Are CREE LED's safe ?

jeremyrundle

I just saw this...

Health and safety: Do not stare into the beam, high intensity led's emit photo-biological radiation which may induce temporary partial blindness and cause long term retinal damage. Please exercise Class 2 Laser Radiation precautions with this light.

Whilst I am sceptical about this at...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-CREE-XR-E-R2- ... 4aa5a93311

Any comments

Also see

http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLamp_EyeSafety.pdf

crankycrank

I'm no expert but the only danger I'm aware of, and as mentioned in the ad, is the damage to eyes caused by looking directly into the bright light for more than a nanosecond. Best to direct the beam away from drivers eyes of oncomming traffic but useful in blinding an attacker (the strobe works well for this). The ads warning does make it sound more hype than hazard but it could very well be true.

Jimbo.

"Photo-biological radiation"? WTF is that?

downfader

Jimbo. wrote:

"Photo-biological radiation"? WTF is that?

Made up rubbish compiling several different scientific words.

Are crees bad for your eyes? Well yes if you stare right at the LED in the same way idiots stare at the sun.. In fact you wouldnt stare at a normal lightbulb, it would daze you.

If you've got your lights set up right they should be fine. Most other road users dont actually look directly at the lights imo but just past them, or at the beam on the ground sometimes.

unixnerd

Things like welding emit very dangerous amounts of UV light. Maybe modern LEDs emit a small portion of their light as UV? Other than the obvious not staring into the beam advice I'd be surprised if there's a big problem.

downfader

unixnerd wrote:

Things like welding emit very dangerous amounts of UV light. Maybe modern LEDs emit a small portion of their light as UV? Other than the obvious not staring into the beam advice I'd be surprised if there's a big problem.

LEDs do emit UV. Small doses though, and many now have a screen/layer coated on them to filter it out. IIRC its no where near the levels you get on a cloudy autumn day.

There was a physics video on this on youtube somewhie back. By one of the universities I think..

Headhuunter

That ebay item looks like a Fenix torch like this http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches ... 12-r5.html or something similar... If it is a genuine Fenix then that's a good price, although the exact CREE LED used in both products seems to be different....

rjsterry

Looks as though someone has read the Cree Eye Safety page, not really understood it, but thought they better put that in the ad, and garbled it in translation.

Cuchulainn

"Don't stare into bright lights"
"Don't use binoculars or telescopes to stare into bright lights"

They are using gibberish when simple (and obvious) statements would do.

While super bright lights could be dangerous to other road users by dazzling them and the potential loss of control/distraction this can cause, it's extremely unlikely to actually hurt them directly. If nothing else, think how much brighter some truck lights are than any lights that could currently be conceivably mounted on a bike without just loading the whole thing up with batteries. And yet you don't see a spate of blind drivers from truck drivers who forget to lower their high beams.

downfader

I was showing my Uncle my Exposure Race last year when I got it and the first thing I said to him was "DO NOT point it at your eyes!!" What did this plonker do?

deptfordmarmoset

You know those people over the water who used to nick British cardrivers for not having yellow lights (until they figured out about 40 years later that you see better with white light)?

Well, the Health and Safety Gendarmerie have just issued a danger warning and want LEDs labelled as such, with only lights up to moderate brightness allowed to be on sale.

Yesterday in Le Monde (for francophones) http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2 ... _3244.html

singlespeedexplosif

iz right. Don't use LEDs, you'll die.

Interestedcp

"Do not look into the laser with the remaining eye!" as a manual once read.

One should take care when handling high output LED devices. They really can harm your eyes, so don't stare into your 200 lumens Cree flash light, or let children handle them without some instruction.

--
Regards

jeremyrundle

The instructions on my new garden vac say "not suitable for pet grooming"

so "Dav, where is tiddles?"