Red trackball with blue LED click here

[Timoe]

This did not come out as expected.  It still looks pretty red.  This is with a 12v super bright blue led cluster.

[Level42]

Nice, aparently the ball is very good in filtering all other colors but red. Where did you get this ball ? I'm looking for a translucent red one as well (5.72 cm = 2,25")

[divemaster127]

I sell the red & blue trans balls in my sale thread if you are looking for one, made by happ
thanks
dm

[Timoe]

I was just trying this out as an FYI for all those people who might think a

red ball + a blue light = purple.

not so.   

[whammoed]

Thats weird.  It looks more orange than when lit with a red led though. 
So you don't need a purple one, you were just experimenting?  What about a blue ball lit with red led?

[Mario]

I was just trying this out as an FYI for all those people who might think a

red ball + a blue light = purple.

not so.   

The red (orange) ball is acting as a filter, only letting red/orange light through. No matter what color LED you use, the ball will only allow the red/orange light through. The blue LED must not be pure blue if you still see an orange glow. If it was pure blue, I would have expected the glow to be very dim.

Mario

[JoyMonkey]

I've got a Happ translucent red trackball too. When I first got it I thought there'd been a mistake because it looks really orange when un-lit, but put a light behind it and it glows deep red. Having the leds fade in/out or sawtooth looks really cool because the ball looks like it cycles between orange and red, all firely like!

[Timstuff]

This did not come out as expected.  It still looks pretty red.  This is with a 12v super bright blue led cluster.

Well, I can offer you a pretty straight up explanation as to why it would still look red. The reason why something like a translucent red object appears the color it does is because it filters out all the light except for the red light before it reaches your eye. So naturally, if you try to put a blue light behind it, the blue light will not be able to pass through.

End science lesson.

[Sizzler]

The reason why something like a translucent red object appears the color it does is because it filters out all the light except for the red light before it reaches your eye. So naturally, if you try to put a blue light behind it, the blue light will not be able to pass through.


End science lesson.

Thanks for teaching us that lesson, but I think we got it the first two times people explained it.

the ball is very good in filtering all other colors but red.

The red (orange) ball is acting as a filter, only letting red/orange light through. No matter what color LED you use, the ball will only allow the red/orange light through.

[Mark70]

Hmmm.  There must be a way to filter colours.  You can create colours additively with something like overhead projector transluscent films and transluscent inks.  So why isn't there a way to see the red trackball as purple.

I'm just supporting the initial inference and having some validity.  It is by proof false, but I wouldn't berate you for thinking it to begin with.

Something tells me though that in order to see your red trackball as purple,  you would have to do something that's not practical for using a trackball, like look at it through a blue photography filter; which is just kind of silly for gaming, but my be the kind of logic that lead you to believe that a blue light source would produce purple.

Any optical physicists out there?

[quarterback]

I'm just supporting the initial inference and having some validity.  It is by proof false, but I wouldn't berate you for thinking it to begin with.

My guess is that part of the problem here is that you're looking at a colored LED which is emitting a very specific frequency (or specific frequencies) that make our eyes perceive them as intense colors like blue or red or whatever.    But they're not a "full-spectrum" blue which would contain other frequencies as well.     I think this is also the reason I have such a difficult time photographing my green translucent buttons with the green LEDs behind them.  The color (to the camera) doesn't look anything like what my eyes perceive.   

It's the same reason fluorescent lights look "white" to our eyes but will look green or magenta on film.    Fluorescents are made to be perceived as white by human's eyes/brains, but they're not really emitting full spectrum white light.   I don't know anything about LED manufacturing, but I'd bet money that they achieve their colors in the same way.

I think if you wanted to get a purple result, that white light (not a "white" LED) going through both red and blue filters would provide what you're looking for.

Or even one of those blue "party light bulbs".  It would be dim, because the loss of light through the blue bulb and then through the red ball would be significant, but I'd bet that putting a blue light bulb behind that trackball would give you a purply glow, albeit dim.

[Level42]

I sell the red & blue trans balls in my sale thread if you are looking for one, made by happ
thanks
dm

PM sent

[rdagger]

I have a clear translucent trackball.  Using RGB LED's it can be lit any color.   However, I usually keep it off because the clear does a bad job of diffusing the light and it can be distracting.

[Level42]

So how would that compare to the soon to be released GGG Electric-ICE trackball ?

[rdagger]

So how would that compare to the soon to be released GGG Electric-ICE trackball ?

When it comes RGB lighting I find that white lens give better results than crystal clear.   Therefore, I think the GGG ball would be a good way to go.  Although I prefer Happ trackballs.  What I'd really like to find is a clear frosted ball that would diffuse the light properly.

[Farmboy90]

Glowire now sells purple led clusters.  I swapped my 3" happ trackball out for a purple jugging ball, lit it with the purple glowire led and now I have a super sweet purple lit trackball.   

[bb040]

here is a link for the colored balls....http://www.seriousjuggling.com/Balls_Acrylic.htm

[Level42]

here is a link for the colored balls....http://www.seriousjuggling.com/Balls_Acrylic.htm

Mmmm, no 5.72 cm balls....

[Kremmit]

here is a link for the colored balls....http://www.seriousjuggling.com/Balls_Acrylic.htm

Mmmm, no 5.72 cm balls....

Try a european juggling shop.