Colored lights?

[Crusher48]

I recently stuck blue colored lights on a tug to make it look cool, and that got me wondering: could colored lights have a practical benefit over simple white lights?

[Taki117]

Yes actually. All ships over a certain length must have red and green lights to identify direction of travel (As do all aircraft). Also aircraft Carriers use Yellow, red, and blue lights for nighttime illumination. (Depending on location and what needs to be seen)

[SpaceExplorer]

Other than making crafts look cool, I see no other benefit. Unless you want to put brake lights on your rover.....

I truly only use the light settings to make them dimmer, or give them a more blue/yellow hue.

EDIT: In correlation with Taki117, I have found that the skin of the light (where the light is emitted from the part) does not change when you change the colour, thus making them hard to see when the ship is flying....

Edited March 18, 2015 by SpaceExplorer
Added information

[Othuyeg]

Yes, there is a benefit. If you are manouvering something like a space plane near a station in the dark having colour coded lights at the end of the wings will allow you to visualize your craft easier in relation to where you want to go (docking?). Also, it is cool.

Edit: This is best achieved by using omni lights from the B9 mod. I love those things.

Also, this mod looks like it would deliver a very good set of lights: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/16925-0-90-Aviation-Lights-v3-7-%2816DEC14%29 I have not tested it however so I can not back it up with experience.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Othuyeg

[Taki117]

Yes, there is a benefit. If you are manouvering something like a space plane near a station in the dark having colour coded lights at the end of the wings will allow you to visualize your craft easier in relation to where you want to go (docking?). Also, it is cool.

Edit: This is best achieved by using omni lights from the B9 mod. I love those things.

Also, this mod looks like it would deliver a very good set of lights: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/16925-0-90-Aviation-Lights-v3-7-%2816DEC14%29 I have not tested it however so I can not back it up with experience.

Aviation lights (The mod linked) is amazing for such things. It includes lights of different colors, as well as strobes.

[WuphonsReach]

There's also the Glow Strips mod which are 1/2/6 meter length panels which do not impact FPS (they are not emissive lights).

[eddiew]

Personally I put one colour of light on the top/front side of a rocket, and a different colour on the underneath/back - helps with the practical question of which way is up when you have a rotationally symmetrical object in microgravity and like to manoeuvre visually

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

I like to use small batteries (with the green LED) as running lights on wingtips and around docking ports.

[Tex_NL]

Besides the practical navigation aspect of coloured lights there is also a significant psychological aspect.

At night certain colours enhance alertness or contrast while not causing additional stress on the eyes. Many north-sea oil platforms are using blue-green night lighting as it disturbs wildlife a lot less than white or red lighting.

[Azimech]

Yep, and what to think of the fluorescent paint in the cockpits and maps of WW2 aircraft. They used UV lights to light them up but this way they were harder to spot by night fighters.

[wibou]

The default white lights are WAAAAAY too blinding for me. It's hard to distinguish anything in complete dark with those.

I use blue or purple lights for descent, so the ground details will show up nicely.

[FlyingPete]

The french used 'selective yellow' (red, green, but no blue) headlights for years. Maybe it's just he reduced intensity, but landing lights this colour seem to not wash out the surface detail as much as white.

Using different coloured navigation lights might be useful for docking at night- red facing left/forward, green facing right/forward, and white facing aft.