RyanWell this is interesting...
A meter of red LEDs and a meter of yellow LEDs, identical specs, on identical batteries.
The red LEDs went out after 10 hours, the yellow LEDs are still going after 15 hours.
Wat.
Cassidy Curtis@yantor3d Ooh ooh, I think I know why! Apparently, in order to make an LED that looks really red to the human eye, the frequency needs to be on the very edge of the visible spectrum, so it won’t activate your “green” cones (whose region of sensitivity overlaps with the “red” ones.) But your sensitivity to light at that frequency is much lower than in the center— so the LED needs to emit much more light to seem equally bright to the human eye.
@otherthings Fascinating! That would explain why the reds LEDs look dimmer, even at full power.
But, I just plugged red, yellow, and white LEDs into a power meter with a 12V power supply - here's what I found.
Red draws 3000mAh
Yellow draws 4000mAh
White draws 3500mAh
So wouldn't the red last the longest?
@yantor3d Haha, you've got me there -- I know next to nothing about electronics, but it sure sounds like you're right... maybe the batteries are to blame after all?
@otherthings Could be. Could be the LED controller in between the battery and the light.
The yellow light is still going - it might make 24 hours. Once it goes out, I'm going to recharge the batteries, swap the lights, and re-run the test.