1918 ANALOG UV SENSOR BREAKOUT and GUVC-S10GD PHOTODIODE Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[alanmcrae]

I have constructed a UVC Sterilizer using an old microwave oven and a UVC water purification lamp, and I need a way to accurately measure its 254nm output that doesn't involve access to an expensive UV photometer. (See project build at: https://www.greenequitybuilders.org/pdfs/UV_Box.pdf)

I saw the 1918 ANALOG UV SENSOR BREAKOUT Board and that looked promising except that it has very poor sensitivity in the germicidal UVC wavelength range.

But then I saw that the GUVC-S10GD photodiode has a spectral range of 220nm - 280nm, which is ideal!

Does anyone know if the GUVA-S12SD photodiode on the 1918 ANALOG UV SENSOR BREAKOUT Board could be de-soldered and replaced with the GUVC-S10GD photodiode (or the GUVC-S40GD, or something similar) to get a better UVC sensor breakout board for germicidal UVC projects?

(I suspect that a lot of makers would like to certify their Covid-19 UVC projects right about now.)

[jomero711]

Did you try de-soldering and replace the photo diode and did it work?

[alanmcrae]

No, I have not tried to field upgrade the UV Sensor Breakout. My electronic engineering skills are not quite up to the task yet, and nobody with that level of knowledge has offered any advice on whether it would work or fail miserably. Hopefully somebody who is an expert will see this thread and give us some guidance.

[adafruit_support_bill]

The pinouts and general operating parameters are compatible. So it should function on the same board. The photocurrent vs power output is different, so you would need to adjust your calculations accordingly.