UV LED saftey concern

chipdouglas · Oct 22, 2013

Hello guys, whats good.

I need help about safety.

I am going to wear some uv reactive contacts on Saturday for my Halloween costume and had the idea to install 2- 3mm UV LEDs on my shoulders, or in my bushy fake eyebrows. the stated wavelength is 390-400nm, and the 3mm LEDs rated lumens are 2000-3000mcd

I will run the LEDs with a small watch type 3v battery with out resisitor.
(I have 1 5mm uv led running direct drive since last sat, and it is still running lol)

My question is about the safety of my eyes. Do I risk any soreness or eye strain or any negative affects? I would have them powered on for about 5 hours.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Michael.

Bionic-Badger · Oct 23, 2013

I doubt it'll do much to your eyes, especially for such a short duration and relatively weak output. Remember that those contacts are usually made for ambient black light sources, which are higher powered fluorescent black light bulbs that produce 365nm light.

I'd try placing the LEDs a bit further away from your eyebrows though. No need to flood your eyes with that light. It may not seem bright enough, but that may have to do with the wavelength you're using: those longer wavelength LEDs aren't as effective in fluorescing certain pigments compared to "true" black light 365nm. Bleached white or fluorescent yellow should be okay though. Still, if it's not producing a very good fluorescent effect, it probably isn't that strong anyway.

If you're older than 20, your eyes' iris will have a natural ability to filter UVA radiation. Whether that means that absorbed light will degrade your eyes as well I'm not sure, but given how much radiation you're exposed to from sunlight without sunglasses, you'll probably be fine.

chipdouglas · Oct 23, 2013

Cool man, I think I'll mount them upwards on my shoulders then.,,

Also, burning man was so much fun. I mostly hung out int he playa for the music. I didn't really do much at people's campsites. But definitely going back next year!!!

Your advice on the monkey hut was great. We always started our nights out there doing recreational things, and always had breakfast under it lol.

Bionic-Badger · Oct 23, 2013

Yeah, the first year is usually all about the playa and seeing the sights and sounds, but I found I enjoyed camp a lot more the second year. Depends on the camp though.

Nothing like having shade and sleep under a MH

chipdouglas · Oct 23, 2013

^^^^ not trying to be a jerk! but what does your post have to do with anything in this thread lol

Michael

NightExplorer96 · Oct 23, 2013

chipdouglas said:
^^^^ not trying to be a jerk! but what does your post have to do with anything in this thread lol

Michael

He was trying to explain that maybe sunglasses could be of use since they block UV light.

TheDukeAnumber1 · Oct 23, 2013

Right but that would compromise the whole purpose of the lights in the first place.

NO4H99 · Oct 23, 2013

Tha Greenlander said:
He was trying to explain that maybe sunglasses could be of use since they block UV light.

HD5830Gamer said:
I know most sunglasses say "Blocks 99.9% of UV" I think It's true since they almost completely block 80mW of 405nm and that is only near UV. Not true UV like 365nm.

He is using uv light to fluoresce reactive contacts - and asking if this is too dangerous, not trying to block uv light.

Back on topic, 1 minute of low uv light exposure is close to 1hr in bright sunlight. I think - will try to find my source on that one first though.

SKeeZ · Oct 23, 2013

if you want to mount them near you eyes, a great idea would be to wrap them with paper to diffuse the light. this will make the light less intense but i doubt it would matter. i wouldn't worry about the danger so much

BShanahan14rulz · Oct 23, 2013

UV LEDs w/ those contacts is safer than UV LEDs just by themselves since some of that light is being absorbed and re-emitted.

As for the safety of having 5mm UV LEDs pointed at one's face, beats me.

Here's a random PDF that the interwebs gave me: http://www.icnirp.de/documents/UV2004.pdf

These appear to be guidelines, like what the Human Resources department would recommend. Note that they are a bit more conservative when it comes to skin and eye irradiation. These would be recommendations that one could put forth and feel pretty confident that one did not give poor information. Plus, can always point a finger ;-)

The ACGIH publication that is more commonly referenced is harder to come by without doling out some money to them for collecting and putting it together.

chipdouglas · Oct 23, 2013

haha, bshan, i'll point my finger at you for posting the link. I like to kill the messenger.
jk.

Thanks for the link

@skeez, that is a good Idea. I also read to used sand paper, or clear frosted spray paint. I guess it diffuses the light, and creates a slightly lager angle of light output.

Michael.

Bionic-Badger · Oct 23, 2013

HD5830Gamer said:
I know most sunglasses say "Blocks 99.9% of UV" I think It's true since they almost completely block 80mW of 405nm and that is only near UV. Not true UV like 365nm.

Only if you buy ultra cheapo sunglasses. Anything blocking UVA will block down to 320nm. Some sunglasses (and many sunscreens) will also block UVB, down to 290nm or so.

Regardless, your iris blocks out nearly all the UVA if you're an adult; children and teens should have sunglasses to protect their eyes though. For adults, sunglasses are more there to protect the eyes from the "equivalent" of skin damage.

Chipdouglas:

Something to try is to make sure that your LEDs are positioned to hit your eye area from an angle. That way it mostly interacts with the fluorescent material in your contacts, not entering that small hole in the center of the contacts that you see through. Overall, I think the risk of much eye damage for a night of costuming is pretty low, especially if the beam is spread out. That light is longwave UV, low-power, and will be hitting the fluorescing material more than your actual iris.

chipdouglas · Oct 23, 2013

^^^ this. after your first post I realized I want to mount them on my shoulders. I'm gonna play around with it tonight.

Michael.

djQUAN · Oct 24, 2013

SKeeZ said:
if you want to mount them near you eyes, a great idea would be to wrap them with paper to diffuse the light. this will make the light less intense but i doubt it would matter. i wouldn't worry about the danger so much

Paper is fluorescent under UV light (that's why we see 405nm light as blue when you shine it on white paper) so the UV could be absorbed and wouldn't serve the intended purpose.

As mentioned, lightly sanding the LED dome or cutting it off completely (or just getting flat top LEDs) so that the beam would be spread evenly would be better.

Cyparagon · Oct 24, 2013

These LEDs are a lot safer than even a 20mW violet pointer. Most of them aren't even UV with a peak somewhere around 410nm.

SKeeZ · Oct 24, 2013

LAME 400th post... oh well

ah yes, i forgot DJQuan, i should have thought of that. maybe some sanding would do. idealy you could use frosted glass

UV LED saftey concern

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