Need help in identifying UV LED (advertised as Nichia, seems not one)

Hi all.

I recently purchased two UV LED lights from Manafont.

The first is advertised as a "Taiwan 3W 380nm UV" LED, the other as "TANK007 TK-566 HA-III 365nm". Tank007 site states a Nichia LED with the TK-566.
(I can provide links if necessary, not sure what this forum's policy is)

Here are photos of the actual emitters.
They look identical.
They emit rather different light: The 380nm has a very pronounced purple and is quite bright, but probably not a really 380nm, maybe closer to 400nm.
The 365nm one actually behaves like a true 365nm (shows marks on Euro bills, doesn't have almost any visible light).

Are they really Nichia LEDs?
Which model? ( http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/product/uvled.html )
If not Nichia, well, I'll have to return one of them (although it works quite well, but that's not what I paid for) - what emitter is this?

Taiwan 3W 380nm UV


TANK007 TK-566 HA-III 365nm
(sorry about all the reflections, I couldn't take the flashlight apart)

Looks like Edixeon S series, but that doesn't say anything about what emitter it is.

Thanks.

Looks like I'll need to contact Tank007 and Nichia for a definite answer...

From what I can tell on Edison-opto website, only 395-410nM wavelength leds are available. Finding a power led in that wavelength might be a challenge.

Don't really know how to tell if yours is nichia or not.

I just got the Tank007 PT30 3W nichia 365nm. (basically a 40mm reflector compared to the twice smaller in the TK-566). They claim its a Nichia.
Got it from Tank007 direct. Note that manafont and some other aliexpress stores put it as "high quality UV chip" - they have the TK-566 3W model, manafont has only the 1W model, PT30 3W is not easy to find.

A Video is worth more than a thousand words. :twothumbs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoTYspNclLA

BTW, my glasses is blocking out quite a fair bit of the UV. I am using tissue paper as a target, there is a lot of fluorescence, but using my glasses to block there is no fluoresences, just a very faint white greenish glow.

You can read about my experience with this and other UV lights (mainly banknotes UV marks detection) at http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/1917 .

What I see is very similar to what you see, 2100, but much less powerful.

My eyeglasses (and sunglasses and other family members' glasses and camera UV filters) do not show any blocking abilities of UV from the tk-566 365nm or the other UV lights I have. I've ordered some "UV safety goggles", I hope they'll help.

Regarding the PT30 - it is rather expensive at almost 100$... and with customs it would cost me some 30$-50$ more. Too expensive for this kind of toy

btw, Tank007 answered regarding the LED. They said: "We sincerely apologize for not being able to answer your quesion, because the sales in our company are not allowed to know the exact UV model. I hope this flashlight will work fine for you."
Nichia haven't answered yet (and I doubt they will).

You shouldn't have a $$ issue with customs Haggai. Yeah its damn expensive. There is another flashlight in an OEM host at usd340 shipped with UPS Express (1-3 days), which is using the NSCU033B. The chip would cost usd154 ea. Expensive yes....but well at least it is *available fast*. And also it'd definitely work and with ample output (youtube vid of the NSCU033A). As you said, you doubt that Nichia will ever answer.
That's why I chose the PT30 instead of the TK-566, just to "eliminate the unknown". 18650, 40mm reflector, 3W (there are 3 chips inside). Not sure what kind of driver is the TK-566 using, 1.5V initial dropping down to 1.2V or so....it costs usd55 for the 3W. But if its not driven properly, 3W from TK-566 is not the same as 3W from PT30 or PT10 (PT10 has same 20mm reflector as TK-566). I can justify usd100, but i can't justify usd340 as I am not in the boss of a Money Changing biz.

Reflector and die size is key for throw. I have a unknown brand cheapo $20 300-lumens 3 x AA flashlight, 50mm reflector which is smooth but below average. Vs the Ultrafire U80 XM-L w/40mm reflector and the reflector looks much better made (take it as approx 700 lumens). The no-brand flashlight has the same hotspot intensity as the Ultrafire XM-L at 10m! Of course the XM-L has a much bigger hotspot.

If you want a banknote checker, just get a UV T5 type, usd 7.50 shipped from focalprice. Non-focused, but lots of UV lumens.

If one really needs a UV light, just go straight for HID. (even with the quartz cut its still a heck lot, never stare into any HID). My Ebay/aliexpress style 65W HID and also another Yao-type HID 55W has much less UV than the Amondotech 3152 or "Power On Board" before the Power On Board HID.

Customs in Israel are quite greedy...
And I'm not in any real need for a UV light, just wanted to see how this world looks like.

Haggai said:

Customs in Israel are quite greedy...

Click to expand...

Haha....I see. Yeah I just wanted to have the PT-30 as part of the collection. Come to think of it, it could have been put to better use. OH well....

Flashaholism.
There is no cure for that.

With banknotes. BTW bro Haggai, the visible light portion is really dullish white, I see this spurious emission as this colour with and without my glasses (take care). The images in your pictures shows violet with the Tank007 TK-566, is this so in real life?

Original Tank007 PT30 direct from Tank007 store.


It is exactly what you see in the video too. I am using a Nikkor 24mm f1.4 but on a D90 (for vids). There is no blue/violet emission, the violet colour is what tricks the camera CCD (eg blue laser 445nm becomes violet, 405nm violet may become blue, so will blue + red magenta becomes more bluish than it shd be), but in my case the visible portion is not violet, so no issue.

I saw your comments regarding 3W and 1W. I also wanted them to verify if they had sent me the correct model. Then I switched it on and saw 3 seperate emitters on the silver bowl. Ok....

The blue/purple tint is just my camera's automatic white balance and the banknotes color itself.
In real life there is close to no blue/purple tint (I can't really tell because the banknotes are mostly in this color and many other things fluoresce in this tint) and the beam is mostly white, probably like what you see.

Thanks for the comment about the 1W vs 3W, I was curious about that.

Want to send me this Singapore banknote so I can test my light?

Haha....the bank note actually si bluish in colour as well.

I don't have a true macro lens, cannot take good pictures of the die unlike others. I shot this with the Sigma 17-50 f2.8.
Using Liveview, finally that has a usage (no UV risk)

Note : The true colour of the light (visible) is not greenish in real life.

This is a very cool image!
I never thought of photographing the LED while it's on.
Will try it. I wonder what my camera (a poor Fuji S6500) will make of it.

I still think they're edison Opto LEDs.

BTW, for nice pics of LED dice, check out the shots of this Atlas:
http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/tubepage.php?item=5

Great pictures there, bshanahan14rulz. Some look very much like the above UV LEDs. Plus, I really like the SZ shaped LEDs. Very artistic.

Photos of the TK-566 and Taiwan LEDs in action (through a useless UV filter):



I couldn't get the Taiwan picture right. It is photoed at F11, ISO100, 1/4000th sec exposure... and still very bright!
(The TK-566 is F4.9, ISO100, 1/75th sec exposure)

I was curious, so I measured the lux emitted by these LEDs.
Maximum readings of the hot spot at 1m: TK-566 less than 2 lux; Taiwan about 45 lux.
No wonder my camera got blinded by the Taiwan LED!

I also have a Tank007 UV, mine a PT10 with a 3W 365nm UV LED. I emailed Tank007 before purchase to ask about what UV LED they used (at the time they were stated as "Japan Nichia LED" on the web site.) Tank007 replied via email and told me that their 365nm 3W UV LEDs were "Nichia NCSU033B(T)" - their exact words. I then ordered it from the Tank007 online store.

The order took 2-3 weeks to arrive and I too saw the three emitter dies and sloppy wiring between emitters and knew that this couldn't be what they advertised. Interestingly, you see the three square emitters as shadows in the beam in both mine and the YouTube video by 2100. Not sure what I'm going to do. In my case, it is clearly gross misrepresentation, stated nicely. I'll see how they reply first.

Some definitive follow up on this LED identification issue.

I spoke to a US Nicha LED representative. I showed him this thread with pictures (especially those in posts #14 and #17) and the rep confirmed that these LEDs are definitely NOT Nichia LEDs. The NCSU033B has a single emitter and a four emitter version is available as NC4U133. Nichia doesn't make these UV LEDs in a three emitter version.

The question of exactly which LEDs these actually are and their associated specs remains open.

Thanks, Testor, for the info.
I'm quite used to exaggerated lumen claims and to using old OSRAM LEDs but claiming they are Crees, but I didn't expect that from one of the more respectable companies in the Chinese market.
Tank007 has changed the LED description in all their UV lights, now being merely "High quality UV chip".
Ah well, at least it works.