A new way to fix yellowed plastics indoors? 

That's a good haul. Those remote phosphor lamps are very novel. I've got a couple here and noticed that one has been in use in a corridor at Edinburgh Castle for a long time.

Just wanted to say thanks a lot for this video. I was doing the process outdoors with the Sally Beauty 40 volume developer + wrapping my plastic in Saran Wrap and this video just happened to pop up for me. I immediately recognized the bizarre Philips bulb and I happened to have one. About 12 hours under ONE of these lights actually made the plastic I was trying to whiten TOO bright! I am blown away at how well it works! Got the timing right the second time and the results were amazing, even better than the sun.

Great work, thanks for sharing the experiment and your research. Will keep checking back for your longer term results.

Look at that production value - opening graphic and everything!

I have to give you a gigantic thank you! I saw the title of your video, saw the LED blub and that really got my interest. I bought a similar LED bulb (mine is 1100 lm brightness) about 8 years ago, and still had it in a lamp in my office. I've been trying to remove yellowing on the previously clear plastic parts on an expensive pair of sunglasses I bought a decade ago. Previously I tried soaking the parts in drug store variety 3% hydrogen peroxide solution overnight, no change. I also tried laundry bleach, zero luck there also. After watching your video, I decided to give your process a try. After a few minutes of slightly tricky knifework, I got the phosphor filters off with the minimum of breakage. I put the bulb in an old clamp light, and fixed it over my work bench. I used the same 3% solution, in a small tin foil pan. I used an infrared thermometer a few times over first few hours to verify nothing was getting dangerously hot. The solution remained at about 74° F, roughly room temperature. The shade of the lamp was about 84° F, and the bulb around 185° F. Mostly sure I wasn't going to cause a fire, I left it alone, and checked back about 8 hours later. At that point I could see some serious improvement. I moved the parts around to ensure even light coverage, topped off the solution with the last I had in the bottle. 6 hours later, I pulled out the parts and washed them. I estimate they look about 95% un-yellowed at this point. I love that I spent zero dollars on this (already had the bulb, bought the solution for first aid use originally) and got such good results. Once again, big thanks!

That retro brite really works well thanks for the amazing demonstration.

I'm fairly convinced at this point that it's heat that causes the yellowing to begin with, and heat that reverses it again. Great tip with the 303. I'm definitely gonna try that.

As an early adopter of high quality LED bulbs, I have a whole bunch of these fabulous units - they were the only game in town for acceptable light quality in the early days, and they still stand up well now other than a slight delay on turn-on compared to modern lamps. Other than a detached wire on one of the PCBs on a single bulb (which was repairable) not one has failed. Good to know they'll have an alternative use when/if I ever pull them out!

Excellent video, watching this 5 years later from the future!

I found a huge haul of the 22 watt versions last week at a local building store for 5 bucks a pop. Bought about 12 and I'm going to go back this week and buy a bunch more. These were so cool when they came out about 10 years ago. I really wanted to buy them but they were 60 bucks a bulb when new!

So glad I found your channel, finally someone else to watch with 8bit guy and LGR

You got a result so you're on to something! I use a full spectrum light which is well vented so it doesn't heat the plastic parts, so it's possible with the right light. Sometimes I also sousvide to add heat and that works very well but if I'm feeling lazy I'll blast the part with a heat gun periodically to speed things up. If you're getting heat from that light it's also helping the process.

For indoor retro brite, I've had good results using the submersion method in peroxide solution, and using a sous-vide machine to keep it at a constant temperature. Best thing about this method is that it scales up really easily since the sous-vide machine and peroxide solution can be placed in different sized containers. Sous-vide machines are a bit pricey (~$100) if you just one for retrobrite, but they're also a nice tool to use for cooking as well. Easiest way to a steakhouse-quality steak at home.

I always look forward to your videos. Keep it up!

That looks fantastic!

We have some of those Philips bulbs in our kitchen that have been in use daily for 10 years. They were very expensive in 2011, but there was a rebate as an incentive to switch away from incandescent bulbs.

The reason for that plastic to go brittle is the near-UV from the LED's. It destroys most plastics over time. Please don't stare too much into it - it's somewhat dangerous to look at those "Royal blue" LED's. Looking at blue LED's will lead to Macular Degeneration - something that cannot be reversed.

Damn this is sick, I have a bunch of those bulbs. I bought them new for $15 a piece many years ago.

Great vid! I know a few people have sort of done it, but I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison with a control that has the creme but no light at all (or maybe even just a normal LED bulb). It seems like maybe the wavelength of the light isn't as important as previously thought.

Remember those huge internal projection tvs? They show up on the curbs from time to time. They have very expensive mirrors in them. I know because I pulled one to use in my video projection transfer project. I was able to configure one at 45 degrees and project the image for digital recording. Ant way, I suggest you change the foil to mirrors and see if you get better coverage.