UV LEDS melted

[Walla2GSP]

So as I rebooted my reef tank I decided to make my own LED display from 3W LED chips. As I was looking for chips in the 400nm-460nm, I found some reasonably priced 365nm and 385nm chips for lab use and took a chance knowing they might not actually put off UV light. Well got them here about a month ago, and tested them and they both put off light pretty close to advertised wavelength so I threw one on my temporarily display for color testing. The display has been running on a timer over the tank for the last three week. Looked up today and realized the lense on the 365nm chip had changed color and started to melt. I'll be removing and replacing with a blue or white chip but a little disappointed didn't get to see what effect they would have on LPS corals long term. I see why the chips are marked for intermittent use only, my guess is the chips are not made with UV-rated polymers in an effort to keep prices down. Oh well live and learn.

 

[mcgyvr]

Yep.. normal due to the UV/shorter wavelength and inferior lens construction/material selection/overdriving,etc..

 

[outssider]

I've had this happen too !....I now run a dedicated strand of 3v uv and run way below max...this seems to do the trick but you need more diodes to make up for the lower voltage