I’m just now starting to learn about this sort of light… mainly for dive applications.
From what I’ve gathered so far the output isn’t nearly what white light is.
Because of that… are UV (395nm) or blue fluro (455nm) measured in lumens or something else?
I’m looking to get a bright 455nm LED with a beam width somewhere between 72-100 degrees that would be the equivalent of 1000 lumens.
Because lumens is based on the human eye’s sensitivity to light, 10W of 365nm UVA will have zero lumens whereas 10W into a white LED will give about 800 lumens.
UV and blue LED’s are measured in watts. Make sure you read reviews of LED’s to confirm that they are emitting the specified wavelength.
Again, excuse my stupidity but…
So if 10W of white light gives 800 lumens (I assume this isn’t universal and depends on the type of LED?) how many watts would give 1000lumens?
Whatever the answer to that question is, would it be an accurate comparison to say that the equivalent wattage for 1000 lumens would give you a bright UV?
Also… that’s for 365nm, where you’re not really seeing anything. What about 455nm, where it’s throwing blue light?
Here’s the spectral sensitivity of the human eye:
Lumens is how bright the human eye can see, so even if an LED were pumping 10W of 365nm UV, it would be zero lumens because we can’t see UV.
455nm however would be deep blue, which we can see. Not sure how many lumens would be 10W of deep blue be, but I’m guessing about 50-150 lumens.
There hasn’t been much development in the UV/blue LED sector as white, so your options and output are limited.Check out Cree’s XT-E Royal Blue, bottom of page 6: http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cree/LED%20Components%20and%20Modules/XLamp/Data%20and%20Binning/XLampXTE.pdf
Thanks. That’s awesome and helps.
I guess when I say lumen equivalent what I’m really asking is how much brighter will the florescence of things you’re hitting with the UV or blue light be? I’m guessing the higher output, the more vivid they floresce (if they have any bioluminescence).
If you have a 15W UV will it make the colors of a critter brighter than a 10W UV?
Yup, the higher the UV output, the great he florescence.
What are you going to shine the light on, just curious? Different materials have different optimal wavelengths of fluorescence and choosing the correct wavelength will be important.
Also, the higher the wavelength, the more visible the light will be to your eye, so it will distract you from picking up any fluorescence.
Check out LEDEngine’s UV emitter, but they are quite expensive but seems to be the only option on high output 365nm UV.
I saw one L&M Sola that said 3000mW (3watts?).
Would 15W or 30W be too much?
What’s a good wattage for underwater fluro photography?
I figured 30W would light everything up nicely, but now I’m guessing it would be too much if the Sola only has 3W
The light it’s going to be used in has 3 brightness settings so would putting a 10W in it be good if the brightness settings are 100% / 50% / 25? At the lowest setting you’d be at what appears to be the norm of around 3W (assuming the equates to watts).
A single LED Engin emitter can do 3 watts.
http://www.mouser.com/new/ledengin/ledengin365nmuvled/
http://www.mouser.com/new/ledengin/led-engin-lz1-365nm-emitters/
Looks like that sola uses multiple emitters (of some type). Certainly wouldn’t be LED Engin.
You could try a ChromaLit Remote Phosphor disk from digikey to convert it to white light like that one. Neutral & warm white phosphors usually become orange tinted under uv (they are meant for blue) so you would want to try a cold white phosphor.