2 Watt Nichia UV LED

I was fortunate to receive an engineering sample of a Nichia 2W UV LED and it was an interesting challenge to figure out how best to mount the strange thing. Although the preliminary specs are rated at 500 mA If, the max If is 700 so I used a BadBoy 700 as a driver. I checked the If at the LED using this particular BB and read 675 so I am under max.



More Info

At If = 500 mA, Nichia measured this particular LED and came up with the following specs:

Vf = 3.73 V
Po = 88 mW
Peak Wave Length = 379.2

The return and brightness level of fluorescent objects is really amazing! I have an 18" fluorescent black light and this little LED really kicks its butt! I remember trying to find an oil leak in my old truck with special fluorescing die with the black light. I had to wait until it got dark and then trying to maneuver the dang black light under and around the engine was a night mare. This flashlight probably would have found the leak in day light with no problem!

For specific tasks, I believe this flashlight could be a great tool! I have some UV or thermal cure Loctite, thermally conductive adhesive, and it will be interesting to see how this flashlight will work at curing the adhesive.

When Nichia gets the technology down and couples descendants of this LED with phosphor, I reckon the color control of light will be amazing.

- Don

wow!!!!!!!

are there any other's availabe? or only the uv's at this point?

do you think these will be more sensitive to heat than the luxeons? they look like the heatsinking is quite good.

is there someone i can threaten/bribe/blackmale/or decieve to get a couple of these?

i'm sure if you have any extras, you won't hesitate to contact me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

very nice mod btw /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I wonder how long would the LED last? I remember 5mm UVs having a short life. And does multi coated glass block the UV from this LEDs? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

nerd, i believe the reason the 5mm's have a short life is due to their encasing being eaten up.

if this is using a glasss lens, then there should be no problem.

I think the first LED's to come out will be the 2W whites; there is some need for improvement for them to compare with Lumileds:



I believe the target release date now is August. I don't know when these UV's will be available.

As Rothrandir stated,I think one of the reasons the 5 mm UV's have such a short life is due to the epoxy envelope that is degraded by the UV. This is why Nichia uses glass but then the price for a metal and glas LED is much higher than the epoxy jobs.

- Don

holy crap, thats bright.

404 page not found /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I want high power UV!!!

Don, how easy/hard is it to center those 2 watts?

Nerd,

I typically make a centering jig with delrin that matches the ID of the bore as well as the OD of the LED lens. I center the LED visually and then push the jig down into the bore and over the LED. I apply some pressure to squeeze out excess epoxy and then post cure in oven.

I assembled the 2W white Nichia while on vacation in Maui so I used a McFlood for a centering jig and let the warm sun cure the epoxy.

If the LED is on a pedestal, I make a cap that goes over the pedestal and has a hole in the center that the LED lens fits into when centered.

- Don

wow. that's a low specified wavelength! Looks like they need to work on making the LED's a bit more "user" friendly like the luxeons in shape and soldering tabs and all.
That would make the ultimate UV inspection/flood light. Work or play. One would probably fill a whole car up better than the uv neons.

Wow, very nice mod. I don't personally have any use for a UV LED but if this leads Nichia to some well made 2 watt white LEDs then so much the better for us (if not Luxeon). Competition is great for the consumer!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jon

Lets hope that when the white ones become available that they produce more light than heat and that they are more constant in their production quality!

and they are competitively priced...and brighter, and require less current, and longer lasting, and more durable, and offer more colors...and...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For light show entertainment these could be interesting,,
are they available? and how much$ in quanity?
Not for black light replacement,but more for the front illumination of Fluorescent objects, I would simply build light strips.

Lasernerd,

These are not available yet as production items. I believe Nichia is also working on another high power UV in a different package; more like the 2W white but with a special lens material that won't be effected by the UV transmission. I won't pass on any pricing info as what I was told was tentative and not to be quoted. I think it is safe to suggest that these will be around 5X the price of the 2W white, in quantity, and that the 2W white will be priced competatively with current market pricing of other high power LED's.

- Don

ouch. ~50 bucks? For what reason would they be higher other than the glass lens?

Maybe it could be they are UV? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif
And the only game in town at that power output...

[ QUOTE ]
IsaacHayes said:
Looks like they need to work on making the LED's a bit more "user" friendly like the luxeons in shape and soldering tabs and all.

[/ QUOTE ]
I guess I'd have to disagree with this. I've been wondering when Lumileds would ship an led with a *normal* case so that standard equipment could deal with it. This package from Nichia looks like a standard DPACK or D2PACK type SMT case. Normal schematic capture packages can handle that--unline the funky case that the LS comes in.

But I might just be alone in that belief. Wouldn't be the first time.