Blue LED Torches?

[Dr Stevil]

Does anyone know where in this country you can get a blue LED torch with 47O nm wavelength? It must have a minimum of 5 LEDs
Chee-az
Steve
PS it's not intended for diving so doesn't have to be waterproof

[Dominic]

I don't... but you could just nip down to Maplins, and buy the type of LEDs you want and build them into one of those white LED lights that are becoming so common...

[Dr Stevil]

Good call Dom, Maplins have them for £1.49 each, it's not for me it's for one of the technicians at work
Chee-az
Steve

[Dominic]

Thought they might - I bought their catalogue the other day when I was buying the parts for my Palm-Aladin interface.

I've come to the conclusion that the little "parts store" window is in fact the entrance to a Tardis, considering the amount of stuff they list having packed into them

[Dr Stevil]

The Technician in question wants this device to excite (oo-er missus!) fluorescent molecules, as many cnidarians (corals and anemones) have fluorescent properties, such a torch could be of interest of UW photographers

[Andy Phillips]

Hi Steve

Its funny you should say this, how does a mercury arc with a 485 / 30 band pass filter sound. Tested last week, needs to be struck from the mains (trying to invent a way around this), but runs off 24V once lit.

Just need to finish housing off. Got a 50W bulb awith bout 200 hours life. Thought it would be fun to take pickies of fluorescence in the Red Sea in March. Can make another if you like. Blue LED's don't really have enough energy to get enough fluorescence for normal (non intergrating) CCD camera's.

Sorry but this really is what I do for a living.

Andrew


(Edited by andyp at 8:02 pm on Jan. 16, 2003)

[Dr Stevil]

Sounds pretty technical Andy (ie I've just ducked as that went over my head!).
Perhaps I should explain what the technician wants if for, she's working with transgenic mice which have the GFP gene inserted (I'm guessing you're familiar with that), a recent draft of a paper (Biotechniques, Vol 34 issue 2)) detailed a sytem where a commercially available blue LED flashlight (Inova X5 from Emissive Energy, USA) was used to illuminate the mice (through a Kodak Polymax PC3 filter), the mice are observed through another filter (Kodak Wratten Gelatin Filter 12). The whole idea is to emliminate the need to take a tissue sample (from the mouses ear) the paper acknowledges that the results aren't suitable for photomicrographs but is adequate for non-invasive identification of mice with the fluorescent gene.
Chee-az
Steve

[Andy Phillips]

Sent you an e-mail, it is getting a bit too much like work for this forum, the bit of kit we have made is for diving, or a least photography whilst diving.

Andrew

[Driftwood]

Oh you whacky scientists - flourescent mice whatever next - flame repellant cats?

[Richie]

Different perspective on "putting the cat out"?