LED diffusion

LED diffusion
For better LED diffusion J have paint the led in white color,this is very simple but
useful.

Step 1 Paint the led

Paint the led with brush in white color and after is dry,the led you can use it for something you want to light with diffusion.

Comments

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[usLEDsupply]

there are lots of ways to diffuse a led (sanding, covering with glue, grinding, sticking it in a ping pong ball, etc...) but in doing so you are reducing the output sometimes to almost nothing:-( if you are looking for a nice even light without hot spots get some 3528 or 5060 SMD leds (you can find them in 12v strips or 12v mini modules or you can even get them individuality but you will need to take care to provide the correct power in that case) either way if you want a nice even light you can't beat them

if you are looking for a spot then go with a polished led or one with a reflector or lens

[tinkerunique]

May be overkill but for "mood lighting in my truck I added a resistor, and went over the LED's with a wire wheel on my Dremel, THEN notched a "V" in the top of the lens to eliminate the focus & spread out the light pattern more. Mounted out of sight under the dash, the floor lit up without the 4 blue spots earlier on the floor.

[kadris3]

another way of diffusing an led is 600 grit sandpaper on the end of the lense. do three swipes in one direction, then turn the led 90 degrees and give it three more swipes. repeat if necessary. unclecytheledguy.

[hapman9]

ok im new so what exactly does defusion do??/??????

[macobt]

the difrents between painted led,and ordinary led is that the painted led shine evrywhere(diffusion), ordinary led shine in one direction.see the pictures

[zeroemission]

DIFFUSION basically means "scattering light" eg. the diffused light on a cloudy day prevents shadows.

[The Ideanator]

"the diffused light on a cloudy day prevents shadows."
Uhh, I hate to interrupt, but there are shadows on cloudy days, they're just less apparent because the light isn't as directed as on sunny days.

[zeroemission]

um, i hate to interrupt you, but you just DEFINED diffused, and on a TRULY cloudy day, which you might not get where you're from, you really DON'T get shadows because the light is so diffused you can't even tell where the sun is so basically, everything is lit from all directions. the entire sky becomes one evenly lit overhead light. sure, if you hold your hand 1/4" off the ground there will be a shadow under your hand, but standing up, you will not see your body casting a shadow.

there's a difference between "some light clouds in the sky" and a TRULY dense cloudy day in a low elevation. i grew up in central new york where you rarely see patches of blue sky and even when you do, it's a dull blue/grey. when it gets cloudy there, the light really does get diffused.

[kikiclint]

sanding the led will make it diffuse as well, as well as let more light through.  You could even sand it into different shapes.

[The Ideanator]

I was just about to say that.

[Articas]

i notice your following ohms law with that resistor

[eyerobot]

A round blob of glue from a glue gun on the tip of an LED,  achieves the same effect.  The problem is that any diffusion of light will show you just how weak these LED's are.

I was thinking of using multiple LED's aimed at one diffuser, Such as the hot glue blob, Or some sort of crystal.  The idea being to eventually replace incandescant lights, With something equally as strong, And that has a wide dispersal angle.

But im also at the mercy of mail order shipping schedules, Before I can attempt this further.

Throw some painting techniques in this instructible, And that help message should vanish.  Good idea though.

[He11uvaCook]

Why not use a (few) thin coat(s) of white-out??  Seems like it would allow you to apply as much as needed to diffuse the light as necessary. 

[macobt]

Nice idea.

[zeroemission]

people have used glues like superglue to diffuse light through plastics too. i used the sandpaper technique on the bezel of a bike tail light too, but it would be harder on LEDs.

[inlikeflint]

Great idea... Standard household lightbulbs have some sort of white paint like sustance on the inside of the bulb. I am off to look for semi- transparent spray paint now. 

[and-reas]

Very good idea! I'm gonna use this in a ledcube or someting for sure.

What kind of paint did you use?

[hammy10809]

you could just dip it in the paint

[notveryreal]

Pretty good idea.

[s1]

Fine grade (2000 grit) wet and dry carborundum paper works extremely well, causes almost no loss of light output. Less work but harmful to environment, dip the water-clear LED in MEK , quickly withdraw and allow to dry.

[Soksume]

I find sanding with a fine grit sandpaper like 400 grit works wonderfully

[el triste13]

i just bought them on ebay 100 for $10yeah but its only five colors

[sandos]

I think one downside to this approach is efficiency, if you care about that: the paint will likely block most of the light output! Still a nice simple idea. Ive tried sanding 5mm LEDs to diffuse them, and that didn't really work too well.

[nidobrito]

Awesome!XD

[sweetnes22]

Thats a great idea ive been looking for a way to do this for months but i havent found a good way untill now =)