Conservation Lighting

[Rokumoncat]

Hi Again,

What type of lighting should I use to illuminate my phone collection after restoration? I take quite a bit of time sanding and polishing a phone, and don't want it to fade again from sunlight or fluorescent lighting. What type of light bulbs should I use to minimize fading and discoloration?

Thank you much,

Joe

[Jim Stettler]

I study the subject on occasion. If you are using fluorescent tubes you can get them UV shielded or you can buy UV sleeves for the lamps.

You can also use LED lamps. There are now LED lamps that will directly replace your fluorescent tubes, You can get Led conversion  "guts" for exsisting fixtures or you can replace you fluorescent Drop-in fixture  style with LED drop-in These come in the 2x4 style for around $100 a fixture.

From a conservation standpoint, it is better to light the item with a light that is the same color, i.e.  red lamp for red phones, green lamp for green ect. 


I will probably use a 3200K -5000K equivalent LED drop-in fixture  when I get around to replacing my lights.

JMO,
Jim

[twocvbloke]

It's actually a bit of a myth about fluorescent tubes emitting UV light, as the glass they're made from doesn't allow UV light to penetrate through it, only actual UV fluorescent lights (Blacklights, bug zappers, sterilisers, etc.) emit it as they use a different glass that does allow the emission of UV rays...

White LEDs emit quite a lot of UV though (they work like fluorescent tubes, creating a UV light that causes a filter to fluoresce resulting in a bright light output, but without any UV filtering), the amount of times I've had plastics glowing under LED light due to their UV emissions is silly, so unless you put them into UV-blocking glass tubes, then they're not really a good idea if you want to prevent UV damage...