[palata]

Unrelated, but I really want to take the opportunity:

How can one know what is dangerous for the eyes or not? Years ago I got an "IR illuminator" (from aliexpress, probably) that I wanted to use with my raspberrypi NoIR camera, for fun. Say filming myself during the night to see how much I move while sleeping, or making my own wildlife camera trap.

But I was scared that it could be dangerous and never used it (I tested it in an empty room, but that was it).

Is there a safe way for a hobbyist to get an IR illuminator and be sure that I won't make somebody blind with it?

[elictronic]

Buy from a reputable dealer. I don’t buy batteries, lasers, or items I ingest from locations lacking any repercussions.

[0_____0]

Is it just a bunch of IR LEDs? Surface mount or through-hole? What's the module power rating? What's the power supply power rating? Are there any secondary optics like lenses over the LEDs? Is there a diffuser of some kind?

If it's a cluster of garden variety through-hole LEDs with domed tops (like you would see on a TV remote), they're necessarily low power on account of having poor thermal performance.

Another way to tell is if nothing gets warm at all. It's pretty hard to hurt someone with an emitter that both doesn't have a focusing optic and doesn't get warm.

Let me be clear - you're still responsible for verifying the safety of your stuff, and I am in no way assuring you that the device you have is benign, because I can't do that without inspecting it directly.

[palata]

Yeah, let's say something like this: https://www.instructables.com/DIY-IR-Infrared-Illuminator-Ni...

> Let me be clear - you're still responsible for verifying the safety of your stuff

Obviously yeah. I was just wondering if there were known rules like "these wavelengths under this power are fine for humans and wildlife, even if they put the LEDs right in front of their eyes", and also if you have an array of such IR LEDs, how they cumulate.

And curious about things like: if I don't see it, can it hurt my retina?

I probably will never do it: I wouldn't want to blind a fox just because I wanted to make my own wildlife camera :).

[duskwuff]

IR illuminators are not lasers. Their purpose is to cast light across a broad area, not to deliver it all to one point. They should not be harmful to vision.