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Kids bedroom LED lights UV issue
Mr Whippy - 13/2/26 at 06:54 PM

Hi,

Just a completely off topic warning.

My eldest daughter bought some sticky back LED tape for going round her bedroom walls, these are mains powered and have a remote to change the colour etc. and were from Amazon.

I have just went into her room while she had it set on blue and noticed that heaps of stuff in her room were now glowing brightly, these lights pump out UV. So much UV they have set off her nail varnish resin she normally uses a UV curing lamp for (which is shielded in use). Fortunately she's only had them on for a couple of days but they are getting dumped, just not taking any chances tbh. In the mean time till I get another light she's been told to leave it only on red.

Might be worth checking if you have such things in your house.

Cheers.


JoelP - 13/2/26 at 10:27 PM

Google suggests that led lights produce less uv than normal bulbs.


obfripper - 13/2/26 at 11:33 PM

Most white leds are not true white, they are blue or close to uv wavelengths with a phosphor coating that transforms the blue/uv into an approximated white output.

The close to uv ones are 405nm, which is technically not uv, but does cure uv sensitive resins etc, and does have some degree of antimicrobial activity, not close to the effect of uvc though.

It is supposed to be safe unlike uva/uvb/uvc, however like blue light does give eye strain issues and may not be the best for growing eyes.

True uv leds are quite expensive to make, so it's unlikely to be leds in the harmful wavelength area, but without a spectrometer you are unlikely to know.

There is a cheap option there though, and you get to use your 3d printer!

https://makerworld.com/en/models/1459435-mobile-spectrometer

A bit of a science project, and although the cmos sensor in a smartphone camera can detect uv, the lenses are glass which significantly attenuates the uva level that actually reaches the sensor (and blocks uv b/c) , so no guarantees that it might give a visible peak at below 400nm.

Dave