Blue LED lightsource

[Caroline Bass]

Hey Guys,

I’m trying to find a blue LED light source for a cheap GFP dissecting microscope. Does anyone know of a cheap illumination system, I basically want a standard light source with gooseneck light guides, but instead of a white halogen light I’d like to have blue light of a wavelength appropriate for GFP. I’ve been playing around with 3W blue LEDs but I don’t have a good way couple the LED to a light guide. Any and all suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks,

Caroline

[Neville Sanjana]

Hi Caroline,

I'm a big fan of the ThorLabs LEDs. They're cost-effective
and come ready to go for all major microscope brands
(Olympus, Zeiss, Nikon, Leica). I haven't done it myself but
the collimating lens and mount should make it easy to put on
a light guide.

Helpful link:
http://www.thorlabs.com/NewGroupPage9.cfm?ObjectGroup_ID=2615

It's about $350 for the intial setup (mounted LED,
collimating lens, mount/threads for microscope) and
additional colors (mounted LEDs) can be had for about $100.
(yes, less than the cost of Hg bulb for 100k hours of use...
sweet!) Also, they sell a power supply for $250 or you can
build your own for less.

No commercial interest. Just a happy user of cheap LEDs
who's delighted to not be constantly changing Hg bulbs anymore!

- Neville

Caroline Bass wrote:

> Hey Guys,
>
> I’m trying to find a blue LED light source for a cheap GFP dissecting
> microscope. Does anyone know of a cheap illumination system, I basically
> want a standard light source with gooseneck light guides, but instead of
> a white halogen light I’d like to have blue light of a wavelength
> appropriate for GFP. I’ve been playing around with 3W blue LEDs but I
> don’t have a good way couple the LED to a light guide. Any and all
> suggestions are welcomed!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Caroline

[Manu Dubin, FB18 Genetik]

Hi Caroline,

this paper has some info on connecting LEDs to light guides:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002146

you may also find this site useful:

http://130.15.90.245/gfp_stereoscope.htm


regards,

manu


Quoting Caroline Bass <[hidden email]>:

> Hey Guys,
>
> I¹m trying to find a blue LED light source for a cheap GFP dissecting
> microscope. Does anyone know of a cheap illumination system, I basically
> want a standard light source with gooseneck light guides, but instead of a
> white halogen light I¹d like to have blue light of a wavelength appropriate
> for GFP. I¹ve been playing around with 3W blue LEDs but I don¹t have a good
> way couple the LED to a light guide. Any and all suggestions are welcomed!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Caroline
>

--
Manu Dubin

Abt. Genetik
Univ. Kassel
Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40
34132 Kassel, Germany

phone: (++49) 561 8044178
fax: (++49) 561 8044800

[hidden email]

http://www.biologie.uni-kassel.de/genetics/

--------------------------------------------------------
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[Rosemary.White]

Hi Caroline,

The LED GFP flashlights from Nightsea work very well and are bright, though not as convenient as swan lights on a dissector.  You just need to put a yellow filter over your dissector lens or camera.
cheers,
Rosemary

Rosemary White
CSIRO Plant Industry
GPO Box 1600
Canberra, ACT 2601
Australia

ph 61 2 6246 5475
fx 61 2 6246 5334


On 9/01/09 3:56 AM, "Caroline Bass" <cbass@...> wrote:

Hey Guys,

I’m trying to find a blue LED light source for a cheap GFP dissecting microscope. Does anyone know of a cheap illumination system, I basically want a standard light source with gooseneck light guides, but instead of a white halogen light I’d like to have blue light of a wavelength appropriate for GFP. I’ve been playing around with 3W blue LEDs but I don’t have a good way couple the LED to a light guide. Any and all suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks,

Caroline

[Craig Brideau]

I second the Thorlabs LED: I've used the white one for some illumination work and it does a good job.
If you are interested in 'rolling your own' you can buy insanely bright blue power LEDs. A company I've gone through in the past is LuxeonStar:

http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-v-star-led-blue-lambertian-48-lm-700ma-p-292.php

The star thingy on the back is a non-conductive ceramic plate. You can thermal grease and bolt it down onto a heat sink for a computer processor and it shouldn't melt when you run it... @:-)  Don't look directly at it while it is lit.

Craig

On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 11:47 AM, Neville Sanjana <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Caroline,

I'm a big fan of the ThorLabs LEDs. They're cost-effective and come ready to go for all major microscope brands (Olympus, Zeiss, Nikon, Leica). I haven't done it myself but the collimating lens and mount should make it easy to put on a light guide.

Helpful link:
http://www.thorlabs.com/NewGroupPage9.cfm?ObjectGroup_ID=2615

It's about $350 for the intial setup (mounted LED, collimating lens, mount/threads for microscope) and additional colors (mounted LEDs) can be had for about $100. (yes, less than the cost of Hg bulb for 100k hours of use... sweet!) Also, they sell a power supply for $250 or you can build your own for less.

No commercial interest. Just a happy user of cheap LEDs who's delighted to not be constantly changing Hg bulbs anymore!

- Neville

Caroline Bass wrote:

Hey Guys,

I'm trying to find a blue LED light source for a cheap GFP dissecting microscope. Does anyone know of a cheap illumination system, I basically want a standard light source with gooseneck light guides, but instead of a white halogen light I'd like to have blue light of a wavelength appropriate for GFP. I've been playing around with 3W blue LEDs but I don't have a good way couple the LED to a light guide. Any and all suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks,

Caroline

[Glen MacDonald-2]

Hello Listers,
I'd appreciate real world experiences with line scanning confocals  
such as the Prairie (or Nikon).  Issues with vibrations or alignments  
in line scanning mode, performance as a beam scanner, practical limits  
to specimen thickness, etc....

If you want to reply off-list, I will post summary.
Thanks,
Glen


Glen MacDonald
Core for Communication Research
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
Box 357923
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-7923  USA
[phone]
[hidden email]

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The box said "Requires WindowsXP or better", so I bought a Macintosh.
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[Shaunda]

Are led strip blue running lights illegal in the state of WI?
I have led strip 12v audi style led strips under my head lights paired with waterproof led strip light running light, are they illegal in Wisconsin?

[reledtubes]

I am sorry, but this question makes no sense - LED's are solid state plastic devices so 'LED tube' doesn't mean much. LED's don't use a ballast although they often need a resister depending on supply voltage. and 'when fixed it' just leaves everything dangling.


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