Actinic Lighting and potential Health Hazards to the Eye

[rwalsh156]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have been looking around to see if there is any information available on this, but there doesn't seem to be any studies; and all of the other posts on the subject seem to be a few years to a half-decade old. I'm wondering if someone might have some more up-to-date information.

 

My questions is: can actinic lighting pose a risk to someone's vision? Previous posts have said no, stating that typical actinic emit very little UVA. I am fine with this, however i'm wondering if anyone has specific sources, academic papers, or other data where this information is being drawn from that will help put my mind at ease.

 

Thanks.

[Horerczy]

If you stare into the light I imagine it will hurt your eyes but other than that not really.

[evilc66]

UV is only part of the issue. Overall intensity can play a factor. It's more an issue with short wavelength visible light (violet/blue), but most fixtures have their overall output spread over a large area. What I mean by that is the LEDs themselves don't use secondary optics to concentrate the light to the point where the intensity gets to the point of being damaging.

 

Really though, LED lighting is no different than MH when it comes to looking at the light. Provided you aren't staring at it constantly, you should be ok. Light spill around the tank isn't going to create any major issues. Common sense dictates that if it hurts to look directly at it, don't look at it

[GHill762]

Common sense dictates that if it hurts to look directly at it, don't look at it

common sense quit dictating years ago..

[D Z]

LOL @ GHill

 

The only other thing I can think to add here would be I wonder if over time the actinic could have negative effects on your sleep pattern. I have heard that being exposed to blue light towards the end of the night could effect your secretion of melatonin. I personally have had both my tanks in my bedroom for the past month or so, with 3 hour actinic lighting periods finishing at 10:30pm and have not noticed a problem yet. Will report back if I start having trouble sleeping...lol.

[GHill762]

LOL @ GHill

 

The only other thing I can think to add here would be I wonder if over time the actinic could have negative effects on your sleep pattern. I have heard that being exposed to blue light towards the end of the night could effect your secretion of melatonin. I personally have had both my tanks in my bedroom for the past month or so, with 3 hour actinic lighting periods finishing at 10:30pm and have not noticed a problem yet. Will report back if I start having trouble sleeping...lol.

I have my 40b just a few feet from my bed, moonlights taper down until finally shutting off around midnight, I haven't had any issues sleeping or getting a good night's rest.. then again, I sleep with the TV on most nights..

[Nano sapiens]

I researched this a while back, but didn't keep any links. Type in 'Blue light sleep disorder' into the search engine of your choice and you'll get plenty of hits.

 

Some individuals may be more suseptable than others to sleep issues involving 'blue' light. I used to have my RBs on until 10pm, but now have them shut off at 8pm. I do feel that I sleep better now, but only a true sleep test could confirm this.

 

I did have a problem with a 403nm 'Near UV' strip when on with just the RBs. I could not focus on surrounding paperwork when this 403nm light was on and it even produced some mild nausea, but the RB alone was just fine. The lowest I'll go is a 430nm 'Hyper Violet' emitter in my LED array.

[GHill762]

Some individuals may be more suseptable than others.......

 

I think this is key right here.. what bothers one person may be just fine for someone else..

[DgenR8]

I drink about 19 Blue Lights before bed and it never bothers me other then when I......zzzzzzzzzz

[farkwar]

Its music day today, inspiration. Trent Reznor and Chris Cornell, yeah!

 

So, for at least a few hours, youll be pelted with 80s and 70s rock videos.

 

 

Watch "Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night" on YouTube

Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night:

[dacianb]

Something helpfull.....

 

 

This LightingEurope Guide on photobiological safety in general lighting products for use in working places is intended to be used by luminaires designers.

With the introduction of the photobiological risk evaluation in working places required by Directive 2006/25/EC it became important for lighting equipment manufacturers to deliver radiation data and to assist the employers to evaluate the exposure and assessment of risk in working places. This demand of data has been evaluated in standardization committees leading to several considerations and modifications of standards to guarantee a high level of optical safety and to provide enough information for products which need attention at use.

Particular attention has been taken for Blue light hazard for which many concerns have been raised in the past in domestic areas and in working places. For this problem IEC has recently published IEC/TR 62778 which introduces new concepts in measurements and assessment. In addition to the spectral measurements the TR introduces the possibility to evaluate Blue light hazard directly in applications avoiding expensive and complicated measurements.

Optical radiation limit values required in directive 2006/25/EC are related to exposure time. On lighting products, unless the work or the task requires to stare at the light source, the viewing of the source is random and normally happens accidentally turning the eyes towards it. In the technical standards in progress in IEC (and in parallel in CENELEC) the following safety limits have been taken into account:

A lighting product is considered safe without the need to provide any warning or advise when it provides optical radiation within the following limits

• 2 mW/klm or 2 mW/(m² · klx) for actinic UV radiation. This corresponds to an irradiance of 0,001 W·m² (RG 0 = exempt on the basis of IEC 62471 with evaluation at 500 lx). This limit corresponds to 8 h exposure time as in table 1.1 of directive 2006/25/EC.

• 10.000 W/(m²·sr) or 1 W/m² for blue light hazard corresponding to RG 1 of IEC 62471 and to 100 s exposure limit.

• 28000/α W/(m²·sr) or 6000/α W/(m²·sr) or 100 W/m² for IR radiation corresponding to RG 0 of IEC 62471 (exempt).

 

Going further and taking Cree as an example they classify their leds as foolows:

 

XP-G2 White November 3, 2013 1.500 A RG-2 Moderate risk

XR-E Royal Blue June 30, 2009 1.000 A RG-3 High risk

XP-E Royal Blue June 26, 2009 0.700 A RG-2 Moderate risk