LED-holic ;
I've built and sold a couple hundred UV lights over the last a couple of years.
I started with eight 5mm 395nm LEDs powered by a lithium ion 1350 mah battery.
Then I tried 20 to 50 of the 5mm 380nm LEDs powered by 1800 mah lithium batteries.
Next came the 1 watt Cree UV 395 nm LEDs with 2200 mah lithium batteries.
Now, I build mainly Cree 3 watt 395 nm LED lights with 2400 mah Lithium batteries:
1. A single Cree 3 watt in an UltraFire C2 body.
2. A Triple 3 watt Cree in a double #18650 body.
3. A 6 X 3 watt Cree UV with Integral Heat Sink (AC powered).
Each light worked a little better for fluorescing the the common items such as urine, scorpions and UV dyes.
The 3 watt UV Crees are the leader in my testing.
Larry
For myself I have run out of reasons for any new white light since there seems to be a this or that around here to do any job but... a powerful UV does sound good.
If you want to spend just $5 and it is a cash issue the the 12x 5mm light is great. However I like very much the idea of the cree UV 3 watt, just think of how many hosts are out there to build a single or up to a 4x emitter 3 watt UV by just switching out the emitters! The TM-800x3 was once the most LED lumens you could get, 3X Luxeon III, LOL!, and I had to do something with the bodies I had when technology past me and my TM-800x3 by. I modded and I have some powered on 4x C cells and a 3X Ds, both SCC and Cree upgrades and they cannot come close to the MTE P7 in out put now. They need new life, with that battery capacity they burn a long time and with your UV Cree idea I see a weekend project. Thanks, Larry, for the idea. Looks like I need to swap the emmiters out of these again:
To tri-build or not to tri-build a LED light
Where did you get the UV Cree, what is the Vf? Are there any UV modules like the drop in IR out there? How useful is the strobe mode on UV?
I see where you could build a multi-LED mod and have a selective use of UV backed up by White for special purpose lights.
I have three open mod projects on my bench and I keep thinking once I finish them I am going to semi-retire as a flashaholic and pursue other interest. Then the "pusher" comes around and offers another hit.
Larry, you really know how to tempt a weak person.
:shakehead