Outside Pilot light

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my first thought would be something with a clear/white lens and clear LEDs. That way there is no color at all until the light is on.
 
I don't know of any pilot lights that show up well in the sun...if you really need to see it use a small strobe warning light in place of the pilot light.
 
Im going to do a little experiment. I have these (outdoor rated) 22mm LED pilot lights, they used colored LEDs and a colored lens. The lens on the front can be unscrewed. Im out of stock of white ones, ill order some white ones in and put the lens from a white one on the body of a red one and see how well it works in the sun.
 
wireguru said:
Im going to do a little experiment. I have these (outdoor rated) 22mm LED pilot lights, they used colored LEDs and a colored lens. The lens on the front can be unscrewed. Im out of stock of white ones, ill order some white ones in and put the lens from a white one on the body of a red one and see how well it works in the sun.
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Try colored bulbs with a clear lens as well. We are starting to install run/off pilot lights at all start/stop pushbutton stations and found that with a colored lens the sun will often shine on the lens and reflect back to make it look like the light is on. With a clear lens and colored bulbs it's easy to tell if the light you're seeing is reflected from the sun or actually coming from an energized bulb since the reflected sunlight is white and the bulb is colored.

I'm at a refinery and have to deal with Class 1 Div 2 locations so we use either Crouse Hinds DSD series LED pilot lights on EDS boxes or Allen Bradley 800H push-to-test LED pilot lights on NEMA 4X panels. Both of these work fairly well and I can see the run status of motors 40-50 feet away as I drive by the process units.
 
Not directly applicable, since I am describing a component rather than a complete product suitable for your use, but:

About 4 years ago I was playing with some Luxeon 'Star' LEDs. I put 3 of the 'red-orange' leds, similar to these the LXHL-PH09 described in this datasheet: http://www.philipslumileds.com/pdfs/DS45.PDF
into a housing with wide angle diffuser. Total drive power was about 5 watts.

From about 20 feet away, in southern California, with the full sun at my back (so my eyes were adjusted to a very bright scene), the light was so bright that it was painful to look at.

If you can find suitably housed indicators made with these or similar LEDs, you will have no problem seeing them in full sunlight.

-Jon
 
jdsmith said:
Try colored bulbs with a clear lens as well. We are starting to install run/off pilot lights at all start/stop pushbutton stations and found that with a colored lens the sun will often shine on the lens and reflect back to make it look like the light is on. With a clear lens and colored bulbs it's easy to tell if the light you're seeing is reflected from the sun or actually coming from an energized bulb since the reflected sunlight is white and the bulb is colored.

I'm at a refinery and have to deal with Class 1 Div 2 locations so we use either Crouse Hinds DSD series LED pilot lights on EDS boxes or Allen Bradley 800H push-to-test LED pilot lights on NEMA 4X panels. Both of these work fairly well and I can see the run status of motors 40-50 feet away as I drive by the process units.
Click to expand...

I was going to put a white lens on the body of a colored unit. The LEDs inside are water clear, so there is no color at all until its on.
 
ptonsparky said:
I had no idea they made different colored lamps for indicator lights. Let alone colored LED.

Thanks all.
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here are some photos of the LED type I have. Theyre all plastic, but very low cost, IP65 rated (meets NEMA 4x). 24v ac/dc and 120vac. The one pictured is 120vac. As you can see the leds themselves light up red, so i was thinking of taking the white cap off a white pilot light, and putting it on this red one. That way when its on the white cap will glow red. I took the photo in a brightly lit room, I dont know if this particular one is going to be bright enough for sunlight -but the same principle would apply to another pilot light, colored light source, with white cap should eliminate false 'on' observations due to sunlight.

IMG_0922-800.jpg

IMG_0923-800.jpg

IMG_0924-800.jpg

IMG_0925-800.jpg
 
jdsmith said:
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I'm at a refinery and have to deal with Class 1 Div 2 locations so we use either Crouse Hinds DSD series LED pilot lights on EDS boxes or Allen Bradley 800H push-to-test LED pilot lights on NEMA 4X panels. Both of these work fairly well and I can see the run status of motors 40-50 feet away as I drive by the process units.
Click to expand...
I tried a few of the AB 800H LED pilots and was not impressed with their visibility in direct sunlight.
 
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