IR LED's vs. eye damage?

[jackburton 0]

IR cameras and other sources of significant IR are very dangerous, period. All of these products should come with appropriate warnings which my camera did not, nothing at all. Something you can't see, that you don't know is damaging you and/or others is very dangerous.

[LittleScoobyMaster 0]

IR cameras and other sources of significant IR are very dangerous, period. All of these products should come with appropriate warnings which my camera did not, nothing at all. Something you can't see, that you don't know is damaging you and/or others is very dangerous.

 

This leads me to wonder....How safe is the Microsoft Xbox Kinect?

 

It uses IR and blasts you in the face with it, some people use the Kinect for 8 hours straight.

[jackburton 0]

IR cameras and other sources of significant IR are very dangerous, period. All of these products should come with appropriate warnings which my camera did not, nothing at all. Something you can't see, that you don't know is damaging you and/or others is very dangerous.

 

This leads me to wonder....How safe is the Microsoft Xbox Kinect?

 

It uses IR and blasts you in the face with it, some people use the Kinect for 8 hours straight.

 

Considering my recent experience I can tell you I won't be playing it.

 

The naysayers seem to think if you're not blinded then it's okay. I consider any loss of vision a major, life-changing consequence that should be avoided.

 

7qLDzLYPG-w

 

lqgNRVNzYmg

[mobbarley 0]

Is the IR at least bouncing off the roof or wall? That would make a massive reduction to the amount of energy that could enter the babies eye vs. say, IR LEDs point at its crib.

[securitall 0]

Great video about the Xbox's IR's, I guess if need be you can use it to lighten some darkened areas at night instead of another IR Illumination Mount! h

[ssmith10pn 0]

IR cameras and other sources of significant IR are very dangerous, period. All of these products should come with appropriate warnings which my camera did not, nothing at all. Something you can't see, that you don't know is damaging you and/or others is very dangerous.

 

This leads me to wonder....How safe is the Microsoft Xbox Kinect?

 

It uses IR and blasts you in the face with it, some people use the Kinect for 8 hours straight.

 

Considering my recent experience I can tell you I won't be playing it.

 

The naysayers seem to think if you're not blinded then it's okay. I consider any loss of vision a major, life-changing consequence that should be avoided.

 

7qLDzLYPG-w

 

lqgNRVNzYmg

 

I wonder what makes him think it's a Laser in the X Box? I would think it's nothing more than a LED.

[MaxIcon 0]

If anyone's interested in a technical study, here's one from the WHO:

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/euro/es/EURO_SERIES_25_(chp3).pdf

 

The gist of it is that there are risks from extended IR exposure, however, these are mostly due to heating, and from sources with high irradiance (above hundreds of watts/square meter). No onboard IR devices will be anywhere near these levels, as evidenced by the lack of heating from a camera's IR devices. Virtually all of the at-risk results were due to exposure to welding, furnaces, heaters, etc.

 

Staring directly into the LEDs up close might get you there, but you'll also damage your eyesight staring directly into a 3W white light LED.

 

In addition, there are FDA approved IR LED treatments for pain, inflammation, wrinkles, and such, frequently used on the face. The product is typically several panels of IR LEDs (with some red LEDs mixed in so people know they're on), and are used very close or right against the face.

 

Google "deep penetrating light therapy" for more info.

[LittleScoobyMaster 0]

IR cameras and other sources of significant IR are very dangerous, period. All of these products should come with appropriate warnings which my camera did not, nothing at all. Something you can't see, that you don't know is damaging you and/or others is very dangerous.

 

This leads me to wonder....How safe is the Microsoft Xbox Kinect?

 

It uses IR and blasts you in the face with it, some people use the Kinect for 8 hours straight.

 

Considering my recent experience I can tell you I won't be playing it.

 

The naysayers seem to think if you're not blinded then it's okay. I consider any loss of vision a major, life-changing consequence that should be avoided.

 

7qLDzLYPG-w

 

lqgNRVNzYmg

 

 

The day the tech specs for the Kinect were released I had wondered how MS was going to make something so harmful become so common place, but I knew most people would not care about the safety issues and I was correct in my prediction.

 

Staring into a light for hours on end doesn't seem like a great idea, but then again, I guess that's what we do with our display panels. Plants and animals can get by I guess.

 

But I still think MS is careless when it comes to the Kinect. I wonder if there are any studies out about the harmful effects of the Kinect.

 

As for that 'light therapy', that makes no sense to me. Most kinds of light have harmful effects, not beneficial, unless you include vitamin d from the sun. But then again, you have people sitting in suntan beds helping themselves age faster.

 

Remember those dumb***** on Big Brother? (tv show).

 

They would sleep in IR all night for weeks on end. I thought they were stupid for doing that.

[MaxIcon 0]

I guess my point is that there's very little hard data I can find (beyond what I've posted) that low level IR is especially harmful, and the light therapy, whatever one may feel about its effectiveness, has been FDA approved - not a trivial task.

 

Not to discount anyone's unfortunate experience, it seems that this would be a pretty common topic if it were as harmful as, say, UV, which is well documented.

 

Hanging out in a lawn chair in the sun is a known hazardous experience, but the hazards are mitigated by sunblock pretty effectively. At the same time, you're being bombarded with pretty powerful IR, including through the closed eyelids, and this has never been identified as a danger, except through potential secondary effects like dehydration.

 

Even the UV danger of sunbathing is long term, not short term, with the exception of staring at the sun or a painful sunburn. Serious damage takes years to accumulate and manifest.

 

If the IR from an inexpensive Chinese camera could cause eye damage through closed eyelids, it would seem that the much stronger IR from the sun would cause even more severe damage, and you'd think that there would be plenty of stories of IR induced vision problems.

 

I'd love to see more data on this, but can't really find much.

[LittleScoobyMaster 0]

I guess my point is that there's very little hard data I can find (beyond what I've posted) that low level IR is especially harmful, and the light therapy, whatever one may feel about its effectiveness, has been FDA approved - not a trivial task.

 

I get what your saying. But, like I wouldn't stare at a lightbulb for hours on end, or even a pack of bright led lights. It just seems like a bad idea.

 

Same with an IR lightbulb, or pack of IR leds. I just wouldn't purposely do it. If you use a Kinect for hours on end, you are doing just that.

 

On the FDA approval front, it is a very easy task to obtain FDA approval.

 

Just look at all those ridiculous drugs on the market that list harmful side affects of thoughts of depression \ suicide, swollen body parts, passing out, discollered skin, death, etc. It's as if, there really is nobody protecting us from the drug companies. FDA. Sorry, but they are a joke.

 

Everyone has seen the commercials I'm referring to because we still can't understand how the FDA lets those drugs on the market.

 

So, I really don't think any government agency is going to tell us when to stay out of harmful IR. We just have to use our best judgement given the data we have available to us.

 

As for the sun, it's a killer. I think people who sunbath are just not using their heads. Have you ever seen those photos where they take a woman who spent a large portion of her life in the sun, you know, tanning, or working outdoors, then they show the photo of the woman who spent her whole life indoors. The difference is amazing. In case you haven't seen those studies, they have a 60 year old woman who avoids the sun extensively her whole life and she looks like she's in her twenties. They have the 35 year old who lived in sun and she looks like she's in her 70's. Irreversible sun damage being the root cause.

 

Unbeleivable how badly the sun kills us, takes our health away, but yet, people go out and bath in it and even go to tanning salons. Idiots.

 

Anyway, I agree, more research is needed. But in the meantime, luckily we can also choose not to participate in things we think could be harmful. It's all about choice. I stay out of the sun for many reasons, I beleive in UV protection, and I don't look directly at light bulbs, or IR lights.

 

Now, in saying that, I hope that LCD monitors are less harmful, but I would guess they could be as harmful or even moreso, but that is one addiction I can't give up. I also watch tv, but it just feels less harmful than staring directly into a Kinect.

 

And soon we'll have the new TV sets that obey our movements. I'm guessing they will be shining IR on us all day long as well. I haven't looked at the specs yet though.

 

And, the whole Kinect craze is making it's way to desktop PC's and laptops, so, it's going to be everywhere. Sucks, I know.

[Arnetta 0]

I need help getting an LED light strip to work?

I'm building a small model of the Titanic for a girl I love and I'm trying to put lights in it for the icing on the cake. My problem is I have a 9 inch LED light strip that has two cables, a black and red which you have to connect to 12 volt wires, like on a car. Trouble is I'm trying to find a way to be able to plug the lights into the wall and have them work. I have tried taking old phone chargers that worked just fine to power these LED lights but, so far I have not gotten any power from anything. What else can I do? I have very little money and I need something around the house. If there is something I can buy for cheap to get these lights working, I'll definitely get it. Please help me!!!

[MaxIcon 0]

Totally off topic, but here you go!

 

- Make sure your charger is 12Vdc, and has the current needed. Your light strip probably doesn't require a lot of current (amps), so almost any 12Vdc power supply should work. It should be labeled with the output, and often is labeled with the polarity. If you don't have the right output, many Goodwills or similar places will have cheap power supplies.

 

- Make sure polarity is correct - + to +, - to -. Most LEDs don't fry if you hook them up backwards, but it can happen. If it doesn't work one way, try the other.

 

- To verify all this, buy or borrow an inexpensive digital volt meter (DVM). Radio shack sells them for $15 or so, and Harbor Freight or other cheap import places often have them for under $10. This will tell you if your power supply is working and which leads are + and -.

 

Please, whatever you do, don't take apart the charger or start messing around with connections directly to the wall. This is very dangerous if you don't understand electricity.

[LittleScoobyMaster 0]

Not 1 Kinect, but IR from 6 connects at the same time:

 

wa5I-D5_sM0

[AmillenBlake 0]

I think that low level of radiation wouldn't affect the eyes of the baby, so you don't need to worry about that. Small amount of IR light would cause no harm to the eyes. But even then if you are worried, you can disable the IR on the camera.