Hud
Former Vendor
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 12,288
Likes: 23
From: League City Texas
Houston Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor '11-'12, '14
I believe in the Beer Fairy
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,548
Likes: 176
From: Upstate NY
I think I go along with that idea. The greenish color does not seem to intrude on your attention when it shouldn't, yet it is easy to find when you want it. I am trying to imagine red and other colors and it just doesn't seem to pop for me.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 6
From: Waynesville NC
Red is the best color for night. It will not dialate your pupils and and negatively affect your night vision like other colors; especially white. Most aircraft have red instrument panel lighting for this reason. Pontiac had a good thing going with their red dash lights! I think BMW currently uses red on their cars.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,884
Likes: 0
From: Forked River N.J.
Red is the best color for night. It will not dialate your pupils and and negatively affect your night vision like other colors; especially white. Most aircraft have red instrument panel lighting for this reason. Pontiac had a good thing going with their red dash lights! I think BMW currently uses red on their cars.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 25,009
Likes: 2,707
From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
Red is the best color for night. It will not dialate your pupils and and negatively affect your night vision like other colors; especially white. Most aircraft have red instrument panel lighting for this reason. Pontiac had a good thing going with their red dash lights! I think BMW currently uses red on their cars.
When I started with United Airlines in 1969, all the cockpit lights were red. By about 1975, they had changed everything to conventional white. The reasoning was that white light made the instruments easier to read, less eyestrain, true rendition of colors on maps, manuals, etc. Because of those advantages, we could turn down the brightness and still read the instruments properly.
So, the advantages of red lighting turned out to be less than we thought in the real world. I'm not sure how a red HUD would compare to the green in daily, opps, nightly, use.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,142
Likes: 78
From: Rancho Santa Margarita California
From what I understand, human eyes see green light much better than they see red light. That's supposed to be why you can see green laser lights so much better than red laser lights.
I'm also thinking that because the HUD needs to work in direct sunlight that red would not be bright enough.
That all being said, I bet you could buy a small pieces of color lighting gels used in professional lighting applications, and just cut to size and drop it into the HUD display.
Something like this:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CE4Q8wIwAw#
I'm also thinking that because the HUD needs to work in direct sunlight that red would not be bright enough.
That all being said, I bet you could buy a small pieces of color lighting gels used in professional lighting applications, and just cut to size and drop it into the HUD display.
Something like this:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CE4Q8wIwAw#
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
From: California
True, but...
When I started with United Airlines in 1969, all the cockpit lights were red. By about 1975, they had changed everything to conventional white. The reasoning was that white light made the instruments easier to read, less eyestrain, true rendition of colors on maps, manuals, etc. Because of those advantages, we could turn down the brightness and still read the instruments properly.
So, the advantages of red lighting turned out to be less than we thought in the real world. I'm not sure how a red HUD would compare to the green in daily, opps, nightly, use.
When I started with United Airlines in 1969, all the cockpit lights were red. By about 1975, they had changed everything to conventional white. The reasoning was that white light made the instruments easier to read, less eyestrain, true rendition of colors on maps, manuals, etc. Because of those advantages, we could turn down the brightness and still read the instruments properly.
So, the advantages of red lighting turned out to be less than we thought in the real world. I'm not sure how a red HUD would compare to the green in daily, opps, nightly, use.
Personally I think a bright red HUD would be intrusive on the eyes
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 16,499
Likes: 2,384
From: Out Where the Buses Don't Run, Eglin AFB/ Niceville FL
2025 C8 Z06/7/E-Ray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2022 Corvette of the Year Finalist -- Modified
2021 C6 of the Year Winner - Modified
2020 C7 of the Year Finalist -- Modified
2020 C6 of the Year Finalist - Modified
Red is the best color for night. It will not dialate your pupils and and negatively affect your night vision like other colors; especially white. Most aircraft have red instrument panel lighting for this reason. Pontiac had a good thing going with their red dash lights! I think BMW currently uses red on their cars.
As for the Vette, I prefer the C6 HUD display over the C5 and I'm OK with the colour.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 8,514
Likes: 235
From: Currently somewhere in IL,IN,KY,TN,MO,AR,MS,AL, or FL
...That all being said, I bet you could buy a small pieces of color lighting gels used in professional lighting applications, and just cut to size and drop it into the HUD display.
Something like this:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CE4Q8wIwAw#
Something like this:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CE4Q8wIwAw#
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 92
Likes: 0
From: New Jersey
Before someone goes out and spends a lot of money, the HUD is green. The light is green. You can't magically turn green into red or orange or yellow or... Color gels work by REMOVING colors, not adding them. Take a white light and remove every color except yellow and you get a yellow picture. Take a light that has no yellow and run it through a yellow filter and you get black.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,142
Likes: 78
From: Rancho Santa Margarita California
Before someone goes out and spends a lot of money, the HUD is green. The light is green. You can't magically turn green into red or orange or yellow or... Color gels work by REMOVING colors, not adding them. Take a white light and remove every color except yellow and you get a yellow picture. Take a light that has no yellow and run it through a yellow filter and you get black.
I do think the green of the HUD works amazingly well. It's still usable at noon on a sunny Southern California day, and also works great on the darkest of nights. For a projector type of technology to work under that wide array of conditions is pretty impressive to me (although, I guess it's not really a projector, just a two-way mirror type of thing). Either way, the HUD is one of my favorite features (behind the 436 ponies that is!).
1st Gear
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
My car is doing the same thing. What did you find out op? At first the hud would flash full brightness over the whole display then it did it more and more and now it is at full brightness all the time. It is really annoying especially at night I turned it so I can’t see most of it but I miss my HUD and would really like to fix the problem. Thanks
Last edited by Andrew Halliday; Jan 5, 2018 at 11:05 PM. Reason: Typo
