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Miscenallenous glowing things
This is Page 2 of the Miscellaneous Glowing Things section; go here for Page 1.

PRECISION SOLAR CONTROLS INC. 176-LED RED TRAFFIC SIGNAL BALL
(Purchased 11-04, tested 04-15-06)

This is a red traffic signal ball that I picked up on Ebay in November 2004; it has gone untested for so long because I did not have a "suicide cord" (a 115VAC cord with its end terminated in bare wires). Now that I have one, let the testing commence!!!

This is the device in its feral state; not turned on.
It has what I believe are 176 5mm red LEDs in it, and it is labelled to consume just 15 watts at 115 volts AC at 60Hz.

This is the device turned on.

And this is the spot of brilliant red light projected on my ceiling.

SODERBURG MANUFACURING CO. AIRCRAFT EMERGENCY EXIT LIGHT
(Received 01-13-06, tested 01-14-06)

This is an emergency exit light designed so that passengers and crew can find their way out of a downed aircraft at night. It is powered by four D cells in a series-parallel configuration (3 volts DC), and is designed to come on when the red handle is pulled, the unit falls off the wall, or the unit experiences a force of 1.5G (1.5 gravity units).

Here is a photograph of its beam on the test target at ~18".
Intensity on known-new cells measures 50.6cd.

Beam photograph on a wall at ~15'.

Those rectangular graphic things near the bottom are marquees from:
Midway ''Omega Race''
Williams ''Robotron: 2084''
Gremlin/Sega ''Astro Blaster''
Atari ''Tempest''
Williams ''Stargate''
Williams ''Joust''
Venture Line ''Looping''
Midway ''Gorf''

upright coin-op arcade video games from the early-1980s.

And that red thing is from an American DJ Laser Widow.

BEGHELLI SELF-LUMINOUS EXIT SIGN
(Received & tested 09-27-05)
This is a self-luminous EXIT sign made by Beghelli. The letters E X I and T plus the "<" and ">" symbols at each end have self-luminous tritum tubes behind them so the sign can be seen and read in the dark - such as at night or when electrical power fails. These tubes glow by themselves, and need no batteries, line current, or exposure to light beforehand.

Inside the exit sign are tubes or vials filled with tritium gas and coated on the inside with a phosphor, not unlike the kind used for fluorescent light bulbs. When the radioactive tritium decays into a more stable element, it releases a beta particle (an electron). This electron smacks into the phosphor, and causes it to emit a tiny flash of light. Put enough of this stuff in one tube, and the glow will look continuous.

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, in that instead of one proton and one electron (a normal hydrogen atom), tritium is hydrogen with two extra neutrons. When this nucleus decays, it emits an electron, and the atom changes into helium 3. This isotope of helium is naturally occuring and stable, but there is very little of this isotope actually found in nature. The kind of helium in balloons is helium 4 - the other stable isotope. That's what most helium is.

Tritium is what's known as a "soft beta emitter", and the electron (beta particle) it emits is the lowest energy of any radioactive material. Even if a vial in this sign becomes broken, the gas cannot penetrate the skin, and what small amount you might inhale is not absorbed in bone marrow, and is instead pissed out relatively quickly. So these devices are safe.

This is not a true evaluation, just a couple of photographs.

This is a photograph of the unit itself.
It measures 12" long by 8" high, and 1" deep.

And this is a photograph of the unit glowing.

BLUE XENON STROBE UNIT, $80, www.jwspeaker.com...
(Received 09-24-05, tested 09-25-05)
This is a blue strobe unit that can be connected to any source of DC providing 12 volts to 80 volts. This low voltage powers a step-up inverter that boosts it to approximately 350 volts DC. This higher voltage charges a capacitor (or "capacitator" as some people call them); a xenon flashtube is connected across this capacitor, and a trigger circuit that furnishes pulses of several KV (kilovolts) to the outside of the flashtube approximately once per second causes the flashtube to fire (it takes a large percentage of the energy stored in that capacitor and emits a bright flash of light).

At 12 volts, the current consumption is 650mA, and at 80 volts it is 150mA.

This will not be a true evaluation, just a photograph and a movie.

This is a photograph of the unit itself.

Movie (Quicktime .MOV format) showing strobe flashing.
This clip is approximately 2.4 megabytes (2,607,852 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than ten minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

*** VERY IMPORTANT!!! *** This movie does not show the strobe flashing properly; in reality, it flashes at approximately 1.0Hz to 1.3Hz (60 to 80 flashes per minute) in a very regular fashion.

ELECTROLUMINESCENT (EL) PANEL
(Received and tested 09-21-05)
This is an electroluminescent (EL) panel, measuring 5" by 7". It came equipped with a standard two-conductor cordset with two-prong 110-130 volts AC plug on its end.

Electroluminescent panels generate light in a very specific and unusual way. They are basically a capacitor (or "capacitator" as some people call them) with a phosphor on one plate that glows when exposed to electrical voltage; they only work on AC, and not DC.

This will not be a true evaluation, just a couple of photographs.

(Left or top): Photograph of the EL panel, with photoflash.
(Right or bottom): Photograph of the EL panel, without photoflash.

Eveready Big Jim Lantern
(Purchased 05-04-05)
This is a vintage Eveready Big Jim lantern. I received one of these from Santa Clause in the mid-1970s, and somehow lost it around 1980. I've been looking for one ever since, and I found one on Ebay a few weeks ago, and wasted no time bidding on it.

This will not be a true evaluation, just a few photographs.

Photograph of the lantern itself, with a Ray-O-Vac lantern battery affixed to it.

Photograph of the sealed beam main lamp.

Photograph of the red tail lamp. The bulb inside uses a flashing thing (bimetal) so it starts blinking almost as soon as you turn it on. The flash rate on a fresh battery is approximately 1.5Hz (approximately three flashes every two seconds).

Finally, a photograph of the lantern's beam at ~15 feet.

Traser "NITE Tritium Glow Rings", availability in the United States is limited.
SELF-LUMINOUS GLOW LIGHTS
(Purchased 12-28-04, received 01-19-05)
I received these two NITE Glow Rings from Singapore this afternoon. These are like Glow Ring X2s in that the case is colored the same as their light emission color, but these NITE Glow Rings do not have metal caps on the end like the X2 has.

Here's a photograph of the two NITE Glow Rings I received.

And here's a photograph I tried to take of them in the dark. My camera does not have a manual focus setting, so I could not get a clear picture of them.

Inside the NITE Glow Ring is a tiny tube or vial filled with tritium gas and coated on the inside with a phosphor, not unlike the kind used for fluorescent light bulbs. When the radioactive tritium decays into a more stable element, it releases a beta particle (an electron). This electron smacks into the phosphor, and causes it to emit a tiny flash of light. Put enough of this stuff in one tube, and the glow will look continuous.

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, in that instead of one proton and one electron (a normal hydrogen atom), tritium is hydrogen with two extra neutrons. When this nucleus decays, it emits an electron, and the atom changes into helium 3. This isotope of helium is naturally occuring and stable, but there is very little of this isotope actually found in nature. The kind of helium in balloons is helium 4 - the other stable isotope. That's what most helium is.

Tritium is what's known as a "soft beta emitter", and the electron (beta particle) it emits is the lowest energy of any radioactive material. Even if the vial becomes broken, the gas cannot penetrate the skin, and what small amount you might inhale is not absorbed in bone marrow, and is instead pissed out relatively quickly. So these devices are safe.

RED LED BLINKER FOR PRODUCT BOX
(Obtained 12-13-04)
This is a red LED that flashes on the front of a box containing "Flashin' Lix" brand LED flashing finger rings. The 5mm round LED in a water-clear epoxy case itself is affixed to the front of the box; a compartment in the center of the bottom of the box contains a plastic receptacle containing two C cells, and a circuit board containing a resistor and a metal "pull tab to turn on" type switch. I don't know where the flashing circuit is, so please don't ask.

Here is a photograph of the entire apparatus.

And here is a photograph of just the LED portion, showing the LED illuminated.

"STAR" FLASHING LED MAGNETIC PIN
(Purchased at a Wallgreens 11-30-04)
Just like the "pin" shown directly below, I saw these on a checkout display, saw that it had LEDs in it, and purchased one.

This is a flashing "pin" that uses a magnetic mounting system so you do not need to poke holes in your shirt, coat, overalls, hat, or wherever you attach it.
It has three red and two blue LEDs that flash in a pseudo-random manner, as dictated by a small IC in the center of the unit.

The "pin" is powered by two CR927 button cells (3 volts apiece). The cells are in the removeable piece (the part you turn to switch the "pin" on and off), and are oriented button-end (-) negative facing out. A thin plastic cylinder or liner prevents the cells from shorting out against the walls of the removeable piece.

I do NOT know where to buy CR927 cells; please do not ask.

You turn it on by rotating the removeable piece clockwise (as if tightening it), and turn it off by rotating the same piece counterclockwise (as if loosening it).

Here is the "pin", taken with photoflash.

And here's the "pin", taken without photoflash, with two red LEDs and one blue LED shown on.

I apologise for the blurry photograph; both of my tripods got left behind during a move in early October 2004, and I had no handy way of stabilising the camera for this photograph.

"USA" FLASHING LED MAGNETIC PIN
(Purchased at a Wallgreens around 11-15-04)
I saw these on a checkout display, saw that it had LEDs in it, and purchased one.

This is a flashing "pin" that uses a magnetic mounting system so you do not need to poke holes in your shirt, coat, overalls, hat, or wherever you attach it.
It has one red and two blue LEDs that flash in a pseudo-random manner, as dictated by a small epoxy "blob" IC on the back of the unit.

The "pin" is powered by two CR927 button cells (3 volts apiece). The cells are in the removeable piece (the part you turn to switch the "pin" on and off), and are oriented button-end (-) negative facing out. A thin plastic cylinder or liner prevents the cells from shorting out against the walls of the removeable piece.

I do NOT know where to buy CR927 cells; please do not ask.

You turn it on by rotating the removeable piece clockwise (as if tightening it), and turn it off by rotating the same piece counterclockwise (as if loosening it).

Here is the "pin", taken with photoflash.

And here's the "pin", taken without photoflash, with two of its three LEDs shown on.
The blue LED above Texas is not on in this photograph.

I apologise for the blurry photograph; both of my tripods got left behind during a move in early October 2004, and I had no handy way of stabilising the camera for this photograph.

SODALITE SAMPLE (FLUORESCENT MINERAL)
(Sent by a website fan and received on 09-04-04)
A fan of this website sent me a sample of sodalite, claiming that it would fluoresce (glow) under longwave ultraviolet radiation. Sodalite is a chlorine-bearing sodium aluminosilicate, and bears a slight resemblance to granite.

Here's a photograph of the sample, taken in normal white light.

And here's a photograph of the same sample, taken under the UVA radiation of a 365nm LED.

As you can see, sodalite fluoresces an orangish color under the radiation of a 365nm UVA LED. It fluoresces a salmon color under the radiation of ~400nm LEDs, but the LED radiation overpowers the camera, rendering a photograph of it not acceptable. The entire specimen appears to be illuminated with a vivid magenta color, rather than the salmon color it really is.
I also irradiated the sample with shortwave UV (UVC at 254nm), and received no detectable fluorescence at all.

WHITE 5500-6500K InGaN+phosphor 
ULTRAVIOLET 370-390nm GaN 
BLUE 430nm GaN+SiC
BLUE 450 and 473nm InGaN
BLUE Silicon Carbide
TURQUOISE 495-505nm InGaN
GREEN 525nm InGaN 
YELLOW-GREEN 555-575mn GaAsP & related
YELLOW 585-595nm
AMBER 595-605nm
ORANGE 605-620nm
ORANGISH-RED 620-635nm
RED 640-700nm
INFRARED 700-1300nm
True RGB Full Color LED
Spider (Pirrahna) LEDs
SMD LEDs
True violet (400-418nm) LEDs
Agilent Barracuda & Prometheus LEDs
Oddball & Miscellaneous LEDs
Programmable RGB LED modules / fixtures
Where to buy these LEDs 
Links to other LED-related websites
The World's First Virtual LED Museum
The Punishment Zone - Where Flashlights Go to Die
Legal horse puckey, etc.
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