The new Whelen amber color

[Solvarex]

So it's fairly obvious by now that Whelen is shifting to a new hue of amber for several of their products. The new amber Vertexes have them (with the clear lens) as does the LINZ6. I imagine others do as well.


I find the hue very difficult to describe. It's definitely more towards the orange side of amber but there's just something odd about it. It's almost got a hint of gold to me, kind of a bronze. All I know is I'm not fond of it. It's bright to be sure, but the hue is just...off.


Worst of all Whelen will now have no less than three shades of amber in their current product line. You've got the lemon yellow of Edge bars and beacons, the good solid amber color we know and love in TIR3s and such, and now this third shade. If you thought the blue/teal mixing was bad, just wait.


Anyone else not feelin' the new hue?

 

[HFD eng1ine]

i never noticed lol, always thought it was just the video cameras when i say light vids

 

[Core Public Safety]

You know you are surrounded by true light junkies when you describe the colors of emergency warning lights as many would a fine wine.

 

[03crownvic]

You know you are surrounded by true light junkies when you describe the colors of emergency warning lights as many would a fine wine.

Not exactly thinking about wine when describing the color of the newest Edge lenses, as they are more of a greenish "lemonade" shade of amber compared to their orange colored predecessors.

 

[bigcat]

I know what you're talking about. My department took delivery of a new apparatus this year and it has LIN6s, 700s and LINz6s on it. The LIN6s and 700s are a nice amber and the LINz6s are as you described. I took one look at them and said, "Man I'm glad I didn't buy amber LINz6s for my truck."


I also recently bought a LIN6 TA and two of the lightheads were four wire while the rest were two wire. The four wire were a noticably different shade of amber than the two wire, more lemon yellow than amber.


Not good. It was frustrating enough trying to match blue. Now I have to do it with amber too?

 

[zach3713]

You know you are surrounded by true light junkies when you describe the colors of emergency warning lights as many would a fine wine.

+1!

 

[nerdly_dood]

I don't much like either their new orange/amber LEDs, but I often find the light yellow color of their amber strobes much more annoying.

 

[C2Installs]

I've heard the "new" Whelen amber described as peach. I saw it in person this past August but haven't seen it since. It was different.

 

[Abacus]

I have to say my 2010 M7 in solid amber is an excellent vintage. In fact I couldnt be happier with the hue and its boldness. Its quite exquisite and i would readily buy another case.

 

[massfirefighter]

They went with a cheaper supplier on their amber LEDs. The Cree LEDs were more amber but Whelen went with another company's cheaper orange/amber product.

 

[Station 3]

Our 2010 Patrol Tahoe has a liberty that has the yellow highlighter pen color directional its very very bright but looks weird?

 

[Solvarex]

I've heard the "new" Whelen amber described as peach. I saw it in person this past August but haven't seen it since. It was different.

That's it. Peach is pretty much as spot on as you can get.

I have to say my 2010 M7 in solid amber is an excellent vintage. In fact I couldnt be happier with the hue and its boldness. Its quite exquisite and i would readily buy another case.

LOL

 

[Paramedic]

I really prefer the "greenish" amber. The old Tomar strobe bars had it perfect. I find it MUCH more visible, day and night. I'd really love to see LEDs lighting up that color.

 

[GPC]

We had an amber liberty put on one of our service trucks last year and it looks more orange than yellow.

 

[Fast LT1]

Can we get a vid of this please?

 

[VolEms]

I saw the lin6 TA at the whelen booth last year at firehouseworld in San Diego it was peach. I didn't like the color of it. It was the wrong shade of amber.

 

[kitn1mcc]

this is not the first time this has happened the old strobe beacon lenes at times were orange and other a light yellow

 

[Solvarex]

Frankly I like the light yellow also, it is very visible. A lot of strobes tend to end up flashing in this shade despite having an orange-amber dome simply because of the intensity of the light. I have a set of amber Vertexes with the amber domes (which if I'm not mistaken use white LEDs) and they're quite nice. I saw the new peach-amber Vertex the other day and I did not like it. The orange color that most early 3rd gen Whelen LEDs produce is also excellent.


I wonder if this is going to be a trend for Whelen, switching shades of colors based on economics. It's going to make for more than a few irritated customers who get a replacement module (or additional lighting) that is completely mismatched from the rest of their setup. And especially so if part of their setup is yellow-amber and the peach-amber appears as RED by comparison!

 

[gman021]

I have a set of amber Vertexes with the amber domes (which if I'm not mistaken use white LEDs) and they're quite nice.

The led's make the color, not the domes. Therefore if they are truly white led's under an amber dome, the light output your getting on those vertex's is significantly worse.


I doubt they're white led's though

 

[Solvarex]

The led's make the color, not the domes. Therefore if they are truly white led's under an amber dome, the light output your getting on those vertex's is significantly worse.

I doubt they're white led's though

This is not necessarily the case. I recall one LED hideaway (from Star if I'm correct) that used white LEDs and colored domes. Not the optimal way to do it but it was marketed and sold nonetheless.


Amber provides the highest throughput of light when filtering white light at around a 25-35% decrease in intensity, followed by blue at around 35% and red being the worst at around 45-60%. White LEDs behind an amber lens would be nowhere near as diminished as with other colors.


LEDs of the same model and generation type all have different lumen ratings depending on color. Typically blue is the highest. If your amber LED lumen output is not as satisfactory as a white LED even with an amber lens, it makes sense to use the brighter option. In fact you take a look at a Vertex with am amber dome and you can see the dies on the LEDs appear to be opaque; a white LED phosphor I'm betting.

 

[bfd740]

This is not necessarily the case. I recall one LED hideaway (from Star if I'm correct) that used white LEDs and colored domes. Not the optimal way to do it but it was marketed and sold nonetheless.

http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&cat=&style=GR318


It's now a Galls brand product

 

[Federal_Agent]

I have had numerous SlimLighters (TIR6) and Avengers (LINZ6) and noticed varied colors of yellow coming out of the modules. Sometimes pee yellow, sometimes dark orange... I even had one Red/Amber split Avenger (single head), which it was almost impossible to tell which color was which when it was lit.

 

[factorone33]

I've noticed it in the new M-Series heads, and in the new CON3 500 Series traffic advisors they're putting out.


I'm not fond of it to be honest. It seems..."dimmer" than the other color, and doesn't have the punch that the previous color had before (as with the TIR3s, etc.). It also detracts from what I would consider to be a true "amber" color. It's more of a "diluted-urine" hue now.

 

[Henry455]

I cannot for sure explain the reasons for the different shades of Blue and Amber that Whelen is using in its light heads but I do have a theory. As can be seen in reading the data sheets for the Luxeon rebel LED's, each batch of the same color rebels can have varying intensity's, color and forward voltage. As can be seen on this vendor site the Amber and blue can vary markedly. http://www.luxeonstar.com/Amber-Luxeon-Rebel-LEDs-s/11.htm , http://www.luxeonstar.com/Blue-Luxeon-Rebel-LEDs-s/7.htm . The amber can vary from 584.5 nm (lemon yellow) to 597.0 nm (orange-yellow), the blue from 460nm (blue) to 490 nm (teal) and still be within specs. if Whelen does not specify a particular shade of yellow or blue called binning, their batches of rebels could vary from one batch to the other. They could request color binning but that raises the price of the LED's.


As an interesting side note, I am sure that some of you are aware of this report, Effects of Warning Lamp Color and Intensity on Driver Vision , but if you look at Figure 1 on page 4, it appears the color teal and lemon yellow are the most luminous efficient.

 

[Outsider]

I They could request color binning but that raises the price of the LED's.

Smaller companies can do this without too much of a disturbance in production. If Whelen settled on one particular shade of any color, they would not have enough diodes to keep up with demand. It's that simple. As more diodes are being produced the range of acceptible colors can be shrunk down which it has been greatly over the past 7 years.


The idea that was raised that Whelen decided to use a less expensive diode is garbage. The new amber diodes produce FAR more lumens, they are more readily available and carry a higher price. This is all done while keeping the overall cost of the product the same.


By the way, the difference in the amber color is ONLY evident if all clear lenses are used. The difference in intensity is dramatic!

 

[nrplowguy]

I just got FOUR vertex's brand new with a manufacture date of 5/11. these are amber and the look identical to the amber in my liberty bar..... and my liberty is from 07' i will get a vid up so you can see these have not much of a difference you can notice

 

[Solvarex]

I just got FOUR vertex's brand new with a manufacture date of 5/11. these are amber and the look identical to the amber in my liberty bar..... and my liberty is from 07' i will get a vid up so you can see these have not much of a difference you can notice

Interesting. I'm on tour right now so I can't say when the peach Vertexes were made but when I'm back I'll do a comparison. My dealer has all kinds of great stuff and doesn't mind me playing with it.

 

[zacmtz7]

Down at Disney world and there utility trucks have the new whelen lenses on the strobes in amber and look horrible like a lime green. Very disappointing. I'm a whelen guy but their colors are getting crappy.

 

[Paramedic]

Down at Disney world and there utility trucks have the new whelen lenses on the strobes in amber and look horrible like a lime green. Very disappointing. I'm a whelen guy but their colors are getting crappy.

I love them. That "lime green" is one of the most visible colors to the eye.

 

[fuzz]

Down at Disney world and there utility trucks have the new whelen lenses on the strobes in amber and look horrible like a lime green. Very disappointing. I'm a whelen guy but their colors are getting crappy.

The older Whelen Amber LED beacons used a white LED with an amber lenses. The new ones use the same new "peach" diode with an amber lens. The new diode BTW is FAR brighter than any other amber diode Whelen has used.

 

[bluestinger90]

They went with a cheaper supplier on their amber LEDs. The Cree LEDs were more amber but Whelen went with another company's cheaper orange/amber product.

Smaller companies can do this without too much of a disturbance in production. If Whelen settled on one particular shade of any color, they would not have enough diodes to keep up with demand. It's that simple. As more diodes are being produced the range of acceptible colors can be shrunk down which it has been greatly over the past 7 years.

The idea that was raised that Whelen decided to use a less expensive diode is garbage. The new amber diodes produce FAR more lumens, they are more readily available and carry a higher price. This is all done while keeping the overall cost of the product the same.


By the way, the difference in the amber color is ONLY evident if all clear lenses are used. The difference in intensity is dramatic!

I've got golden amber lin6 from 10/10 and they are using the CREE X lamp diodes. I wonder if Whelen uses both CREE and Lumileds to keep up with demand resulting to in different shades of colors.

 

[bluestinger90]

Just to update the thread. I've also tried the older lin6 modules with the LUXEON leds, and both the CREE and REBEL diodes blow it out of the water. Comparing my amber 10/10 CREE lin6 versus the REBEL 9/11 lin6, the REBEL is definitely a different shade. It's more yellow then orange, whereas the CREE goes towards orange-amber.


The REBEL diodes are MUCH brighter, but personally I prefer the CREE diodes with the golden amber color. Side by side you can notice a difference in intensity.


It's interesting to see the gradual upgrade of the light heads, with more and more powerful diodes.