RGB leds have three color DIODES: RED, GREEN and BLUE. It's the mixing of these three colors together that create other colors.
The color ORANGE is created by mixing RED + YELLOW.
The color YELLOW is created by mixing RED + GREEN.
With an RGB LED, there is only one RED diode so it can only be used once.
So what's the solution? Well, to get something that looks more like orange to the human eye using RGB LEDs you need to mix equal amounts of RED + GREEN (actually just a bit less green since the human eye is more sensitive to green wavelengths). This will give you the color YELLOW. Then, increase the intensity of the RED just a little (or, pull back the green). This will essentially add a little red to the yellow to effectively mix a color that has an orange tint. It's not perfect but it's as close as you can get to the color orange using RGB led lights.
Another Option to Consider: For those who want to create a nice deep orange color and still have the option to display up to 16 million colors using RGB LEDs, we offer an RGBA LED product where the 'A' = Amber. The RGBA led strip includes our core RGB tri-chip technology using a 5050 RGB LED with the addition of a fourth 2835 diode that is AMBER. When AMBER is mixed with RED, you get a very pleasant orange color which is what many people want.
Designed primarily for motor vehicle applications for DOT compliance, that fourth AMBER diode can also be wired to our GEN2 LED Controller or a separate switch on the dash (or tied into a relay to work with existing running lights) that allows you to quickly and easily turn on just the AMBER leds. Then, for those who want the flexibility to be able to display up to 16 million color combinations using the RGB tri-chip, they can do that too. RGB + A provides the best of both worlds. Single color amber plus RGB tri-chip multi-color. Note that due to the addition of that fourth diode, the RGBA strips are a little wider than our standard tri-chip RGB and single color LED strips. Also, the power lead wires use five conductor vs four. The RGBA product is unique to BOOGEY LIGHTS® and is available in both our LOW PROFILE LED and HEAVY DUTY LED strip formats.
