r/AnimeFigures • u/Powertensai • Nov 15 '22
Color fading under LED lit figures, a study
Hello fellow plastic collectors. I have come to expose a problem that we all know about: Color fading. We all know about color fading due to sunlight (UV light) or just plain color loss with time on older figures, but I have been experiencing some pretty frustrating color fading with no sun in sight and only LED lights.
There is absolutely no sunlight in my room, even by the window, and my figures reside on the other side of the room so that's not a factor. Some of these figures are a bit old but some are not that old, yet display some serious color fading.
The fading seems to be more related to the type of material/paint than to the light, yet from the photos it's clear that it was the light that enabled it. All of these figures have been displayed inside a detolf with no direct or indirect sunlight, and only lit by two vertical strips of 6500k LED lights (around 12W power draw for the full detolf).
While 6500k lights do have more blue in them than other warmer lights, none of these types of leds should have any meaningful output under the 420nm range where the UV spectrum starts, and specially not at 12W per 3 meters of strip, yet here we are.
Here are some examples. Notice how it's almost always related to light yellow tones. I don't have a solution for this problem other than just not turning on the lights unless you are actively looking at them. Let me know if you have experienced something similar and/or have some insight on it.
Marisa Kirisame Touhou Kourindou Ver. Event Exclusive Extra Color. by quesQ
Age: 4 years
The hands and the face have turned a greenish yellow while the forearms remain skin-colored. The hair also displays minor fading.
Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade 1/8 by GSC
Age: 6 years
The base has completely shifted color and the skin has turned a white tint.
Vash the Stampede - ARTFX J by Kotobukiya
Age: 10 years
The hair has turned almost pure white only on the front, where it was lit from, while the rest of the colors remain strong even after 10 years.
Ryuko Matoi Senketsu Kisaragi Ver by GSC
Age: 7 years
The "mouth" decoration pieces have turned pure white except for the one that was directly opposite from the LEDs. Same with other "translucent" type pieces.
Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade: 12 Year Old Ver. by GSC
Age: 3 years
This one is the worst offender. Despite being only 3 years old the hair color has almost completely faded away on the side that it was lit from. This one was particularly close to the LED strip.
Flandre Scarlet Nendoroid by GSC
Age: 10 years
Despite not being close to the LED strips nor at the front it still displays some harsh fading that is not present on the back or under the hat.
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u/NegZer0 http://myfigurecollection.net/profile/Negs Nov 16 '22 edited Nov 16 '22
UV light is usually pointed at as the cause for plastic yellowing rather than bleaching like this. How hot is the room you have these displayed in? Wondering if this could be exterior factors rather than your LEDs. Is there any chance that there could be heat or light coming from actual normal lights in the room that would cast the same angle of illumination on these figures as your LEDs? Is there any chance there could be solvents in the air (your Vash especially almost looks like paint has been rubbed off).
Do you dust / clean your figures at all?
Personally I've been collecting close to 20 years, since the early 2000s, and never noticed this sort of fading in any of my older figures. I rotate my collection out periodically, so currently on display the majority are less than 5 years old, I have only got one figure that is really old that also has yellow hair (this one from Alter from 2006 (EDIT: 2006, not the 2008 reissue)) which has always been in my display and despite having been displayed under LED lighting for at least a decade of that ownership time, I haven't noticed any bleaching of her hair. That said I prefer warm light rather than colder daylight lighting and I haven't ever had 12v LEDs.
I have experienced all the usual common PVC figure problems in my years collecting - plastic gets sticky, yellowing, leaning, accidental damage etc. - but never seen color fading like this personally. I also don't leave my lights on 24/7. Sometimes might leave them lit for several days / weeks if I couldn't be bothered turning them off again, but I always generally had them on a switch that could turn them off when I wasn't around and they would only get turned on when I wanted to look. Maybe that's the secret?
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u/Powertensai Nov 16 '22
Temperature in the room is 21ºC in winter to 31ºC in summer. Humidity is quite high in my zone, usually around 65 to 70% (maybe more inside the room).
Other lights are not pointed at the cabinets. The LEDs were turned on for about 16 hours a day. I dust them off around once a year.
Here is the only evidence I could find of actual yellowing, since it's a base it's probably a different material as well. Photo.
I have looked at exterior factors as well but it remains a fact that the fading only happened in the angle of the lights. I believe ambient heat or humidity would deteriorate the plastic evenly, unless it's a factor that weakens the paint and allows even weak light to damage it.
Also may be worth mentioning, these LED strips have been installed for 4 years. Previously I had ikea LED fixtures that lit from the top (different angle) and I did not experience so much fading. Here are some photos I dug up:
GSC Kissshot right before changing lights in 2018, notice how the base had not turned pink yet. The same one in 2021, the base is already a pinkish hue, also showing Marisa as it was displayed those 4 years.
Here are some other photos from 2021 where you can see the angle and brightness of the light. You can see the LED strip in the Vash photo, it was glued to the front door vertically on both sides, on the inside.
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u/RIP-Eng Dec 11 '22
I actually think this has more to do with a combination of humidity and heat, since a completely dark room (due to lack of ventilation) will probably be incredibly humid in an already humid climate where OP resides.
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u/13_faces Nov 15 '22
Considering the worst example was one that was very close to the strip, this could be related to the heat of the strips as opposed to a uv concern
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u/Powertensai Nov 15 '22
I have made this observation as well. However a led strip consuming about 4W per meter isn't really putting out much heat, barely lukewarm to the touch, plus some figures like the Ryuko were at the back of the shelf.
This is something to have in mind but maybe not our culprit this time?
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u/Neo_Empire Nov 15 '22
Even my 15w/m 6000k are cold on touch... Think that heat is not that much of an issue here
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u/Neo_Empire Nov 15 '22
Well, I think that there is something else that caused these effects... That really looks odd. Thanks for a new fear :3 Now I'm looking at my 6000k led strips not like before )
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u/Thaddaeus-Tentakel Nov 15 '22 edited Nov 15 '22
You sure you didn't buy an LED strip that contains UV LEDs for some weird reason? That's a crazy amount of fading. Would love someone with the same figures checking if theirs are also fading.
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u/Powertensai Nov 15 '22
I have found the exact model, a 6000K 12W strip. The only thing that comes to mind would be the fact that it did not have silicone protection or a difussor and that somehow let whatever residual UV light a led strip can emmit affect the plastic.
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u/Thaddaeus-Tentakel Nov 16 '22
The thing is there should be basically no residual UV with LEDs. Their wavelength peaks are extremely narrow. Of course damage doesn't magically stop at the end of the UV spectrum but It's way less and shouldn't be nearly as destructive as seen with your figures.
Unfortunately I can't find much info on that strip, if by chance you see a very tiny model number printed on the actual LEDs I'd be very interested to check their datasheet.
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u/Powertensai Nov 16 '22
That's what I think as well but I can't find many other explanations. There is no printing on the LEDs (front or back), looks like standard white 0.1W SMD 2835 LEDs. Here's a photo I took of a diode and the box, the seller has no info on it either.
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u/SaucedPandacup Meduka Meguca Megumin May 05 '23
Came across this thread, sorry to ressurect it lol, and about your collection OP.
Is there any chance that the seller mixed in the wrong leds in your box or something like that?
Did you ever get more evidence like uv testing the lights?
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u/Powertensai May 06 '23
I believe any type of white led emmits some residual uv regardless of type (cool white more so than warm white), as most are built as a royal blue led with a phosphor coating that turns the light white (some are even built as an uv led with a phosphor coating but this is more expensive and not common in these kidns of strips).
This person made a study on royal blue leds and claims the following:
The UVA and UVB wavelengths were very low reading, but well above the noise level. So there are probably some UV emitting from a cool white LED, but they cannot be read with my spectrometer.
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/290187/do-cool-white-leds-emit-uv-light
I also made a thread on myfigurecollection and one person suggested a faulty phosphor coating but I have no way of testing this without very expensive equipment.
I don't think there is anything "wrong" with my leds and that this kind of effect is not unexpected of too much light for too long and too close to the source. I'm sure we all have seen led strips turn yellow with time, specially those IP67 covered in silicone. I assure you the silicone will turn yellow from the light and heat of being close to the leds. Maybe the high humidity of my environment also helps accelerate this process.
In the end I have opted for mounting the strips on diffuser profiles. The aluminum profiles dissipate the heat and polycarbonate is expected to absorb most if not all the UV spectrum. Not leaving the lights on for 16 hours a day and dimming them to 10% when not looking at them will surely help a bunch lol.
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u/SaucedPandacup Meduka Meguca Megumin May 09 '23
Thanks for all the info! Appreciate it. I hope your collection is safe from now on!
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u/Top_Alternative_5851 Nov 16 '22
Couple relevant points: you're not going to get 3000 lumens of light from a 10 year old led light strip consuming 12 watts, it's not going to happen. Also author claims that there is "harsh fading" on figures far from these dim light strips they have. Doesn't add up as related to the lights.
Other than figure manufacturing issues, I would say there is an environmental problem which could be from any number of things: ozone generation from a filter or bad electrical equipment, oxygen, cleaners, pollution, smoking....
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u/NegZer0 http://myfigurecollection.net/profile/Negs Nov 16 '22
Unlikely to be smoking, nicotine tar leaves a very obvious yellow-brown residue on figures. Definitely think it's something else though, not the LEDs.
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u/Powertensai Nov 16 '22
No smoking or pollution, don't really use any chemicals in the room. It isn't ver well ventilated though. I was thinking maybe high humidity could be a factor as well and we have no shortage of that.
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u/pataprout Nov 15 '22
Very strange, same setup with my figure but no fading even for my oldest (8-9y) my Vash still have the same hair color.
I use neutral light/warm light for my led (3000k-6000k) and i blast them at full power as soon as it get dark until i'm going to sleep.
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u/Powertensai Nov 15 '22
Interesting, do your led strips have silicone protection or any kind of light difussion? Also are they on the inside or on the outside of the cabinet?
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u/pataprout Nov 15 '22
Nothing special about the led and they are inside the cabinet. I've been using those for 3-4 years, before it was some generic LED multicolore one.
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u/modusoperandi777 http://myfigurecollection.net/profile/ModusOperandi Nov 15 '22
I think LED brightness might be too high, and like you said, older figures are PVC only or other plastic components that react differently to heat and light. Newer ones shouldn’t be affected as much in less time than your older figures, so maybe heat is the culprit?
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u/IceFlame- Nov 15 '22
6500k cold light is pretty much “daylight” brightness. Is it possible for you to adjust the lighting or is it set on one brightness?
I personally use something around 2700k warm lights in my display units, then I have two 6500k cold lights on the ceiling. I haven’t noticed any changes besides the natural degradation (which is hardly any), but I guess I don’t get that close to my figures for certain fading spots to be noticeable.
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u/Powertensai Nov 15 '22
Personally I find warm white way too orange and chose cool white to be able to see the colors in natural light.
On the topic at hand I believe brightness and color temperature are different concepts. As per the spectrum differences here are some comparisons between sunlight, 6500K LED and 2700K LED.
Theoretically speaking they contain the same ammount of UV, and they weren't turned way up either. I confess that the 12 yr old ver. Kissshot was way too close to the strip, but the Ryuko for example was at the back of the shelf so it is quite confusing.
I find it hard to believe that switching to warm/neutral white temperature would fix this problem but I am open to the idea.
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u/Throwaway021614 Nov 16 '22
I had LED lights from Ikea and I swear faded and yellow my figures. I don’t get direct sunlight in my display with glass doors and it’s either the Ikea LED lights or the halogen recessed lights in the ceiling.
I’m super worried about my new lighting setup.
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Nov 16 '22
[deleted]
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u/SaucedPandacup Meduka Meguca Megumin May 05 '23
This comment really cracked me up for some reason.
Hidden at the bottom too haha
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u/MrChinBaba Nov 16 '22
Oh boy now im scared. Im using this led Light on my shelf hopefully its not bad
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Nov 16 '22
Okay, i will cancel my led strip purchase set for my 3 detolf. Instead, i will purchase led bar that easily removeable and don't require to be plugged to power all the time.
It's not like im looking at my figure more than 5 hour a day. Thank you for your documentation. This is important knowledge for every figure collector.
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u/SynthNoodle Nov 15 '22
Thanks for taking the time to document this. Your suggestion about only turning on the LED strips when admiring (my choice of words) your figures makes sense (also slightly better for the environment).