LED Safelight options?

[John Kasaian]

I got a short string of all red LED Christmas lights on end of season clearance at CVS.
No complaints & plenty of light.
Test out any you buy first, of course!
Kind of cheerful looking!

Q:What does a reindeer say before he tells a joke?
A:"This one will sliegh you!"

[Eric Woodbury]

I have used the Christmas lights. Works fine. Lots of light. During the darkroom remodel, I decided I wanted the safelights less distributed than a string, so I now use the LED bulbs noted by Bobotron. Both the red and the amber work. And for tough little spots where I want more light, I use red LEDs powered by an old wall wort (plus a resistor).

[cowanw]

I have used the Christmas lights. Works fine. Lots of light. During the darkroom remodel, I decided I wanted the safelights less distributed than a string, so I now use the LED bulbs noted by Bobotron. Both the red and the amber work. And for tough little spots where I want more light, I use red LEDs powered by an old wall wort (plus a resistor).

Wort (/ˈwɜːrt/) is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Photographically, the reference to Henry Talbot is "Henneman throw a little more of that wort in!

[Bruce Barlow]

Cheap Christmas tree lights. Dunno if they're LEDs. Don't care. They're connected to a wall switch with a dimmer.

[Eric Woodbury]

cowanw, whoops. Should be:

WART. Those little power modules that fill my drawers and bins. Chargers for old cell phones and the like.

[cowanw]

cowanw, whoops. Should be:

WART. Those little power modules that fill my drawers and bins. Chargers for old cell phones and the like.

[John Brady]

Personally, I have not met a red safelight that I like...there is a Thomas Duplex Safelight with all the filters on ebay for 125 dollars. I think that will give you a much better option. I have never had any fogging issues with mine, even with the louvres open, and they can be much brighter than any LED or red safelight I have seen. I think they create a much more pleasant working environment. They may not be as safe for certain work or processes, but I think the trade off is worth it. The biggest downside is that they are not instant on, so if you use an enlarger system with an exposure meter, it might not work for you.

So after much consideration, I chose to go the traditional route with the Thomas Duplex Safelight. Unfortunately, I missed out on the $125 one on eBay, instead I found a $25 body only plus freight. I then purchased brand new filters from freestyle and a new bulb, all in $275.

I have 14ft ceiling in my dark and my room is 14x21, I hung the light about 7ft off the floor and added a switched ceiling outlet. It takes a while for the bulb to warm up but once it does, the light this thing puts out is incredible! I am very happy that I went this route, thank you Stuart for confirming what another friend recommended to me also.

[Luis-F-S]

Have used Thomas Duplex safelights for some 30 years. Still have the original bulb in mine. I even bought a second light as a spare in case mine ever dies. You can get the bulbs much cheaper through electrical supply houses.

[Barry Kirsten]

I made a small LED safelight by converting a halogen reading lamp. I used 12 x 5mm clear LEDs with a wavelength of 660nm. Perfectly safe. I've recently bought one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/24W-Deep-Re...53.m2749.l2649 I find that they're very bright and should be used with a dimmer, which I haven't yet obtained. When I get it all together I'll do safety tests and report back.

[Tin Can]

Barry great link to a huge variety of interesting LED!

I made a small LED safelight by converting a halogen reading lamp. I used 12 x 5mm clear LEDs with a wavelength of 660nm. Perfectly safe. I've recently bought one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/24W-Deep-Re...53.m2749.l2649 I find that they're very bright and should be used with a dimmer, which I haven't yet obtained. When I get it all together I'll do safety tests and report back.