I'm wondering if anyone knows more information about LEDs. I have two questions.
First, I noticed that the TSAL6400 has a radiant intensity of 40 mW/Sr. I'm assuming that this is an indication of how bright the light is. The TSAL6100 has a smaller dispersion angle than the 6400 (10o instead of 25o) but has a radiant intensity of 130 mW/Sr. This should make it a lot brighter, right? I've also read that a lot of the IR light that the wiimote picks up is reflected off the white board surface ... so again, the brighter the better, right? All other specifications between the two seem the same.
Secondly, if a battery starts to become underpowered because the voltage falls too low, does the LED cease to work altogether, or does it just get dimmer and dimmer like an incandescent light bulb does? If it does get dimmer, would the 6100 with a higher radiant intensity last longer on a lower voltage than the 6400? In other words, say the voltage hits 1.1 V (or whatever voltage is too low) and the IR signal from the 6400 is now too low to be registered by the wiimote. Would the 6100 still be bright enough at 1.1 V because it has a higher "native" radiant intensity? I would really love to get the most out of my 1.2 V NiMH rechargeable battery.