IR LED -dangerous?

knabsol

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
50
Hey guys&girls.
In one of my ongoing projects I will use a matrix of IR diodes. In what levels are the IR light dangerous to the eye? Lets say I will have a matrix of 200 ir leds and the specs are: radiation at 50mA: 6mW/sr and a angle of 50degrees. all 200 will be mounted on a one squaremeter big board.
I´ve tried googling some but mostly found warnings about IR lasers.
I bet someone here sits on the info I need :)
 

mahoney

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
603
IR exposure can cause cataracts, it heats/cooks the lens of your eye. This is a long term hazard of welding. I don't know if IR LEDs would pose an exceptional additional level of hazard, or if the fact that all the IR from the LEDs is essentially the same wavelength matters, but it does not seem like your LED array is dissapating very much energy compared to, say, a 1000w quartz heater. I would avoid staring at them while they are on, or if that is unavoidable, you could get some gold plated welding glasses or goggles. Gold plating reflects IR.
 
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