Need advice building blue LED device for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

After many years battling the depression and sleep distubance of Seasonal Affective Disorder in the cloudy/snowy/gray northeastern part of the Northeast US, my wife and I are desperate to find a cure short of moving to a sunnier climate.

Recent research has shown morning exposure to blue light to be especially effective in helping many with our problem. Philips is producing a highly rated LED device that seems to provide relief to may.

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-goLIT...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

The unit looks great but for us as a retired couple on a limited budget the sticking point is the current price @ ~ $150.00.

I have to think that one could put together a very effective blue SAD light using just a few high power blue LEDs along with the appropriate dimmable driver, and optics for well under. The form factor of the Philips device is unimportant. A simple light bar should work as effectively.

I'm looking for specific suggestions of blue LEDs (~468nm wave length), dimable drivers, optics and any other necessary bits. Ideally these would all be purchased from one source to economize on shipping.

High quality soldering is within my skill set but I lack experience building LED devices.

Thanks for any informed replies!!!

Hugh

Gunner12 · Dec 29, 2009

LEDs, drivers, heatsinks, that's not hard to find. I just don't recall where I saw a dim-able driver. I'll post back when I find one.

How quickly would you like the parts shipped?

Anyone know if having a potentiometer as the sensor resistor(correct term?) will damage the driver if the resistance is changed during operation?

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

Gunner12 said:
LEDs, drivers, heatsinks, that's not hard to find. I just don't recall where I saw a dim-able driver. I'll post back when I find one.

How quickly would you like the parts shipped?

Anyone know if having a potentiometer as the sensor resistor(correct term?) will damage the driver if the resistance is changed during operation?

Gunner,

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I would love to build something within the next couple of weeks or so. While we have now passed the minimum duration of insolation portion of the winter, there are still several very dark months to make it through before things really brighten up.

Best Regards,

Hugh

was.lost.but.now.found · Dec 29, 2009

Just my opinion, but $150 doesn't sound too high for a necessary medical device (if it works that is). That's only 5 months of $30 prescription copays.

waddup · Dec 29, 2009

hey sciguy,

i just bought a light on a whim that might be just the ticket for you?

its the right wavelength i think to help with lack of sunlight

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=470nm&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

with a charger and 3 good quality rechargeable C size cells i think it could be run 12 hours a day or more easily

it emits a lot of light.

i paid $20 shipped, i really dont need it, i just liked the idea of blue light from a flashlight

if you want to try it you can have it for $20 same as i paid?

Our Blue LED Arrays use 470nm high-output LEDs.

Research indicates that blue light controls bacteria that cause acne and periodontal gum disease, and improves rosacea and Seasonal Affect Disorder. New research finds effectiveness against MERSA.

http://www.elixa.com/light/blue.htm

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/255062

blasterman · Dec 29, 2009

I'm looking for specific suggestions of blue LEDs (~468nm wave length),

Standard blue Crees fit this criteria, and they are easy to find. Your real problem will be the dimmable driver because this feature tends to significantly increase the cost / complexity of the driver. It would be simple enough to just run 6 or 12 blue Crees in series with a non-dimming 350mA or 700mA driver.

Another issue is diffusion. Wide angle acrylic optics will take some of the 'bite' out of uber intense blue LEDs like Cree, but an even better idea would be to put them behind some diffusion material like Acrylic panels used for fluorescent lights.

Good luck with this. I live in Michigan so I know about the winter blues, but I'm just skeptical on the science.

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

was.lost.but.now.found said:
Just my opinion, but $150 doesn't sound too high for a necessary medical device (if it works that is). That's only 5 months of $30 prescription copays.

WLBNF, You're certainly correct about $150.00 not being outlandish for something that is needed. Its just that if I can build an even more useful device for a fraction of the cost it just makes sense to my Scottish ancestory

Most recent research shows that mounting the light source above the eyes is most effective probably since our blue sky is above.

Hugh

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

waddup said:
hey sciguy,

i just bought a light on a whim that might be just the ticket for you?

waddup,

Thanks so much for the kind offer! Mounting the unit an appropriate distance from ones face might be a challenge. I'm really hoping to build something with a fairly intense light field ~ 1ft square.

Best Regards,

Hugh

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

blasterman said:
Standard blue Crees fit this criteria, and they are easy to find. Your real problem will be the dimmable driver because this feature tends to significantly increase the cost / complexity of the driver. It would be simple enough to just run 6 or 12 blue Crees in series with a non-dimming 350mA or 700mA driver.

Another issue is diffusion. Wide angle acrylic optics will take some of the 'bite' out of uber intense blue LEDs like Cree, but an even better idea would be to put them behind some diffusion material like Acrylic panels used for fluorescent lights.

Good luck with this. I live in Michigan so I know about the winter blues, but I'm just skeptical on the science.

Blasterman,

Are you still a fan of the high power ProLight LEDs from Besthongkong? I thought that perhaps their LEDs, optics and drivers might produce a reasonable system.

In regards to the science, they have done very extensive studies that absolutely prove melatonin levels are knocked way down by exposure to intense white or particularly blue light. When this occurs during the early morning hours people feel peppier the rest of the day, have reduced cravings for carbohydrates and are more likely to fall asleep at a resonable hour the next evening.

If I get even 15 minutes of bright sun in the morning I'm happy and whistling the rest of the day. While on the other hand two or three really dark days in a row create an incedible blue funk.

I'd love to see a picture of the light bars you created with the ProLight LEDS. It seems as if they went missing.

Best Regards,

Hugh

Gunner12 · Dec 29, 2009

Maybe you can wire up each LED to it's own driver, and have a switch for each. That will make something like a stepped dimming, but it would also make for a lot of soldering and a lot of parts.

Having the LEDs behind a frosted panel could spread out the light.

was.lost.but.now.found · Dec 29, 2009

SciGuy said:
Its just that if I can build an even more useful device for a fraction of the cost it just makes sense to my Scottish ancestory

Absolutely - best of luck in your quest!!

blasterman · Dec 29, 2009

Are you still a fan of the high power ProLight LEDs from Besthongkong?

Yep. I'm moving everything from my prior web-host to Flickr, and must have missed that light bar pic. I'm upgrading the bar this week to get it up before the New Years Crowd, so I'll have to upgrade the pics. Adding some R2's and doubling the number of emitters. :devil:

I really like the Best Hong Kong red and blue LEDs, and their optics work nice.

There's a difference between Best Hong Kong blues and Cree blues. The Crees are brighter, but their blue response is higher and a tad cyan. Best Hong Kong blues tend to be deeper in color and closer to Cree Royals. Visually the Best Hong Kong emitters look nicer because of their deeper color. But, Cree blues are brighter and technically fit in your wavelength requirement. Personally I'd mix a couple neutral whites in the mix just to make it look nicer.

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

blasterman said:
There's a difference between Best Hong Kong blues and Cree blues. The Crees are brighter, but their blue response is higher and a tad cyan. QUOTE]

Blasterman,

Thanks for the additional information! I really am a complete newbie in regards to this adventure. Might these blue Crees be appropriate?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1775

Best Regards,

Hugh

blasterman · Dec 29, 2009

Should be fine.

Some discussion on if it's an XRE or not, but that just means you should stay at 350mA.

SciGuy · Dec 29, 2009

How about this as a dimmer/driver????

http://www.besthongkong.com/product...d=863&osCsid=b00a05b17f0ea73fd1ba8255b432fce0

Gunner12 · Dec 29, 2009

The LEDs should work, but DX has really slow shipping though, be prepared to wait a few weeks.

The driver might work, but I'm not sure how well, as I've not seen it in use.

qwertyydude · Dec 29, 2009

Perhaps instead of just focusing on a small treatment module, all the therapies are bright light oriented not specifically of any particular color or wavelength, you could just light your rooms with the most powerful daylight cfl's available AND always keep them on during daytime hours. Sounds counterintuitive that bright lights help relieve stress but they do help keep you up and awake which is an important part of treating part of the problem which is a broken circadian rythym. Bright lights help to set your circadian rythym, also when sleeping make sure it is pitch black and also as quiet as possible and don't take naps during the daytime when you're supposed to be awake. This helped reset my circadian rythym the quickest when it went haywire every two weeks due to messed up shift schedules in the navy. You'd be surprised just how much a good circadian rythym affects your day to day mood. And a lot of the whole SAD thing is in my opinion just people's natural sleep rythym not setting. Cause the symptoms everyone displays when their shift schedule was constantly changed mimiced on the dot SAD.

SciGuy · Dec 30, 2009

qwertyydude said:
Perhaps instead of just focusing on a small treatment module, all the therapies are bright light oriented not specifically of any particular color or wavelength, you could just light your rooms with the most powerful daylight cfl's available AND always keep them on during daytime hours. Sounds counterintuitive that bright lights help relieve stress but they do help keep you up and awake which is an important part of treating part of the problem which is a broken circadian rythym. Bright lights help to set your circadian rythym, also when sleeping make sure it is pitch black and also as quiet as possible and don't take naps during the daytime when you're supposed to be awake. This helped reset my circadian rythym the quickest when it went haywire every two weeks due to messed up shift schedules in the navy. You'd be surprised just how much a good circadian rythym affects your day to day mood. And a lot of the whole SAD thing is in my opinion just people's natural sleep rythym not setting. Cause the symptoms everyone displays when their shift schedule was constantly changed mimiced on the dot SAD.

qwertyydude,

You bring up many good points.

"you could just light your rooms with the most powerful daylight cfl's available AND always keep them on during daytime hours. "

The problem with lighting every room brightly and having them on all day long is at least two fold. First, it would be a much more expensive to retrofit many of our rooms to extreme brightness and power them with our very expensive NY electricity rates. Secondly, the light levels one can attain indoors are still vastly less than outdoor levels on a sunny day.

"when sleeping make sure it is pitch black and also as quiet as possible"

I absolutely agree that keeping your sleeping area pitch black is very helpful for the sleep end of the equation. I've either turned off or covered up all of the wonderful LED indicator lights that have fouled our sleep for years. The green "charge completed" light on my cell phone has ruined more than one nights sleep.

Thanks for the well thoughout reply. I stilll wish to build a dedicated blue source to get a concentrated early morning dose of happiness.

Hugh

blasterman · Dec 30, 2009

Several years ago I saw a documentary on SAD, which as I recall was on PBS or something.

The conclusion by several researchers was that blue/intense light during winter months was beneficial, but that exposure had to be on various parts of the body that tend to get sun during the warmers months and also have thinner epidermis; back of legs legs, lower torso, etc. The conclusion was that SAD seems to concentrate in Northern Climates with adequate summers where people go from lots of exposure/activity outdoors to the winter dolldrums. It's this disruption that causes the various levels of depression, and people in more extreme northern climates or southern climates don't tend to get the disorder. Using a tanning bed in the morning for example significantly improved the attitude of their test group, so maybe they were on to something. It was also their conclusion that the process of naturally producing vitamin D is directly related to SAD, but not the blood levels of Vita D.

I have a couple relatives who are avid gardners during the summer months, and need to be kept away from razor blades and sleeping pills during the winter because their moods shift that badly.

Rexlion · Dec 30, 2009

waddup said:
...Our Blue LED Arrays use 470nm high-output LEDs.

Research indicates that blue light controls bacteria that cause acne and periodontal gum disease, and improves rosacea and Seasonal Affect Disorder. New research finds effectiveness against MERSA.

http://www.elixa.com/light/blue.htm

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/255062

Oh, does that mean I can fight gum disease by shining a Quark RGB on blue mode into my mouth? :laughing: I'll try anything once or twice...

But seriously, I have a couple of full spectrum fluorescents in the house and I think they have helped with wintertime blahs. Way less than $150.

Need advice building blue LED device for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder

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