Which makes a better cargo light -- "cool" white or "warm" white?
 

I'm trying to settle on colors of white and quantities and type of LED's for my dome and cargo lamps. I've settled on six standard "Natural" white LEDs for each of the map lights, but am considering either two "Cool" high power LED's for the dome, or else perhaps two "Warm" high power LEDs ("Natural" doesn't appear to be an option :().

My emphasis in the back of my xB2 is cargo, not passengers, so perhaps "Cool" would be best for both dome and cargo (?), but I've zero experience with white LEDs (or any car interior LEDs for that matter) and so I'd appreciate input from those with experience.

TIA -- Trevor

Warm white is natural white. Around 4-4.5K It has a tinge of yellow to it. Not my cup of tea personally. My preference for any LED lighting is cool white in the 6K range. Pure white in the 5K range also looks good. Only time I like warm white is in a house with hardwood floors & accents :)

The warm or natural led's are close to the same color as the stock bulbs, just brighter. The cool white led's are more of a sharp white, with a hint of blue. I like the cool white myself.

If you've already got 'Natural" color lights I would say go with the 'Warm' as it'll be a much closer match in color temperature than the 'Cool'.

As far as color temperature 6500 Kelvin is considered 'pure white' at least in the video and film industries. This is generally what the 'cool' lights color temperature is. The natural and warm temperatures are more pleasing to the eye for seeing in. Has to do with the fact that the sun is yellow/orange and daylight white runs from 4300-8000 Kelvin in the color temperature specturm with noon, summer, mid-latitudes sunlight being 5400 Kelvin and morning sunlight being 4300 Kelvin.

FYI -- "Warm" and "Natural" are not the same thing. "Natural" provides a reasonable approximation of the sunlight spectrum (I deliberately chose "Natural" compact flourescents for my kitchen because of that -- works perfectly for me). "Warm" has much higher yellow content than "Natural" and is a fair description of the OE tungsten filament bulb color.

My preferance would be to go with "Natural" for all, but I haven't yet spotted that option for wide-angle-viewing LEDs with good brightness (wide-angle seeming the logical characteristic for general area lighting such as the dome and cargo lights). I was guessing "Cool" might be better in a luggage environment than "Warm" ("Natural" being roughly in the middle of the two), but that's only a guess. I'm just hoping someone has tried both in that kind of environment and drawn conclusions based on visibility of objects within the illuminated area. If "Warm" is the more effective choice in terms of visibility, then so be it.

I'm guessing a description limited to "White" is likely to be a cool shade of white (more blue content), and "Xenon White" is very definitely at the cool end of the spectrum. I'm hoping for real knowledge/experience to help guide me on this, mis/misleading-information has already helped break one of the hooks that hold in my dome light, I really don't need any more of that kind of "help" :(.


PS. Here's a webpage that helps clarify the difference between "Warm", "Natural, and "Cool".

http://www.superbrightleds.com/compcool_warm.htm

Actually I have had experience with all three color temps on a black environment, too much time spent setting up home theaters, and the warm will be easier to see than the cool LEDs. Human eye doesn't see blue at night as well as yellow due to the shorter wavelength. It's why most automotive lights are in the 5000 kelvin or lower temperature range.

Think of someone who changes out their halogen headlight bulbs for blue tinted ones of the same wattage. The light is 'whiter' but you have a hard time seeing the road due to the 'bluer' light.

Hope this helps more.

Regarding the "Xenon White", the vendor tells me: "They are rated around 6000K-7000K. Which is like Sky Blue or Crystal blue."

The ratings I typically see for "Warm" are around 3000K, whereas "Natural" is more like 4500K. Yet to get any example numbers for just plain "White".

Hmmm -- OK, thanks! Reminds of my white LED front bicycle lamp that also flashes. It works great as a safety flasher, but I couldn't see ahead of me worth a darn with it on steady beam (and completely lost my sense of depth). I went back to miniature Halogen (yellow), MUCH better -- and it restored depth perception. Now, I just use the LED lamp as a flasher -- perfect for that :)