UV Leds

[Mark620]

I need some UV LEDS
What are the highest output leds available and where...

 

[Morelite]

Cree and Nichia both make hi power UV leds. Cree offers 1 and 2.5 watt and Nichia offers 1 and 2 watt. What wavelength are you after?

Nichia's are only available directly through Nichia, but their's are the only ones down in the 365nm range, pricey too ($150+ea)

Cree's are much cheaper and easier to find but they are only 385nm (IIRC). I believe you can get the Cree's at Digi-Key, Future, Cutter, and maybe the Shoppe.

 

[Norm]

I bought one of these and mounted it on a star and installed it in an old host. Very happy with the performance.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4334

I have bought these http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3414 they are absolute junk to much visible light and not enough UV.
I also had some 360nm 5 mm LEDs I mounted one in the keyring shells and it has very little visible light compared to the junk keyrings and works very well. But so far the best value seems to be the 1 Watt from DX.
Norm

 

[Oznog]

I have played with some 405nm and 395nm 5mm T1-3/4 and 3mm T1 UV LEDs. More like "violet", less "ultra" actually.

Just wanted to note that if you wanna charge glow in the dark powder with them, these wavelengths are short enough to charge all the glow colors and shorter wavelengths don't have any greater effect, although with less visible light the charging process may look slightly cooler.

 

[winston]

I think the Cree pieces are closer to 395nm, which is a bummer. If they don't have to be high power, then http://www.besthongkong.com/ has a good selection of 375-380nm on up to 410nm. Pretty cheap, too. Man I wish those Nichia were cheaper...
-Winston

 

[yclo]

I bought one of these and mounted it on a star and installed it in an old host. Very happy with the performance.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4334....

I second this emitter, put it into a KL4 head and gives off a lot of UV. Still has the nice spot/flood beam pattern too.


Bigger pic (Top: stock KL4, bottom left: KL4 UV, bottom right: KL4 SSC P4)

-YC

 

[Mark620]

My wife has a fishtank full of UV reactive fish...
and a friend wants something for counterfeit detection...cheaper & better than the POS 50.00 item they want him to buy.

 

[lotsaluck]

FYI Guys/Gals... Cree is no longer making the high output UV's. Get them while you can.

 

[LED-FX]

Thought Cree UVs tended to come and go in batches?

Anyone tried these?

http://www.thefoxgroupinc.com/p1-1.html

Cheers
Adam

 

[lotsaluck]

Thought Cree UVs tended to come and go in batches?

Anyone tried these?

http://www.thefoxgroupinc.com/p1-1.html

Cheers
Adam

They always DID but now they have stopped all production permanently. Not sure why but may have to do with some reliability issues on them. Some have been developing a short through the LED. A 2 or 3 second reverse biasing will usually correct the short and the LED will again work. Very strange, but I have several in my shop repaired in this way.

 

[CM]

FYI Guys/Gals... Cree is no longer making the high output UV's. Get them while you can.

That's too bad if it's true. I bought a bunch of Cree UV's a while back and only have two left out of the batch. The rest that I've used really flouresced scorpions very well, and with a good reflector, they can throw UV out about 25 feet.

 

[AvroArrow]

I bought some of the Fox Group 360nm 5mm round LEDs a year or 2 ago in a group buy here. They're the only UV LEDs that I have than can light up the security markings on Canadian bills and passports, but they're weak (e.g. it's hard to see the markings in daylight/flourescent light). I bought a Terralux 1w UV drop-in for MiniMag (Cree 1w UV, 395nm) to try out, and while it's much more powerful than the 5mm ones, it's the wrong wavelength for me. I'd love to get my hands on the Nichia 365nm 1w/2w but at $150 a pop just for the LED... not really economical.

 

[LED-FX]

Thanks guys, back to 5mm for UV then, its life expectancy issues wonder about with resin clouding.

Cheers
Adam