UV Danger From HID Lights?

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ArcticDiver

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In an otherwise unrelated thread the HID dive light manufacturer posted that there is an eyesight danger from UV produced by an HID dive light if that light is viewed on the surface.

This is the statement: "As for a 10W HID, these should never burn out of the water. HID throws off dangerous levels of UV rays that can blind a person out of the water. Never, ever burn an HID out of the water and if someone does...do not look at the light. It can seriously damage your retinas."


My observation is that many people who use HID lights turn them on just prior to entering the water and fairly routinely inadvertently flash others. Also, given the prevalence of HID lights in several land applications I wonder if this is peculiar to dive lights? Or, is this a theoretical hazard? If a hazard how hazardous?

Many of you use HID lights and are educated on UV damage to eyes. What say you?
 
I'm no expert, but in surfing around the web I note that in several applications the UV output of HID lights is noted as a potential hazard. In some applications a UV filter is supplied with the lamp to mitigate the hazard. Since any sort of filtering appears to be lacking in my HID canister lights, I surmize that the legal department of the manufacturer has weighed in with an abundance of caution - hence the warning.

Without any data I am going to guess that a fleeting glance at a HID lamp from any sort of resonable distance is not going to be a problem.
 
Of course there's a degree of hazard, but it's like the sun, an inadvertant glance isn't going to do serious harm, but don't stare at it. HID's have been in use for some time and there haven't been many cases of HID blindness reported.

We live in a world fraught with danger and it's amazing that we manage to survive through it all.
Just read the instructions and warnings on any frozen food carton.
1- Place in oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
2- remove from oven, ***Warning, may be hot!

What do they mean "may be hot"? Isn't that the point.

Use HIDs without worry, but respect them as high output light sources. The more serious danger is actually heat. HID's generate lots of heat, and most underwater HID lights are designed assuming they'll be water cooled. When left on in air they're like that frozen dinner and can get pretty d*amned hot.
 
Concur. Its more than just HID lights, even newer LEDs have the same problem, UV spectrum light or commonly known as the 'blue light' hazard.


Of course there's a degree of hazard, but it's like the sun, an inadvertant glance isn't going to do serious harm, but don't stare at it. HID's have been in use for some time and there haven't been many cases of HID blindness reported.

We live in a world fraught with danger and it's amazing that we manage to survive through it all.
Just read the instructions and warnings on any frozen food carton.
1- Place in oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
2- remove from oven, ***Warning, may be hot!

What do they mean "may be hot"? Isn't that the point.

Use HIDs without worry, but respect them as high output light sources. The more serious danger is actually heat. HID's generate lots of heat, and most underwater HID lights are designed assuming they'll be water cooled. When left on in air they're like that frozen dinner and can get pretty d*amned hot.
 
My guess, and it's only that, is exposure is short and infrequent. I also suspect while in water some of the UV is absorbed so as not to be any real issue.

It's zero concern to me.
 
Since surface use of my HID only occured in the winter I had no heat concerns except to not put it down on something combustible. Of course I also took care to make sure it would not light and start a fire in my luggage. But, the idea that it might be a significant UV hazard never crossed my mind. After all it is so bright it causes a person to reflexively close their eyes. Until the post I cited, that is.

It is also interesting to note that none of the HID lights I've ever seen have had any kind of UV Hazard warning on them. If the manufacturer was depending on water to filter any hazardous radiation there would need to be some kind of criteria warning on the product; especially given the liability environment.

Thanks for the input. I'll continue to not worry about blinding an animal, two or four legged.
 
If you had a long exposure, especially looking into one, HID lights could pose some danger. The most likely situation would be where an unconscious person has a HID light pointing at their eyes for an extended period of time. A conscious person would avert their eyes from such a bright light. I think the more likely injury would be from the heat of the lamp being focused onto the retina rather than from UV. Your lenses have UV filtration.

If you are wearing a mask most of the UV spectrum is filtered by the glass lenses, especially coated lenses.
 
If you had a long exposure, especially looking into one, HID lights could pose some danger. The most likely situation would be where an unconscious person has a HID light pointing at their eyes for an extended period of time. A conscious person would avert their eyes from such a bright light. I think the more likely injury would be from the heat of the lamp being focused onto the retina rather than from UV. Your lenses have UV filtration.

If you are wearing a mask most of the UV spectrum is filtered by the glass lenses, especially coated lenses.

As noted, most ordinary glass filters UV light (that's why you can't get much of a suntan lounging in your living room and allowing the sunlight to hit you through the windows). That's also why ordinary incandescent bulbs don't pose much UV risk.

Certain types of glass allow UV light to penetrate and that glass is used to make specific types of bulbs (UV lamps, as an obvious example).

It should be noted that the UV output of such bulbs does not necessarily correlate with their brightness (UV is, after all, not visible). The above statements that UV damage can occur only by staring into the bulb and that the brightness of a light would prevent someone from staring into it long enough to be injured are not true.
My optics professor in college told me that an old (and cruel) trick to play on someone you hated was to replace a bulb in their house with a bulb made of UV transparent glass --- the low grade and continuous exposure to UV would eventually burn their corneas (although not causing permanent injury). Thus, if the UV output of a bulb is sufficient, even incidental exposure (not directly staring into the bulb) may be dangerous. However, the exposure would likely have be be long, many minutes or even hours. I may be wrong, but my understanding of UV eye injury is that the cornea, not the retina, is at risk, sine the cornea absorbs the UV (and gets burned, like skin, in the process).

Underwater, the UV would be absorbed and above water, wearing your mask should protect you. As we all know, most warnings have some element of truth but are usually grossly overblown for liability reasons.
 
I'm not an eye-guy but in addition to corneal damage, the potential for retinal damage may rest with the particular spectrum radiated by a given HID lamp. I'm assuming that HID light has a marked shift into the blue portion of the spectrum as compared to incandescent light. IIRC, the cornea tends to absorb a large portion of UVA but still passes a large portion of the green-blue portion of the spectrum. The rod cells of the retina are largely green-blue sensitive due to a particular opsin (light-receptor protein) called rhodopsin or "visual purple". I believe it's likely that excessive green-blue exposure could accelerate rhodopsin bleaching cycles, leading to mutations ("pyknosis") resulting in early rod cell-death ("apoptosis"). "Night blindness" could result.
 
UV radiation is also associated with cataract formation.

Personally I think HID lights on cars should be outlawed.
 

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