if i come up with something i’ll enter, but woody i already did twice, did not get me far, (5th and 6th) it is not a winning design. i’ll build one with uv anyway i need it for different purpose, but not for the contest.
i build the light, this weekend will try it outdoors. i actually recovered more leds than i expected, cat only destroyed 2, others were saved by thick reel, enough for 4 triples, all wired in parallel, fed by 6a linear driver.
white leds in the center ( has no optics, basically, the beam pattern is horrible, with dark spots everywhere, but it does pretty good job at illuminating dark spaces. it also wont blind if you look directly into it.
only 3 triples have white leds, all parallel too, 4,5A linear driver, both drivers, are slave boards from ME)
whole thing fed by 6 18650, in parralel, usb charging board,
after using it outdoors, i can’t say, i’m happy with results, i had lower power uv reach farther, and have more intense beam, i think odd 54* primary optic does not work with tir lenses that good. i’d give the light a C, as far as illumination\making things glow. a tennis ball lights up like a bulb from 10 feet, but after 60-80feet you can barely see the ball.
Looks awesome , this lamp.
A thing you could do is cutting off the domes for 90%, the beam will then be much more suitable for the optic.
tried that, what it gained in focus , it lost in intensity, it was even worst, that is why i left the domes as they were. it is still good party light, makes lots of things glow. it was very popular during party this weekend. i just expected more. oh well, i’ll find better led\lens combo. i really want the light to have focused\strong enough of a beam so i can make yellow targets glow from 100-150 yards.
for 100-150 yeards you better get a Nichia LED with 1mm² die and no dome and an aspheric thrower with glass lens
the thing with this LED in 365nm to get regulated output you need a 2S buck driver or a 1 cell boost/buck driver as its forward voltage is about 4.2V
in 385nm the LED forward voltage is lower
yea i was thinking aspheric, just not 3w nichia, but 100w array.
paper and targets do not need 365nm, they glow just as good if not better at 400-405nm. and with 400-405nm, i can use polycarb lenses. unlike with anything below 400nm