Frosting lens of LED lantern

[Elliott Wolin]

I now have two LED lanterns, mainly for car-camping. Both are too bright even at the lower settings, and have too much glare. I'm considering somehow frosting the outermost cylindrical plastic housings (not the LED's themselves) to diffuse the light.

Any suggestions on how best to frost the plastic? Sandpaper? Chemicals? I used to have access to a small sand-blaster, but not any more.

[todd]

I think sandpaper would work.

I also think removing the plastic and, using white spray paint, spray from a good distance in short bursts. You can apply a second coat later if needed. Maybe????

[David Thomas]

Here's a frosted film available at Home Depot for $9. Enough you and 6000 of your closest friends to diffuse their lanterns and flashlights.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Con-Tact-Frosty-288-in-x-18-in-Clear-Liner-24F-C9908-06VP/100388917

[Michael Gunderloy]

Rust-Oleum and Krylon both make spray-on frosting for glass. Might work on plastic too.

[David Thomas]

But simplest: try a small area with very fine sandpaper. That should be easy to do with a plastic housing. If you like it, do the whole thing.

Back in white-gas Coleman lantern days, some of them had frosted glass only where you'd have direct line-of-sight to the mantle (LED in your case). The rest of the glass was left unfrosted, I suppose for greater transmittance and also so you could see inside when you went to light the lantern.

Edited to add photo.

[Frank T]

I have heard that putting a strip of scotch tape over a LED biking light lens gives good results. Try that first; it's easy enough to hit the reset button and remove it if you don't like it.

[David Thomas]

+1 on Frank's Scotch tape idea. There are multiple styles of 3M's Scotch Tape, but one of them is distinctly frosted, not clear.

[Frank T]

David, yes, it may be called "Magic Tape" but it's definitely frosted. It's the kind you can write on.

[Jerry Adams]

It just seems wrong to frost the lens because it's too bright.

Why don't LED lights have a low enough setting?

Then the battery would last longer

It seems like they're more focused about having a higher lumens spec than other lights

[Matthew Turner]

I used scotch tape on my $5 mini walmart lantern it made a big difference.

[Stephen Parks]

If you want to sand, I'd try wet sanding at 1000 – 2000 grit.

[Jesse Anderson]

I used a green scotchbrite pad on the old Brunton Lantern I used to carry. I didn't want to reduce the light, but rather diffuse it a little more. It worked great. I just wrapped the pad around the globe of the lantern and with a little squeezing pressure, twisted the lantern around a few times. It came out with a very nice brushed finish and the light is much more even than it had been before.
It's too bad that thing was so heavy, is was pretty nice to light up a tent at night. Ah, back when carrying 50lbs was the norm…

[Zorg Zumo]

Just use Scotch tape. It works. And it will come off if you don't leave it on for a couple years.

[Author]

Posts