More Tests of UV LED flashlights and LED's
Uploaded 11/13/16

 
Here
            we do some additional tests with both the spectrograph and direct
            lighting of UV mineral specimens. The newest addition to the
            UV light line up is the just completed 9 LED mineral lamp I built
            this week, seen below as the small black box in the lower left
            corner of the test bench. The results are good - a strong performance
            on long wave UV minerals!
 

            


                  
Left: Bench setup
                  includes the huge 100 LED scorpion killer flashlight on the upper
                  left, in the pin vise pointing at spectrograph input is the "Purple
                  LED flashlight" which is an original scorpion lamp sold
                  many years ago when the first came out. Then the blue flashlight
                  is a standard 27 LED white lamp used for full spectrum views.

                  
Finally the new
                  unit is the black box in the lower left, which is 9 Adafruit
                  UV LED's I put in a housing with a 9v battery and switch.

                  
The spectrograph
                  is in center, and laptop is recording short 100 frame AVI files
                  of each spectrum for low noise integrations.



                  
The Big compare.
                  Click to enlarge to full size.

                  
The results show
                  that the old Purple LED light was not as far into the UV as the
                  two newer units below it. I drew a straight edge on the images
                  so you can see this. The Adafruit LEDs are apparently identical
                  to the ones used (as far as pass band) in the 100 LED scorpion
                  killer lamp.

                  
Finally, a solar
                  spectrum is aligned on the bottom to show the relative positions
                  of the UV outputs vs visible light. Second order spectrums have
                  been cropped off, as the UV lines appear again superimposed on
                  the IR data...



                  
Left: now in the
                  old photo dark room, I set up to show what each lamp did at a
                  distance of 10 inches and the same photographic exposure - 1/500
                  f/5.6. This is the white light room light on view of the test
                  setup.

                  
On the left is
                  a chunk of calcite that glows a bit white under long wave UV,
                  and on the right is a specimen of hyalite opal that is very active
                  in long wave.


Left: Now
                  here is with the 100 LED lamp - fills both samples with a huge
                  4 inch beam. The Hyalite is glowing blue, but the calcite is
                  pale.
Adafruit
                  9 LED has same intensity as the 100 LED, but over a smaller 2
                  inch area. Still, a very nice performance!
And the
                  old purple 5 LED scorpion lamp? Sorry, time for retirement!




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