How to buy the right red-light device
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@DavidPS Interesting, don't think 130 volt would work here in europe though.
When I asked ray about light he always recommended the incandescent lights. Don't know if it was his thing with keeping it low cost (keep it real yo) or disdain towards led lights. When I asked red light man he said incandescent light bulbs are very inefficient, producing mostly heat.
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@heyman said in How to buy the right red-light device:
Interesting, don't think 130 volt would work here in europe though.
I'm guessing they mean 130W bulbs. As in watts, not in voltage. The stronger incandescent bulbs have a nicer spectrum closer to daylight in comparison to the low wattage ones which tend to be very yellowish and lacking contrast. The picture above looks more like sunlight spectrum through window glass and not quite right for an incandescent spectrum as there would be much more "wasted" energy in the IR part beyond 800nm. Which makes incandescent uncomfortable at close range unless it's very evenly spread as it comprises the peak frequencies for heating up tissue water. Maybe the graph's curve is a due to a restricted spectrum range of the measuring equipment.
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@CrumblingCookie In this 1-minute clip Dr. Peat explains that running a 130 volt bulb in the standard 120 volt circuit ('standard' in the US) results in a weaker blue emision.
Ray Peat on best light bulbs to use, incandescent lights, red light.
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@DavidPS Thanks for your clarification. Vaguely remembering this one now.
I've never tried them side by side. Wondering whether the lower blue light emission of an underpowered 130 Volts bulb in a 120 Volts socket compared to a 120 Volts bulb in a 120 Volts socket is any near to using a weaker (less wattage, therefore "warmer" color spectrum) 120 Volts bulb. Have you ever compared and noticed the differences? -
@CrumblingCookie - I have not made the comparison but it is a good idea, Haidut started a thread about this back in 2013. I have not reread the thread; I have already made my purchase.
Red Light Experiment (120V Vs. 130V)You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. 👀
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@DavidPS Interesting, do you think its best with a red bulb or clear bulb?
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@DavidPS said in How to buy the right red-light device:
I have not reread the thread; I have already made my purchase.
Red Light Experiment (120V Vs. 130V)I resisted rereading this thread but I decided to read it again. It has some good information.
@heyman - I use a clear frosted light. I use it for hours at a time taking care not to shine it into my eyes. I think of it as my sunlight mimicking bulb. For fire safety, I use a porcelain ceramic socket.
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Since this thread has gained some traction, I thought I’d share what I ended up getting and my experience with it.
I went with a red-coated 250W Philips incandescent lightbulb, aka "the chicken lamp":
The setup takes a bit of care. This bulb draws a lot of power, and if you try to run it in a standard light fixture, you risk damaging the fixture and starting a fire, so you’ll need a ceramic fixture rated for 250W that can handle the heat.
So I bought this "reptile lamp holder" where I screw the Philips bulb in:
The cost is very cheap, 15€ the bulb + 25€ for the holder, = 40€ in total, in Amazon.
You can set this lamp anywhere by clamping the clip onto anything that can hold it, like the edge of a shelf, or a chair. It’s not the prettiest setup, but it’s flexible and gets the job done.
The vibe and atmosphere it creates is peak, incredibly red, feels very calming and cozy, and it makes a huge difference in the late night hours for my quality of sleep. When I step out of this room and get exposed to the normal "warm" LEDs in my home it feels like I'm being blasted with blue daylight by comparison.
When I’m not using it for direct exposure, I simply point the lamp at the ceiling to create a red ambience. although I'm thinking of replacing this with just a red-light LED bulb since it's a lot of wasted energy to use a 250W bulb only for lighting.
For actual light therapy, I place the lamp close to my body while working on my computer. The beam is strong and focused, so I’ll adjust the angle to target different areas of my body. It's very warm, and in winter I use it while shirtless, the warmth is so strong that it can be your only source of heat in the room.
There's something to be said about EMFs though. Since this lamp uses a two-prong plug, it isn’t grounded, which means it can emit high amounts of EMFs. I don't get headaches or anything but I do feel something off very slightly. So it's best to clamp an alligator cable onto the metal part of the lamp and then connect that cable to a grounded socket. Here's a reference: https://x.com/ze_rusty/status/1878041864307155275
Overall, it's a nice source of red light during the dark seasons of the year. I haven't really used it much during summer.
I'm curious to try more advanced red light therapy devices like the Chroma Ironforge, but they're very expensive devices, so I guess I'll continue to use my chicken lamp for now. These red light therapy devices are supposedly more effective compared to the chicken lamp when it comes to targeting the mitochondria, since their range in the light spectrum is more focused in near infrared light, while the chicken lamp emits mostly far infrared light, which essentially only warms up your body very deeply.
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@oliveoil said in How to buy the right red-light device:
Since this lamp uses a two-prong plug, it isn’t grounded
Don't know how it is in America, but in europe that's not correct.
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@heyman You're right, so to make a distinction:
- Non-grounded plugs in the EU only have two prongs.
- Grounded plugs in the EU have two prongs + a metal clip in the middle.
The chicken lamp is not grounded because it uses a type c plug with just two prongs.
So in order to avoid EMF emissions, you will need to either:
- find a chicken lamp socket with a grounding connection
- connect a grounded alligator clip onto the metal part of the lamp, which unfortunately will involve more cables.
Sadly, I wasn't able to find a 250w lamp socket that has a grounded plug anywhere online. Maybe there's a way to DIY a solution though.
