#redlightflashlight — Public Fediverse posts

Okay nerds (affectionate). I spent not a little time DuckDuckGoing earlier for advice on this front, but wasn't able to get sufficient information that satisfied me, so I'm #AskingFedi for advice from #DIYers and other creative people.

As of late, I've been finding myself out at night in areas with less street lighting and whatnot (think local parks that don't close at sunset, but at a set time year round). I picked up a pair of small LED headlamps on sale today to help with that. Set to the low setting, they're fine, and I'm usually using my phone while out doing these things... but it occurs to me that since I have two of these, it might not hurt to modify one to a more night vision friendly red color instead.

Most information I've found for projects of this sort are designed for small 2x AA or AAA wand style flashlights, and usually are just like "buy some red wrapping cellophane and rubber band a couple to few layers over the end of the flashlight" which given the form factor of my light isn't ideal. I did also eye tape designed for temporarily fixing car tail light housings, but wasn't sure how well something like that would work on a flashlight.

How would you go about making a red lens cover/filter for a small headlamp? I attached a picture of the units I bought, if that's a help for what sort of advice you might give.

Edit: More information that's come up in the replies I've gotten so far: I don't have a soldering iron and don't think I know anyone local with one I can borrow, so replacing the LED with a red one is probably not within the budget constraints I had in mind here. It does look like the front plate of the light will come off with a hex or star bit if I do find a soldering iron to borrow, so that idea isn't completely out. Someone has suggested I look for a broken bike tail light and rig up an attachment with magnets, so I might poke my nose in at a local bike shop and see if they have anything broken they could spare or sell on the cheap. Magnets are easily picked up from the place I bought the headlamps originally. I'm still open to other ideas if anyone has anything else for me to consider.

Thank you to everyone who's replied so far! ​:cyberheart_purple:​

#AskFedi #AskFediverse #DIYHelp #DIYAdvice #RedLightFlashlight #DIYRedLight ​:boost_ok:​