Ok Norm I agree ... this has always been an issue for me since I studied visual physiology a hundred years ago. At night - in low illumination - the only visual receptors that function are the rod cells of the retina. They are the cells which process brightness signals and are "color blind". The cone cells - of which there are three types - process color vision - but they are not functional at low illumination. Red light is useless as a vision preservation device. Low "white" illumination is the most effective. Jerry Peters s/v Mucho Gusto
_____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Norm of Bandersnatch Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 6:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] LED ROPE lights Relevant to using red lights at night... Although I once read a long technical essay on why red light is preferable at night, during my time in the Merchant Marine most of the night lighting was a very dim white, almost always with a dimmer on it. As time went on there was more of a move away from red lighting and toward dim white lighting.. I heard that the Navy has done the same. Many things are easier to read in white lights rather than red. I also have been confused on occasion by colored lights on a boat that were not navigation lights. White lights generally mean "do not run me down" whereas colored light show what direction the boat is headed so a case might be made that extraneous white lights would be safer. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek 30 07.695N 081 38.484W
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