselves.

Normally the colours cycle through from Red to Blue. As they change red becomes "orange-ish"on its way to yellow. If it is possible to isolate colours and bias them, you can get any colour you want. Remember, we see in three primary colours and those three primaries make the billions of colours we can see. These LED strips typically display primaries and secondaries, but could display any colour. It just a case of how much is each is added and how bright each is.

Red > Yellow > Green > Cyan > Blue > Magenta > Red is the normal sequence. To get your orange, you would need to bias yellow towards red, so instead of yellow being equal parts of red and green, you would need something like 2/3 red and 1/3 green. .

 

[Rik1138]

Depending on the controller you have for them, 'orange' is one of the options on the remote... Or if you can tweak the R, G and B manually, you should be able to get a good orange out of it like that...

 

[propmaster2000]

If your controller remote has a DIY button, you can add the colors (RGB) individually and brightness as you need.

Orange would be the combination of red and green. Turn the red all the way up for full brightness then start adding
the green in increments until you achieve the color you like. The color increases in "steps" of brightness.
There would be no blue.