DIY lamp house

[Plasmid]

Hello everyone, I have this lamp house that requires a power supply or I could modify it with an LED. The problem is that I have no knowledge in regards to electrical components and so I was wondering of anyone had already modified one of this lamps in the past? Or will it be easier to just get a power supply and change the plug from a jones type to whatever the power supply comes with already. Also what type of bulb is the that BLV116210? My understanding is that mercury bulbs look different. Will a HBO supply work with my current setup?
How will the alignment work if the mirror is removed in order to make space?
This are some of the components I've eyeballed so far

US $13.15 6%OFF | LED Heatsink Cooling Radiator + 60 90 120 Degrees Lenes + Reflector Bracket + Fans For High Power 20W 30W 50W 100W LED
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mr257Wz

[BramHuntingNematodes]

I have made several LED modifications over the last couple of years. I have had best success with high-CRI high intensity single die LEDs pre-mounted to a substrate. SMDs are just too tricky to solder without reflow capabilities, although if you have them they are also a possibility. The flux seems smoothest when first using a quality DC power supply to a DC LED driver. Voltage dimming is superb and is perhaps the single biggest advantage LEDs have over halogen.

I had an old Nikon stand lamp and had good success breaking the glass out of the tungsten bulb and using the filament leads as led leads. This allowed my to place the LED in that exact same place as the where the filament would have been. Any retrofit will have to keep this in mind. Halogen bulbs are not really suitable for this approach but you could perhaps try using some stiff wire such a paperclip might be made of and solder these in as leads. Thermal grease is good but you may also look into thermal cement for your heatsinks as they have a tendency to fall off at bad moments.

I have been experimenting with color LEDs as well, first with a green one for phase microscopy. The spectrum is not narrow enough for fluorescence at high intensity however I think there is some promise in combining a color LED with additional filtering.

[Plasmid]

The LED approach is starting to look more difficult without an electrical degree

What would I need in order to power my current setup?
From what I've seen on Fleabay the power supply that are listed are for a high pressure mercury lamp. The T4 12v100w bulb that came with the unit had that weird jones connector https://www.alliedelec.com/product/cinc ... /70152797/
The power supply will have to be dimmable.

[MicroBob]

When you take the trouble to build a new illuminator I would suggest an LED of 10W or more. They need a good heat sink - how are your metal working capabilities?
For power supply you can use a cheap lab power supply which offers constant current and clean DC voltage. I like the Cree XHP 35 and 50 LEDs, powerful and robust.

[BramHuntingNematodes]

Specifically I use 1000mA Buck Puck drivers with an assortment of old laptop power supplies (good clean DC at about 18v). I like to use a 5000ohm pot with a logarithmic taper as this produces a more even apparent brightness gradient. You can buy aluminum heatsinks that can be cut to size with a hacksaw. 10w is a good suggestion. With good heat sinks you can usually overdrive an LED a bit. THe latest I bought were some NewEnergy Luminus Warm CCT which are not the brightest (usually that's a CREE LED) but have good color for being as bright as they are. THey work just fine for Phase.

[Hobbyst46]

Several notes.

1. A mercury bulb and a mercury lamp power supply are both irrelevant here. First, because a mercury lamp produces a blinding beam that is suitable to exciting fluorescence, when filtered to isolate discrete wavelengths. This light not only contains much harmful UV; its spectrum is very different from the pleasant white light that is similar to daylight (perhaps after some filtration) and suitable to viewing. Second, because the power supply for mercury lamps works differently than ordinary power supplies, for example it includes an igniter to turn the lamp on.

2. The circuitry for LED illumination is fairly simple. Its basic bones are a low voltage (say, 12-24DCV) power supply, an appropriate resistor to limit the current and the LED itself. A constant fraction of the voltage (say, 3-4V) falls across the LED (it is known as forward voltage). The brightness varies with the current through the LED (say, 50-700mA). In practice, a more complex electronic part than a resistor is used to control the current through the LED. This is called the driver.

3. However, whereas building a 0.15W, 5mm LED circuit (which consumes 50mA of current and can be driven from a 5DCV source) is child's play, the practical difficulty with a 1-10W LED is heat sinking. Inefficient cooling will irreparably ruin the LED in seconds. In contrast to halogen, which irradiates heat, the LED circuit releases heat by contact with the circuit components.

[EYE C U]

AFTER DAMAGING MY EYES I WENT BACK TO INCANDESCENT

[BramHuntingNematodes]

oh yeah ditto about the mercury lamp stuff I would stay away from an old mercury lamp as sometimes the bulbs explode leaving bits of condensed mercury vapor inside the lamp house

[hans]

To add to what Bram and Bob are saying regarding small, high-intensity LEDs: Luminiance (how bright the emitting surface appears if you look at it) is critical, not just total luminous flux output. The illumination optics, especially in higher-end systems designed to 20 or 100 W halogen lamps, can only make use of light coming from an area roughly the size of filament they were originally designed for. So for example large-area high-power emitters like in your aliexpress link might make good coffee warmers but most of the light will not make it to the specimen. Not clear exactly what the emitting surface area is in that one but looks like the apparent size is probably several tens of mm vs several mm for a halogen lamp. And since a factor 10 difference in diameter means a factor of 100 difference in area only ~1% of the light would actually end up being used.

[Plasmid]

When you take the trouble to build a new illuminator I would suggest an LED of 10W or more. They need a good heat sink - how are your metal working capabilities?
For power supply you can use a cheap lab power supply which offers constant current and clean DC voltage. I like the Cree XHP 35 and 50 LEDs, powerful and robust.

My metal and electric capabilities are 0.1% .....the .1 being I know it needs a wall ac outlet
Unfortunately most of the terms being used on regards to LED's are all foreign to me.
I plan on focusing on how to get the halogen bulb thats build in working for now..... But even then Im not sure where to start with the current lamp setup.
Question: can excitation using certain dyes be achieved also using the halogen set up?
Im guessing it was being used for a metallurgical purpose.

[BramHuntingNematodes]

I mean maybe you filter most of the light out so u usually want to start with a lot keep your lab dark have a very sensitive CMOS camera maybe

[MicroBob]

Your original lamp seems to have lost a pin and the socket appears to have seen too much heat, so both will have to be replaced. In some illuminators a flat wound filament's image is projected into the image planewithout a diffuser in the light path. In this case a different lamp with round filament coil wil not give even illumination. Often though this true Köhler setup is not present and there is a ground glass or lens surface in the light train, forming the new light source. This frosted surface would have to be iluminated then. For a halogen bulb you would need an adjustable power source fitting the bulb.

Bob

[Phill Brown]

What is needed is a hand drawn diagram on the back of a beer mat.
Each part clearly labelled with what it is and where to get one?
For 3w or 10w.
IR would be possible with LED and an IR camera.
As with welding, observing the sun it's good to know what your retina will be subjected to before the damage is done.