[Althornin]

Originally posted by Gooserider
I may have just answered my own question on the use of LED's for killing stuff... It doesn't appear to be feasible.

I just looked up the other thread where the UV stuff is discussed, and found that the desired wavelength for the killer rays is "UV-C",with a wavelength of ~250 - 300 nm.

I got started on this idea by a LED being offered in the latest Electronic Goldmine flyer which had all sorts of warnings about 'produces intense UV light, protect eyes and skin when using' and thought it was a useful looking item. Reviewing the specs for it however, I found that it only puts out in the 400-405nm range.

Since I was on the idea however, I went to the Globalspec website, which supposedly allows one to search by specs on multiple manufacturers catalogs. If I specified "UV LED", I got only units running in the 400+nm range, if I specified 250-300nm peak wavelength, I got only 'possible matches' that didn't spec a peak wavelength, but were only visible light LED's from other descriptions (Most annoying - I hate bogus matches...)

Thus it appears that my idea would not work due to the simple fact that nobody appears to make LED's the right wavelength.

The other objection mentioned was the question of light intensity put out by these LED's. I agree they wouldn't be as intense as a bulb, but given the incredible level of overkill even a 4W bulb seemed to give in a WC environment, I suspect that had the right LED's existed they would have been OK if I used several of them.

Gooserider

so, basically, as i said.