Ultra "Bright" IR LEDs source?

Hi All, Does anyone have a suggestions for where I can get ultra bright IR LED so I can illuminate a reasonable area infront of my robot which the camera can pick up. I've tried clustering a few together I've got from Maplin and RS but they only managed to light up about 5cm ahead of the robot.

Thanks in advance

Mark

Reply to
Mark
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"Mark" schreef in bericht news:A+ snipped-for-privacy@mxnet.demon.co.uk...

What camera are you using? Not all cameras are equally sensitive to infrared.

Reply to
Frank Bemelman

Make sure your camera has no IR filter. Usually a little surgery will allow you to remove the IR filter if there is one. It's usually just a thin film you can simply remove.

--TE

Reply to
Thread Ender

The camera has no IR filters and can easily pick up IR from other sources etc.

This is pretty much the camera...don;t seem to have the exact model anymore.

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Regards

Mark

Reply to
Mark

E-bay is swamped with ultr-bright LED's. I'm sure i've seen IR Leds amongst the ad's.

Reply to
Dave H.

Use the LED's out of old remote controls. Some of the better, newer ones put out a considerable amount of IR light. Thrift stores are a good, cheap source.

Reply to
W.E.Cole

the responsivity of the ccd will likely fall off, the higher the wavelength.

You will likely want to go with a lower wavelength. THis will help keep your sensitivity up. Human vision essentially falls off at 780 nm.

Reply to
blueeyedpop

One way to increase the brightness of the LEDs is to pulse them - keeping the average current ~30mA, you can push the peak current up. Sync the pulses so the LEDs are on only when the imager is integrating and off otherwise.

I haven't tried this before, but perhaps you could also try using a halogen torch light (with reflector etc) and filter away the visible light. Fully exposed 35mm film works pretty well as an IR filter if you need a cheap source.

Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Gomez

I'm not sure if this is any use, but I had a Sony vid cam with nightshot, and I seem to recall that you could buy an external light for them. I know even with just the regular IR, you could see 20-40' depending on light interference.

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Found one on ebay for 5 bucks.

Reply to
Chevguy

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