Hi guys,
I ordered a few of these Nichia i-LEDs for some projects and R&D. For starters, these LED's are very expensive and dangerous; no toy! At present, minimum order is 5 units and if my experience is typical, you will pay a unit price that is mid way between $100 and $200. Any one interested can contact Nichia directly.
The LED is a small SMD package and not what I consider friendly for simple builds or mods. Below, a couple are shown (top and bottom) next to a familiar LED:
I suspected that the LED would work well with my new 19 mm reflector which has its focal point outside and the easiest host for testing was an Aleph 19. The LED is rated at 500 mA with a max current of 700 mA. Typical Vf is 4 volts. I built this proto with a Wiz2 520 and I figured the light engine could be adjusted and tested with other reflectors if the 19 mm proved to be unacceptable. I made a couple horse shoe lead frames that I soldered to the tinned indents on the sides of the LED prior to bedding it down in some Arctic Silver epoxy. With the anodize film on the Escrew heat sink, I was able to avoid shorting the leads and this surface mount device was not mounted as per convention ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif
As it turns out, the die is so small that the 19 mm reflector produces a very tight center beam with a much higher intensity than that of the corona. The visible output from this LED is not very bright or noticible, especially with ambient light present unless one is hitting fluorescent targets in which case the LED lets its on condition be known! For that reason, I located some tritium vials in the lip of the bezel and they light up well under the presence of the UV light. Well before staring into the reflector, these H3 vials can be seen and indicate UV on!
Below, the Nichia is on the left and a Cree 7090 in a custom PD is on the right:
Well I have had a little bit of time to "play" with this LED now and I have had a chance to see some stuff under a new light. For the most part, I believe the Cree 7090 is more useful and brighter when targeting most of the fluorescing items I am aware of. However the lower pass band of the Nichia coupled with less visible light does allow one to see some targets better. I have some samples of invisible inks that barely show up with the Cree and even the Nichia 380 UV sample I have but they stand out bold and bright with the 365. The invisible "watermark" on the California Drivers License as well as the strips in the US bills are considerably more pronounced under the 365 beam. Objects that are more typically known to fluoresce with near UV don't fair as well with the 365 as they do with the other UV light sources I have.
Currently the cost of this LED is reminicient (sp) of some of the laser diodes in the past but hopefully like them, this will come down in price. Technology moves forward. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Oh yeah, for beam shots, consider a barely visible violet circle about 6" in diameter from about 10 feet out on a white wall. :yawn:
I started this thread in the LED forum because I think the LED is of much more interest than the host.
I ordered a few of these Nichia i-LEDs for some projects and R&D. For starters, these LED's are very expensive and dangerous; no toy! At present, minimum order is 5 units and if my experience is typical, you will pay a unit price that is mid way between $100 and $200. Any one interested can contact Nichia directly.
The LED is a small SMD package and not what I consider friendly for simple builds or mods. Below, a couple are shown (top and bottom) next to a familiar LED:
I suspected that the LED would work well with my new 19 mm reflector which has its focal point outside and the easiest host for testing was an Aleph 19. The LED is rated at 500 mA with a max current of 700 mA. Typical Vf is 4 volts. I built this proto with a Wiz2 520 and I figured the light engine could be adjusted and tested with other reflectors if the 19 mm proved to be unacceptable. I made a couple horse shoe lead frames that I soldered to the tinned indents on the sides of the LED prior to bedding it down in some Arctic Silver epoxy. With the anodize film on the Escrew heat sink, I was able to avoid shorting the leads and this surface mount device was not mounted as per convention ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif
As it turns out, the die is so small that the 19 mm reflector produces a very tight center beam with a much higher intensity than that of the corona. The visible output from this LED is not very bright or noticible, especially with ambient light present unless one is hitting fluorescent targets in which case the LED lets its on condition be known! For that reason, I located some tritium vials in the lip of the bezel and they light up well under the presence of the UV light. Well before staring into the reflector, these H3 vials can be seen and indicate UV on!
Below, the Nichia is on the left and a Cree 7090 in a custom PD is on the right:
Well I have had a little bit of time to "play" with this LED now and I have had a chance to see some stuff under a new light. For the most part, I believe the Cree 7090 is more useful and brighter when targeting most of the fluorescing items I am aware of. However the lower pass band of the Nichia coupled with less visible light does allow one to see some targets better. I have some samples of invisible inks that barely show up with the Cree and even the Nichia 380 UV sample I have but they stand out bold and bright with the 365. The invisible "watermark" on the California Drivers License as well as the strips in the US bills are considerably more pronounced under the 365 beam. Objects that are more typically known to fluoresce with near UV don't fair as well with the 365 as they do with the other UV light sources I have.
Currently the cost of this LED is reminicient (sp) of some of the laser diodes in the past but hopefully like them, this will come down in price. Technology moves forward. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Oh yeah, for beam shots, consider a barely visible violet circle about 6" in diameter from about 10 feet out on a white wall. :yawn:
I started this thread in the LED forum because I think the LED is of much more interest than the host.
