In search of UV/black light to find urine stains.

[Inverse Square]

I bought one of the $5 keychain UV LEDs from Countycomm.com and have had success when used in a very dark room. I have detected cat and human urine stains with it. I need to get some amber/yellow glasses now!

 

[Chas]

I second what Inverse Square says. The little light from CountyComm works great. Shipping is a little step if you only order one UV, but it gives excuse to order so of their other lights and/or pouches .

Best Regards,

 

[ygbsm]

Originally posted by treek13:
Unfortunately for me, I've had to use it for 2 dogs and 2 cats through various illnesses and mistakes (cat vomit, cat urine, dog vomit, dog urine, and worst of all dog diarrhea).

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">There was almost some easy to find human "mistake" (no UV needed to find) on my carpet after I read this.

 

[treek13]

Yeah, pet ownership isn't always a joy. Luckily, not all of these things happened at once or often. Most importantly of all, the cat only peed on the cement floor in the basement (easy to clean and not prone to absorbing odors). For those of you lucky enough not to know, cat urine is one of the worst smells ever.

Pat

 

[ygbsm]

There are few things that make me feel as bad than seeing a sick pet, particularily a dog.

 

[Tomas]

Oops! Albany Tom is absolutely right! I forgot about filtering the blue out.

The yellow / amber / orange glasses are a good idea - anything that blocks blue fairly well.

In scientific / medical / forensic work what is often used is what's called a "Wood's Light" which is a fairly powerful UV source with an orange shield / filter (used to be nickle plated glass, IIRC) between the object and the viewer.

It not only reduces the visible blue, making the flourescense of objects stand out more, but also helps protect the user's eyes from the strong UV.

Protective UV blocking goggles are also usually worn, just for more protection. (I'm not saying you need 'em with the weak UV sources normally available to the general public, but even some of them, especially some of the argon lamps, put out a dangerous amounts of UV at hazardous wavelengths.)

Anyway, my Arc AAA UV and some cheap "Blu-Blocker" glasses work great. thanks for the reminder, Tom.

zzzz

 

[Zrexxer]

At risk of going slightly O/T, cat urine on carpet is a losing proposition. The so called "enzyme" products dont' work because it soaks down into the backing, the padding, and sometimes the floor underneath.

Carpet Cleaners can't get it out because once it dries, the uric acid crystallizes and isn't easliy soluble. Again, if it's soaked into the baseboards or the floor underneath, carpet cleaning is useless.

I just spent a huge amount of money getting new carpet in one room after trying to get rid of the odor on my own for six months, so I know from whence I speak

 

[flashlightlens]

I have also tried a few of the "enzyme" products. The best thing that I have done is the "soak and suck." I get a bottle full of hot water and my carpet cleaner out. I soak the spot and then suck it up with my carpet cleaner. Start by soaking just the surface and then gradually soak it deeper and deeper. Do this about 5 or 6 times. The last soaking is with a moderately strong carpet cleaner mixed in. This technique has worked better than anything I've used.

 

[INRETECH]

We are coming out with a highpower BlackLight (395nm) module for the 3D flashlight - should retail for $50

Stay tuned

 

[alberto]

Not to prolong the thread, but I just got my Photon II Purple (UV) from LRI and it works PERFECTLY for the urine stains. And the room doesn't have to be darkened much.

Also verified that the $5 bill in my pocket was not made in someone's basement.

Great little product.

 

[Tree]

Well, here is what I did. I got a cheap GE UV/blacklight light bulb from Wally World and stuck it in one of those portable lamps that have the clamp and huge reflector. This turned out to have too much of the non UV portion coming from the sides of the light reflected on the ground. I noticed the only place that caused the stains to glow green was the very top of the bulb. So I took two pot holders and covered the sides of the bulb so only the top produced light and presto there be the stains.

I had to crawl around and get within 4 to 8 inches of the stain with the light to have any effect.

The Natures Miracle works great by the way. It does produce a chemical smell for a few days. But after that the smell is almost gone. I'll report back in a couple weeks ( when it is fully dry) to let you know if it completely got rid of the smell. As it is now all you smell (if you get within inches of the treated spot with your nose) is a faint chemical smell.

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

Maplin now sell compact fluorescent bulbs in UV. Maybe one of these in a handlamp could be used for detecting catpee!
What is in in the pee which causes it to fluoresce anyway?

 

[jmm]

I'm not going to need a UV light to find the "stain" that's probably going to appear in my pants when they finally post the official start of the McLux sale.

John