I have been thinking about using some UV leds on a mod i'm planning to do, but recently read a post where the author said that his UV cathode made him feel rather ill. Is this true? even possible?. The LEDs are going to be on all the time, and i want to avoid nasty side effects if possible. Isnt sunburn caused by UV?
Lemme work backwards here: 1. There are a few types of UV radiation: A, B and C. IIRC, it's C that's the bad one, and A is the type that's put out by blacklights (and is the least harmful). 2. It could be that he's just extremely sensitive to UV light. It's not entirely implausible, especially considering that some people are allergic to sunlight. Plus, consider the fact that there are oodles and oodles of ppl who've used UV in their case mods, and none of them have reported any side-effects (besides loss of cash and bleeding, but that's another story ).
Most companies don't put out products that can be potentially harmful to their costumers. A dead costumer is a worthless costumer after all .
where on earth do you get that idea? tobacco Seroxat etal alcohol, cars, electricity gas, Caffeine, fast food etc.
i do believe hes got ya there.... anyway.. I've never had a bad experience with UV... although i have heard of people that dont feel right around like cathodes and stuff.. but its one of those rare things i think.. just go with it ;-)
Bard, what does modding have to do with it? All I am saying is that companies don't test small things such as Cold Cathods to see if they are halmful or not. They might as well not be, but they don't know for sure. When first cell phones came out... they put out much more radiation then the current ones do... did the companies do prolonged exposure testing for brain cancer?
UV LEDs are getting shorter and shorter wavelengths. I'd say even at 395 nm I wouldn't want to stare directly at it for a very long time. I have made arrays of UV LEDs that are effective in keeping my bread from molding and fruit from rotting, still a long ways from ionizing the air and being an effective sterilization tool but still, an experiment any of us can do if you have doubts. Plenty of info on UV sterilization on the Web. Keep your UV LEDs aimed so no one is looking directly at the LEDs output. Most that light purple color you see is a tiny fraction of the actual invisible UV output. If your eyes start to feel gritty or irritated, you might have a bit of a UV burn going on. UV LEDs are NOT safe to look at directly and the shorter the wavelength, the less safe they are. I would recommend a bit of caution and common sense. Working in an open case with UV bouncing around, wear some UV block glasses. Spread the beam over the area you wish to illuminate, BLOCK the UV light from projecting in areas of direct view or possible direct reflection. Good news, plastics don't pass UV very well, and the shorter the wavelength, typically the less UV that is passed.
I am one that is not confortable around UV, especialy when it is in direct view. I am sure many of the UV ColdCathodes are as safe as blacklights. (And they have been around forever) UV LEDs seem ok, as they are listed as "near UV" But I still won't look directly at one. More info on UV leds here http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/leduv.htm
Back in the day, UV LEDs were hard to lay hands on, Nichia wouldn't sell you one without a signed waiver. You can damage your vision looking into any bright LED, even a good old red one. So don't. The good news is that UV LEDs still put out lotsa visible light, so you get some feedback and reflexively look away. UV sterilization lamps don't, and will fry your retinas. They do sterilize quite well, though, this is proven technology in use in hospitals. Now, it's time for another geezer story.... [sfx: harp music] When we had our ducts cleaned right after moving into our last house (it was about 60 years old), the furnace company saleslady really tried to push us on a UV sterilization retrofit. After all, did I really want to subject my kids to deadly MICROBES that live in the air, and get trapped in the house? Didn't I care enough about THE KIDS to spend the extra $800 or whatever it cost to ensure the air they breathe every day is the highest quality? Well, I'm acquainted with the technology, and I know a bit about fluorescent lights as well. So I asked two questions: "How much does a replacement lamp cost, and how do you know when to change the lamp?" Oddly (or not so oddly, really) the sales lady refused to answer either question. She repeatedly implied (without stating it, because I know she knew it to be false) that the lamp would be effective indefinitely. I knew that after six months, the output would be about 50% of a new lamp at the wavelengths of interest. So it's really a bit like an elephant repeller. "Must be working fine, no elephants in sight." They knew that no one would know how often to relamp, and they further knew the lamps were ridiculously expensive. But those unpleasant facts didn't ever cross the lips of the sales lady, even though I repeatedly asked her direct questions about both. So we danced for a while--I knowing the facts, and trying to get her to admit that so did she, and she wanting to sell another unit to get closer to that trip to Vegas, or whatever the incentive was. Anyhow, this culminated in me informing the furnace company I would no longer do business with them because of the questionable ethics of the sales force. I even cancelled the order I had placed for the super-chunky air filter upgrade retrofit.
