|
100,000-Hour Rated LED Lamp for Dissecting Microscope |
|
100,000-Hour Rated
LED Lamp for Dissecting Microscope Though many biologists blissfully
leave their microscope lamps burning while in conversation or engaged in
other work, the bulbs do burn out. Microscope bulbs are particularly expensive
and are commonly a pain to order (find the bulb identification number, find
the vendor, find the bulb at the vendor’s Web site, charge the item to an
account, etc). Buying them by the dozen helps, but costs hundreds of dollars.
After some research, I have found a
solution in a dissecting scope lamp that one can leave burning nearly
forever. LED lamps are now sufficiently bright that they can be used for
purposes other than idiot lights and tiny novelty flashlights. I installed
(with a little duct tape) on my dissecting scope a unit with three 1-watt Luxeon warm-white LED’s, and found it entirely adequate
for dissection. These light-weight emitters are rated at more than 100,000
hours of use, though there are caveats against allowing them to over-heat,
which lowers the expected burn time. Images follow:
Triple LED unit mounted on dissecting scope (with duct tape, but you could do better,
couldn’t you)?
The unit provides a nice pool of adequate warm-white light.
You need to order only three items (listed below). W-15-12 UpLight
Power Supply MR16/MR11 Socket - GX5.3/G40 MR16-WLX3 Warm White LED bulb - Medium
30 degree The total cost was about US$51.00, as
ordered from: Super Bright LEDs,
Inc. 100 Washington St. Florissant, MO 63031 314-972-6200 http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=MR16 (No, I am not an agent for this
company.) Cut the connector off the end of the
line from the transformer. Jam the copper wires into the holes in the base of
the socket, and affix them there with a little duct tape. Plug the
transformer into a multi-plug extension cord and use the rocker on-off switch
to turn the lamp on and off. A narrow beam 10 degree bulb is also
available. Given that LEDs
are almost point sources of light, it may well be possible that one could be
used for a compound microscope. Cobbling together such a system would require
much attention to heat dissipation, and a means of dimming would be needed.
There are 3-watt versions of the Luxeon, which are
reputed to run hot, and these presently are only available in the 5500 degree
output rather than 3300 degree warm white available for the 1-watt emitters. |
|
|
