Dusty, Other Smart People, I need Kelvin help.

"Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig" (AndySheehan-StreetsideStig) 08/21/2015 at 17:57 • Filed to: None

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I’m writing some marketing text about aftermarket lights and I’m trying to learn about the Kelvin scale. I know what it is: warm to cold, yellow to blue, etc. What I want to know is in what situations you’d want to have warm or cold lights on your vehicle.

Do you want colder lights if you’re desert racing, and warmer lights if you’re driving in the snow? Some of our manufacturers have snap-on filters for their light bars in blue and yellow, so you get a different tone, but why would you want to?

Rallyists and other users of auxiliary lighting, educate me. Thanks!

DasWauto > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 08/21/2015 at 18:00

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0 K = -273.15 °C

/not helping

HammerheadFistpunch > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 08/21/2015 at 18:02

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From a marketing perspective, I wouldn’t write anything about it except in the specs. People who know what they want will look there, and people who don’t know what they want wont care. The difference in wavelength is minimal as for creating a technical difference, though people generally prefer cooler lights as they appear brighter than they are.

Baeromez > HammerheadFistpunch 08/21/2015 at 18:13

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No, that’s a terrible way to advertise. You want to convince people that you know what’s best for them. I’ve been taught several different systems of selling and you always want to present the features of the product, and the benefits of those features. What does this product do and why is that a good thing for the customer. The people who know what they want will just buy exactly what they want without your input. It’s the people who don’t know what they want that you need to explain things to.

HammerheadFistpunch > Baeromez 08/21/2015 at 18:31

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I also work in advertising and marketing. I think if your product has legitimate features and benefits you should concisely point them out otherwise omitting them is the smarter choice. Without confidence in the benefits of a feature you should have made that feature except in the Tech Specs

AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 08/21/2015 at 18:43

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As far as I know (which isn’t much and i could be wrong), the different temperatures give them different peak wavelengths. Keep in mind light is all the wavelengths combined. You can use Wein’s Displacement Law to figure it out using the proportionality constant and the temperature of the light.

As for different temperatures, you want lower temperature lights for fog and rain because their peak wavelengths are longer and your eyes are more sensitive to these wavelengths due to the cones in your eyes. They allow your eyes to pick up more differences within the fog and allow you to see more. If you were to use a higher temperature light they would have a peak wavelength that is shorter and they would reflect and scatter more easily. That would not help you see in the rain or fog since your eyes would not be as sensitive to the lights and would not be able to pick out the shapes of the objects within the fog.

Baeromez > HammerheadFistpunch 08/21/2015 at 18:44

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I guess it depends on how you look at it. Even if you’re selling a cheap piece of crap it has features and benefits. The feature is the low price, and the benefit is that it saves the customer money. But, yeah, you obviously don’t want to draw attention to the weaker aspects of a product.

HammerheadFistpunch > Baeromez 08/21/2015 at 18:56

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It’s economy of words, features don’t sell, ideas sell.

RallyWrench > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 08/21/2015 at 19:43

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I can’t speak in terms of hot or cold, but I’ve heard of some rally drivers wearing yellow lenses for night stages, and I wear yellow lenses when cycling at night because it amplifies the available light or any thrown from my lights really well. I’m not sure how well that applies for filters on the lamps themselves though. In my rally experience, I’ve never heard anyone discuss light output in terms of hot or cold, but it hasn’t exactly been a Vermont Sportscar-level effort. Usually if you don’t have enough light you either need more lights or your aim sucks.

Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig > HammerheadFistpunch 08/22/2015 at 01:40

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I didn’t have anything about it in the original draft, but I guess category management wants something in there.