Three Reason to Consider Replacing Your Mercury or Xenon Lamp with a Prizmatix LED

In the past, research laboratories have relied on mercury or xenon lights as a light source for fluorescence and brightfield microscopy. In recent years however, many researchers have chosen to switch to using LEDs, such as Prizmatix Ultra High Power LEDs instead. Here are three reasons why:

1. Prizmatix LEDs are lower cost, more energy-efficient and have a much longer life span:

Over the lifetime of the microscope, Mercury-based light sources can become extremely costly. Generally, mercury arc lamps last about 200 hours, but this number can vary depending on the number of times the lamp is started. Replacement bulbs are costly (generally retailing well over $100), and need to be replaced often.

The LED in an LED light source chip never needs to be replaced. LEDs also consume much less energy than their alternatives. Other light sources have a warm-up and cool-down period – lights must be left on to build up to the desired intensity, and must “cool down” once switched off before they can be switched back on. This means every use of the lamp depletes is already limited lifetime. LED light sources have none of these limitations; rather, brightness and powering on/off can be controlled through the same software that controls the microscope, and is instantaneous.

LED lamps can last 10,000 hours or more before seeing a significant drop in intensity. Considering that the LED may be used for just milliseconds at a time, you have an astronomical lifespan when compared to traditional light sources on the market.

2. Prizmatix LEDs are much more uniform:

The light of a mercury lamp, is brightest in the middle, creating a view that’s uneven and skewed around the edges. On the other hand, the brightness of an LED is uniform across the entire field of vision. This is extremely important to get a superior image of the sample under the microscope’s objective.

3. Prizmatix LEDs are much more environmentally friendly:

Mercury is extremely hazardous to human beings, wildlife, and the environment. While laboratories can avoid this effect by disposing of mercury bulbs in a safe manner, the following of regulations cannot be guaranteed due to human carelessness or neglect. Improper disposal can lead to mercury in the groundwater and other environments in which it is extremely hazardous.

LED lights, on the other hand, contain no such risks for human and environmental pollution. The risk of toxicity inherent in mercury lights is non-existent here.