naimis
Contributor
Hey, folks. I've been working on building my own dive light specifically designed as an exciter for the green fluorescent protein present in many underwater critters. The prototype was made using a UK SuperQ eLED as the body and optics. I won't be using that as a prototype anymore, however, as the soldered leads on the LED I put in ended up scratching up the reflector a bit.
The LED in the prototype was a LedEngin LZ1-30UA05, which is the best ... well, to be realistic, ONLY LED I could find that was 1W or greater that emitted at or near the desired wavelength of 395nm.
The prototype worked pretty well, I've attached a picture of the light and the one salvageable picture I took using it, of a fluorescing anemone (the green of the anemone is its fluorescence, the purple is from the light). It was hard to get good pictures as 1) it only is visible when there's no white light around, whether it's coming from the sun or another diver's light, and 2) I didn't have the UV light mounted on the camera housing like I should have. The end result was a set of pictures that were either too dark or really blurry from being shaken around by the Cozumel currents.
The next revision I was planning on doing, I was originally planning on using a UK C8 and replacing the LEDs in the head. This would be kinda tricky, though, given the way the C8 head is assembled (you have to desolder the LEDs just to get the head apart).
I'm currently reading up on people's DIY canister lights, and those are appealing to me quite a bit. They sound relatively straight-forward to put together, and not overly expensive, either.
Anyway, just thought I'd stick my head in and let people know what I'm up to.
The LED in the prototype was a LedEngin LZ1-30UA05, which is the best ... well, to be realistic, ONLY LED I could find that was 1W or greater that emitted at or near the desired wavelength of 395nm.
The prototype worked pretty well, I've attached a picture of the light and the one salvageable picture I took using it, of a fluorescing anemone (the green of the anemone is its fluorescence, the purple is from the light). It was hard to get good pictures as 1) it only is visible when there's no white light around, whether it's coming from the sun or another diver's light, and 2) I didn't have the UV light mounted on the camera housing like I should have. The end result was a set of pictures that were either too dark or really blurry from being shaken around by the Cozumel currents.
The next revision I was planning on doing, I was originally planning on using a UK C8 and replacing the LEDs in the head. This would be kinda tricky, though, given the way the C8 head is assembled (you have to desolder the LEDs just to get the head apart).
I'm currently reading up on people's DIY canister lights, and those are appealing to me quite a bit. They sound relatively straight-forward to put together, and not overly expensive, either.
Anyway, just thought I'd stick my head in and let people know what I'm up to.