What LED digits color You like? <poll inside>

[001]

What LED digits color You like?
For Power Supply, counters, volmeters?

[Muttley Snickers]

I cannot find it now but somebody recently posted an image of a bench meter which had an orange seven segment display, it was the best I have ever seen so I need to go find that picture again.

I voted for orange.

[capt bullshot]

I cannot find it now but somebody recently posted an image of a bench meter which had an orange seven segment display, it was the best I have ever seen so I need to go find that picture again.

That might be one of the Datron 1061 or similar:

[RoGeorge]

NOT blue. Blue is the worst color for a display. I will also avoid white. The rest are OK.

Your poll should allow to pick more than one color.

[capt bullshot]

That kind of white is acceptable:


Otherwise, I second the opinion blue and white LED displays are not acceptable. Blue LED displays hurt my eyes.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Yellow, orange, and red.

[bloguetronica]

Red is a classic. But I tend to favor orange and yellow (or orange yellow) too.

Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

[Fungus]

Blue LED displays hurt my eyes.

I think it depends almost 100% on the brightness.

Retro red LEDs tend to be dim so they're relaxing.

Anybody who puts modern blue LEDs on anything is usually the sort of person who makes them far too bright. Bright blue makes eyes hurt. Dim blue? That can be OK.

Same goes for green. Dim green is quite nice, bright green isn't.

Really bright red is probably horrible, too.

Whatever you choose: Add a brightness control. 

[GreyWoolfe]

Almost everything is red except the GW Instek GDM-8251A meter, it's green.  It's not a dim green nor a bright green but sort of in the middle.  I like it but I prefer red.  Interestingly about blue, Mrs GreyWoolfe's Hyundai Sonata has blue LEDs in the center console.  Set at the right level, it is actually quite nice and I like it.  At full brightness, not so much, it is painful as Fungus says.

[emece67]

.

[JPortici]

Orange = Best color ever.
Lecroy, anybody ?

Also, my old car (fiat grande punto) had all the instrumentation lights orange. One of the few things i miss from that car

But since there was no option for orange i voted for white
My new car (skoda octavia) has all the instrumentation with the white LEDs, the monochrome display is white on black, too. Very pleasing to my eyes. Many times more pleasing that the red they use in the volkswagen assembly of the instrumentation cluster

Mrs GreyWoolfe's Hyundai Sonata has blue LEDs in the center console.

one friend of mine has a honda but for the life of me i can't remember the model. The instrumentation cluster is a bit strange and many blue lights inside. The first time i went in i was somewhat puzzled (and kept looking around for cops.. damn blue lights ) but after a bit i liked it. futuristic... in a good sense!

[james_s]

That might be one of the Datron 1061 or similar:

Those aren't LED though, they're Sperry neon 7-segment displays. Unique and very attractive displays, but the lifespan is finite and replacements are virtually impossible to find.

[bitseeker]

That might be one of the Datron 1061 or similar:

Those aren't LED though, they're Sperry neon 7-segment displays. Unique and very attractive displays, but the lifespan is finite and replacements are virtually impossible to find.

Also goes by the trademark, Panaplex. Very cool displays but, like VFD, they don't last. I still like 'em, though.

I cannot find it now but somebody recently posted an image of a bench meter which had an orange seven segment display, it was the best I have ever seen so I need to go find that picture again.

Might you be referring to this HP 3457A conversion (click image to enlarge)?



I really like the yellow LEDs for that meter.

So, to answer the poll question, for me the color depends on the device it's going into.

[Bud]

Orange is missing from the vote list. My choice is Orange.

[Gyro]

Yep, Orange (the colours are a lot closer than they look in the photo). Orange LEDs look very nice too though.

Those aren't LED though, they're Sperry neon 7-segment displays. Unique and very attractive displays, but the lifespan is finite and replacements are virtually impossible to find.

Their finite lifespan is considerably longer than VFD though, although to be fair, they will probably already have lived a very long time!

[Sylvi]

Hi

I do not understand the fashion for blue lights on everything?

Blue is actually a very difficult colour for us to see and it often sort of vibrates. This is really bad when you have blue lights on the front of a grey or black vehicle since the light is almost like a cloaking device.

AMBER is the best display colour as it has the same soft appeal as neon.

[tautech]

Nipple pink of breast flesh white ! 


I know, I'll grab my hat and coat.....bye.

[DaJMasta]

I've always liked the sort of amber yellow, and for lower light situations, green is good too.  You can't really go wrong unless your blues/whites are so bright they leave afterimages when you look away....

[tkamiya]

I like every color EXCEPT for RED.  When placed behind a red plastic, contrast is too low to see well.  I have a B&K DVM like this.  I think human eyes are less sensitive to reds as well.  I understand, that's why, cockpit of small aircraft are often illuminated with red.  Your eyes does not adjust to red much, so your night vision is unaffected to watch for traffic.

[rf-loop]

Orange - amber.

In some special cases, dark red (if necessary keep eyes very well adapted to deep darkness)

If I see the blue LED. I know it works with smoke. When I take out the smoke it will no longer work.

[mmagin]

I would generally prefer any of amber, yellow, green.  Red isn't bad but the eye is a lot less sensitive at those wavelengths.  With blue, I find it harder to focus on it in some lighting conditions, the eye is also less sensitive, and if it's bright enough it can mess with circadian rhythms if viewed at night.

[001]

yea
I hate blue LEDs too! Who is evil inventor of blue LED indicators? But I see blue LEDs are popular in Asia - see car examples above and all crap audios from  ebay

What about amber and orange? I write 'yelow' in the pool since it is the basicaly same orange/amber LEDs but in high bright mode
Looks attractive but why industrial meters didn`t use them? Is it for some ergonomix problems?

[David Hess]

Anything is generally acceptable except blue.  Blue can die in a fire.

[james_s]

Their finite lifespan is considerably longer than VFD though, although to be fair, they will probably already have lived a very long time!

In either case it depends on how hard they're driven. I have a VFD based alarm clock that has been in service for over 30 years and the display still looks nice. It's not quite as bright as a new one but it's perfectly usable. The neon based displays can last a long time too if you under-drive them a bit. Panaplex is the name for the multi-segment displays that are internally wired for multiplexed drive.

[David Hess]

Their finite lifespan is considerably longer than VFD though, although to be fair, they will probably already have lived a very long time!

In either case it depends on how hard they're driven. I have a VFD based alarm clock that has been in service for over 30 years and the display still looks nice. It's not quite as bright as a new one but it's perfectly usable. The neon based displays can last a long time too if you under-drive them a bit. Panaplex is the name for the multi-segment displays that are internally wired for multiplexed drive.

Controlling the drive by itself is not enough.  VFDs and neon displays suffer from electrode sputtering which eventually makes the less used electrodes dim and fail.  Test patterns can be used to minimize or reverse this.