The above file as of 5/11/2008 before removal of most notes on items noted in 2002 or before then.
Low Current LEDs - Use just a few milliamps or .2-2 mA (or less) for LED indicator lamps! Reduce battery requirements or power cost, and equipment heating! Updated 2/29/2023.
The truth of pulsing LEDs to make them appear brighter. The nonlinearity that sometimes makes this work is in LEDs and not in human vision. This usually does not work when feeding 20 mA or more of average current through an ultrabright LED. (Updated 6/19/2001, and the amounts of current mentioned here are relevant to low power LEDs.)
Why LEDs until recently outperformed incandescents more in specialty applications than in general lighting. (updated 9/21/2022)
Overview of the different LED types - the different colors, brightnesses, and a bit of the basic chemistry and electrical and other properties of each of these. (Updated 6/26/2002)
My Yellow SiC LED Page - I managed to get my hands on one of those rare LEDs! (NEW FILE 12/13/2000, updated slightly 4/3/2010)
My page on adjusting / modifying / mixing LED colors for special colors, such as high brightness / high efficiency "lime green".
UV from the right kind of blue LED! Other blue LEDs and blue light sources will get some blacklight effects since many non-blue fluorescent substances fluoresce from some visible light as well as UV. But 450 nM broadband blue GaN LEDs can be made to produce some UV! UPDATED 10/1/2006 - links to spectral results of a hack on a historic obsolete kind of blue LED, the first commercially successful type of high brightness blue LED!
How much you need of red, green and blue LEDs to make white of various color temperatures. Only certain LED types are covered here. You need more red and especially notably much less blue than many would think! (updated 5/29/2020)
My Blue LED Shootout - to show advantages and disadvantages of popular and less-popular wavelengths of blue LEDs. (updated slightly 9/24/2000)
My page on Organic LEDs, Polymer LEDs and the like. New and still under construction with slow progress, some on 7/16/2003 - I am mainly following the usual semiconductor kind of LEDs more than stuff sometimes known as "DC electroluminescence".
My Nightlight File. Link from here to there added 1/16/2004 due to recently adding there its first LED nightlight. Updated 4/20/2010.
The LED Museum Exhibits Page, with some notable older LEDs emphasized.
NOTABLE - Craig Johnson has a news page. Updated 11/27/2023.
Last noted significant update 10/17/2020 for an LED, 2/9/2022 for an LED flashlight, 11/15/2023 for an LED product other than a flashlight, 11/11/2023 for a laser product, 7/16/2012 for a non-LED flashlight, 12/28/2021 for a non-LED lighting or glowing product other than a flashlight or a laser, and 3/16/2022 for updating links from his site to other sites.
UPDATE 10/17/2020: A page on a Soviet Russian LED with anti-Stokes phosphors and glowing green from an infrared die / chip. This is mentioned in the above LED Museum Exhibits page.
UPDATE 4/14/2006 - Now added: Spectra of many LEDs, LED flashlights and other LED products, and other light sources especially neon glow lamps. To get these, go here, now at http://www.tllm.site/mmenu8.htm.htm
UPDATE 11/18/2023: Craig Johnson moved his website to here.
Old links using ledmuseum.anything can mostly be edited to work by changing ledmuseum.whatever to tllm.site or www.tllm.site. Links with ledmuseum.net/led1 need the change to using www.tllm.site to have /led1 removed.
If an old link doesn't work with or without editing as above, then try putting the old link into the Wayback Machine.
First product review there is here.
The home page of Renssalaer's Lighting research Center - includes links to LED stuff.
Their English website.
NOTE - current upgraded grade LEDs are best-obtained from Nichia sales
offices. They do handle small orders. The ones from surplus outfits are
often previous grade (dimmer but still very impressive) even if you confirm
the same part numbers. (Nichia is known to improve their LEDs without
changing their part numbers.) Or, they may vary strangely in beam width.
They now have UV LEDs, and violet and blue laser diodes.
Straight to the web site of Cree LED, another maker of bright LEDs.
The LED top page of Broadcom formerly Avago, spun off by Agilent, spun off by Hewlett Packard.
Lumileds, formerly a joint venture of Agilent and Philips Lighting, now it's Philips Lumileds.
Craig Johnson's list of suppliers, manufacturers, etc. Includes LED products such as brake lights, marine cabin lights and flashlights as well as LEDs. (Dead link fixed 6/3/2023, maybe only temporarily.)
Written by Don Klipstein.
Please read my Copyright and authorship info.
Please read my Disclaimer.