Blue Light-Emitting Diode Inventors Awarded Nobel Prize

DanS26

Most solar enthusiasts, especially you off grid guys, should be interested in this:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/press.html

westbranch

Re: Blue Light-Emitting Diode Inventors Awarded Nobel Prize

Only one mistake I see in the article...due to low power requirements it can be powered by cheap local solar power.

Solar ain't cheap!

niel

Re: Blue Light-Emitting Diode Inventors Awarded Nobel Prize

it would be if all you power is 1 led of modest power level as the proper number of cells could be seriesed that won't need huge currents like that we see in our huge pvs. 4.5v-6v may be all that's needed and depending on the power of the led you could select the right current rating, which should be fairly low as in under 500ma. given a choice i'd use a white led for visibility rather than blue.

mike95490

Re: Blue Light-Emitting Diode Inventors Awarded Nobel Prize

given a choice i'd use a white led for visibility rather than blue.

There are no white LED's (regardless what you see in catalogs) There are Blue or UV LED's with phosphor layers (like a florescent bulb) the phosphors are lit by the diode, and then glow in the desired quality of "white" . Efficiency is lost in this phosphor conversion, so blue gives more lumens than white.

Fluorescent lights are "mercury vapor arc tubes" and produce UV light. Their white phosphor converts the UV to "white". Same thing white LEDs do, convert blue/uv to white with a phosphor package.

niel

Re: Blue Light-Emitting Diode Inventors Awarded Nobel Prize

maybe so mike, but our eyes don't respond to the blue wavelengths of light like those in other wavelengths even if the blue has more output.