Glasses to dim bright LED lights?

[drummerdimitri]

I'm looking to inspect some LED lights under max brightness (100W LED) without going blind and sunglasses/red glasses for laser light don't block out enough light to make it comfortable for viewing bright lights so what would you recommend for my needs?

Will welding glasses block out the light? I want to be able to see the strips of light to see which ones are damaged.

[Bratster]

I'm looking to inspect some LED lights under max brightness (100W LED) without going blind and sunglasses/red glasses for laser light don't block out enough light to make it comfortable for viewing bright lights so what would you recommend for my needs?

Will welding glasses block out the light? I want to be able to see the strips of light to see which ones are damaged.

Welding goggles would definitely work, you just have to be careful with what shade you get so it's not too dark.

Something intended for oxy-acetylene welding or plasma cutting would probably be okay.

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[Nusa]

I think I would engineer a camera arrangement to achieve the same result. No reason to risk damage to your eyes or limit yourself to the visible spectrum.

[thermistor-guy]

I'm looking to inspect some LED lights under max brightness (100W LED) without going blind and sunglasses/red glasses for laser light don't block out enough light to make it comfortable for viewing bright lights so what would you recommend for my needs?
...

I'd check out laser safety glasses that have sufficiently high Optical Density (O.D.) in the wavelengths of your application. Assuming you are looking at "white" LEDs with a strong blue component, then maybe the LG10 or LG12 from Thorlabs to block blue and blue-green wavelengths: https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=762.

Thorlabs should be able to help you, if you can provide some spectral data for the LEDS in question.

[NiHaoMike]

I think I would engineer a camera arrangement to achieve the same result. No reason to risk damage to your eyes or limit yourself to the visible spectrum.

A pinhole camera projecting onto a paper screen works surprisingly well, and in fact is one suggested cheap and safe way to view a solar eclipse.

[tooki]

Or if you already have a camera suitable for this type of inspection, you could put a neutral density filter on it and use that.

[David Hess]

Gas welding googles like these would be ideal.  Standard inexpensive 2 x 4-1/4 inch shaded welding lenses can be used but I am not sure what grade would be suitable for bright LEDs.  Or you can go for gas welding googles for extra style.

I used googles like these to watch the last eclipse.  Do *not* use them for arc welding as they do not protect your entire face from ultraviolet light like a welding mask does.

[Kjelt]

I second the camera setup, no reason to risk your eyes with experiments.
Glasses that are lcd dimmable probably will cost more