Who's making 260nm LEDs?! I want some, though my application has absolutely nothing to do with yours.
I don't know anything about UV water sterilization other than what I've gleaned from servicing the treatment plant at my Dad's farm.
However, it occurs to me that an off-the-shelf 4W germicidal lamp(G4T5; ~$20) would work quite well with a small solar charging arrangement. It emits the same 254nm line as the higher-intensity lamps used for flow-through water treatment, and will have a much longer service life than the batteries in those solar lights...
I haven't found the 250nm LEDs yet but I know they're out there. I wonder how less effective the 350nm ones are. Those are available in 1W - 10W models.
As for bulbs I'm concerned because the design is for directly in the rain barrels and that means freezing when winter hits. Bulbs, as I'm sure you well know, sometimes don't take to that too well.
But a 4W lamp could well be the solution. Can you put that behind a piece of plexi or single-pane without affecting the end result?
Let's see if *anyone* is using cheap LEDs for sterilization and go from there? I'm guessing not yet.
How do you plan to keep the water in the barrels from freezing?
Plex(or *any* plastic, including whatever it is they use for LED packaging) and common glasses are almost opaque at 250-260nm. Some harder borosilicates work(this is what's used in germicidal bulbs, as well as the water-treatment stuff I mentioned before) but "quartz"(pure, fused silica) is best. Even the quartz is pretty damn cloudy at shorter UV... So, the answer to your question is no.
You weren't gonna just dunk a bunch of LEDs in near-freezing, impure water, were you?
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I don't know anything about UV water sterilization other than what I've gleaned from servicing the treatment plant at my Dad's farm.
However, it occurs to me that an off-the-shelf 4W germicidal lamp(G4T5; ~$20) would work quite well with a small solar charging arrangement. It emits the same 254nm line as the higher-intensity lamps used for flow-through water treatment, and will have a much longer service life than the batteries in those solar lights...
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As for bulbs I'm concerned because the design is for directly in the rain barrels and that means freezing when winter hits. Bulbs, as I'm sure you well know, sometimes don't take to that too well.
But a 4W lamp could well be the solution. Can you put that behind a piece of plexi or single-pane without affecting the end result?
Reply
How do you plan to keep the water in the barrels from freezing?
Plex(or *any* plastic, including whatever it is they use for LED packaging) and common glasses are almost opaque at 250-260nm. Some harder borosilicates work(this is what's used in germicidal bulbs, as well as the water-treatment stuff I mentioned before) but "quartz"(pure, fused silica) is best. Even the quartz is pretty damn cloudy at shorter UV... So, the answer to your question is no.
You weren't gonna just dunk a bunch of LEDs in near-freezing, impure water, were you?
Reply
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